IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF JOHN ALEXANDER
NEW YORK CITY
LOFT BOARD
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Loft Board Order # 2069
In the Matter of the Application of MC #: 0946
Re: 482 Broadway
New York, New York
John Alexander IMD #: 10850
Docket #: TA-0117
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This is an application by John Alexander, occupant of fifth floor front unit at 482 Broadway, for a finding that he is the occupant qualified for protection under the Loft Law, and for a determination of the total rent to be paid for the subject unit. For the reasons stated below, Alexander is found to be the protected occupant of the subject unit; the monthly rent is set as stated below.
Background
On June 23, 1993, the Loft Board, in Order No. 1466, found the subject building to be an interim multiple dwelling (IMD) pursuant to Section 281(4) of the Multiple Dwelling Law (MDL). The Board also found that there were three protected units in this IMD, including the unit currently occupied by John Alexander, and that Cynthia Chapin was the protected occupant of one of those units. The Board, however, made no finding of protected occupancy regarding the units occupied by Alexander and Elizabeth Giros, and dismissed without prejudice any claims that Alexander and Giros asserted in their respective answers filed with the Loft Board on May 30, 1989.
On March 10, 1994, John Alexander, through his attorneys, Alterman & Boop, P.C., filed an application for a finding that he is the protected residential occupant of the fifth floor front unit at 482 Broadway, New York, New York ("the premises") and that he has been overcharged rent, pursuant to 29 RCNY §2-06.1.
On June 3, 1994, Iron Age Realty Corp., the owner of the premises, filed an answer, asserting that the applicant does not reside at the premises and did not reside at the premises during the window period, that the matter was already settled between the owner and the applicant, and that the applicant waived his right to assert that he is a protected occupant.
Proceedings at the Loft Board
A conference was held on February 16, 1995. In attendance were Harvey Schechter, a principal of the owner corporation; Barry S. Schwartz, the owner's attorney; John Alexander, the applicant; and Arlene Boop, from the firm of Alterman & Boop, the applicant's attorney. The respondent/owner claimed that the applicant had withdrawn from the coverage application and had settled separately with the owner, and was therefore barred from proceeding on this application. The matter was put over for hearing.
A hearing was held on April 14, June 19 and 20, and December 6 and 7, 1995, and on February 1, May 6, July 19, and August 13, 1996. Present at the hearing were the applicant John Alexander, and his attorney Arlene Boop; Harvey Schechter, a principal of the respondent; and the owner's attorney, Barry S. Schwartz. The following witnesses testified: Dan Rizzie, Cynthia Chapin, William Dunlap, David Berg, John Alexander, Jane Livingston, Catherine Mosley and Harvey Schechter.
Testimony Adduced at the Hearing
Dan Rizzie was the applicant's first witness. He testified that he lived at 55 Main Street, East Hampton, New York, where he had lived for the last four years. Before that, he lived in Dallas. The witness described himself as a self-employed artist. He has a Master's degree in studio arts from Southern Methodist University (S.M.U.) in Texas. He said he had known John Alexander since 1973. They met at S.M.U. and are "very close friends" who speak on a weekly basis.
Rizzie stated that he first visited Alexander in New York in 1980, when Alexander was living in a sublet on West 12th Street. He stated that he used to see Alexander about six times a year in New York. He remembered visiting Alexander at the Broadway loft in 1981. He used to stay at the loft when he visited New York. He was not sure exactly when Alexander had moved into the loft, but he did remember helping him move some paintings, clothing, art supplies, and "regular household effects."
Regarding Alexander’s loft, Rizzie testified that the space has several windows overlooking Broadway and that that it has a studio area in the front, and a living area with a kitchen, a bathroom, a hallway and a bedroom toward the back of the space. He also stated that of the other two units located on the fifth floor, one was occupied by Cynthia and Frank Gillette and the other one by Elizabeth Giros.
Rizzie testified that in the period around 1981, the unit contained paintings and supplies, a desk, living room furniture, a stereo, a television set, a bed, a futon, and full kitchen with a refrigerator and a stove. Rizzie stated that since Alexander moved into the loft, Rizzie has always telephoned him at his phone number in the loft. No one lived with Alexander in the loft during this period, although he had many visitors.
On cross-examination, Rizzie testified that he did not discuss his testimony in detail before this hearing with either Alexander or Boop nor did he review any documents.
He stated that he rents his apartment in East Hampton and that Alexander has a house in Amagansett, which he has owned for six or seven years. The house is a converted barn and does not contain an art studio. In 1987, Alexander rented a studio in Amagansett on Main Street. Rizzie did not believe Alexander had any other studios or houses prior to 1987.
He believed that Alexander married Rosie Schuster in about 1988. They had dated on and off before that. He stated that she had a loft at 453 Broome Street. The two are now separated and she lives in Los Angeles. Rizzie said that Alexander divorced his first wife before he moved to New York in 1980.
Rizzie believed that the first time he was in the Broadway loft was early to mid-1981. During the early eighties, he would stay at the loft for about a week and would usually have use of a key. He said that Alexander sometimes stayed with his girlfriend at Broome Street, but he clearly lived in the Broadway loft, as his clothing and cat were there.
Cynthia Chapin testified next. She stated that she lives in the rear loft on the northeast of the fifth floor at 482 Broadway. She moved into her loft in September or October 1979 with her husband Frank Gillette. He moved out in 1983. Their daughter Claire has lived there since she was born in 1986.
Chapin asserted that the other two lofts on the fifth floor were occupied when she moved in. One loft is on the west side facing Broadway, and the other is on the Crosby Street side. The Broadway side loft, now occupied by Alexander, was occupied by Kaare Rafoss when Chapin moved in. She explained that she knew this because she and her husband viewed all three lofts at the time they first saw their loft (in response to a newspaper advertisement).
According to Chapin, Rafoss lived and worked in the loft until the fall of 1980, when he bought a house in New Jersey. She said she sometimes used Rafoss’s loft for cooking and showers. Alexander moved into the Rafoss’s loft in January 1981. She saw him move in. She said that eight or nine of his friends "endlessly" brought things into the loft -- a moose head, antique enclosed glass shelves, a couple of sofas, a bed, bedroom furniture, paintings, kitchen appliances, etc.
She said that at first there were some conflicts among the neighbors about noise, but they all eventually became friends. She was in Alexander's space a lot. Between January 1981 and May 1987, she said she was in Alexander's loft "at least three to four times per week, if not daily." She said that Alexander always lived and worked in the loft.
Chapin described the Alexander loft as L-shaped, with eight or nine windows facing Broadway. There were desks, a sofa, and a wall where he displays his paintings. She said that a screen covers the area where the bedroom is located. The kitchen is on the other side of the bedroom, and it used to contain two refrigerators. There is a long hall that goes to the bathroom and at the other end of the hall is the door to Elizabeth's apartment.
On cross-examination, Chapin stated that she was employed as a secretary by Harvey Schechter for about six months in 1986 and 1987. She left because he got another secretary who was more experienced and also because her baby was getting too big to play in the office while she worked.
She stated that Rafoss had occupied Alexander's loft until the fall of 1980. He had bought a house in New Jersey earlier in the year and came to the loft less and less. She stated that during that period she and her husband used the loft because it had a better stove and a bigger kitchen.
Chapin stated that she was sure Alexander moved in right after January 1, 1981 because she remembers him saying that he was starting the new year in a new place. She remembers it was 1981, because 1980 was when Alexander was first around, and she got married in Lake Placid in January 1980.
David Berg testified next. He stated that he is an attorney with his own firm in Houston, Texas, and a professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center.
Berg testified that he met Alexander in January 1977 and subsequently became a collector of his works and a friend. He added that he recalled Alexander moved to New York sometime after 1977, but did not remember the exact time. He stated that he did not remember where Alexander lived when he first moved to New York, but that around 1981 he recalled that Alexander was living on Broadway near Broome Street. He added that he recalled the year, because it was around the time that Cathy Whitmeyer was elected Mayor of Houston and Alexander invited him to come to New York.
Berg testified that Alexander’s loft in 1981 consisted of a big studio area and a living area toward the back of the loft. He stated that the living area contained a kitchen with a stove, a bathroom with a shower, and a bedroom with a bed. He added that he visited Alexander at that loft many times in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and that, for the past fourteen years, when he has come to New York, he has always visited Alexander at the subject loft. He also stated that the subject loft is the only residence he knows of for Alexander in New York City.
Berg testified that when he has visited New York, since the 1980’s, he would often pick up Alexander at his loft in the morning and would drop him off in the evening. He stated that he also was in Alexander’s loft on many occasions for drinks and that he has often stayed there, talking and socializing, until two in the morning. He also testified that whenever he calls Alexander by telephone, usually about once a month, he calls him at his telephone in the loft.
Berg testified that he also knew Alexander’s wife, Rosie Schuster, and that she had a loft on Broome Street, and which he visited once. He stated that whenever he saw Schuster, she was always in the company of Alexander.
William Dunlap testified next. He stated that he is a self-employed artist, and that he and his wife have a loft at 548 Broadway. He stated that he met Alexander in 1974 or 1975 and that Alexander is one of his best friends.
Dunlap testified that he and Alexander have had similar career goals. He stated that in the late 1970’s they were both teaching art, he at the University of North Carolina and Alexander in Houston, Texas, and that they were both wanted to quit teaching and move to New York . He stated that around 1979 or 1980 Alexander sublet an apartment near Greenwich Village, and kept looking to rent a loft. He stated that, in 1980 or 1981, Alexander found the loft at 482 Broadway and moved in. Dunlap stated that by then he had moved to Washington D.C. He added that in his frequent trips to New York he stayed at the Alexander’s loft on many occasions. He stated that Alexander’s loft consisted of a studio space with a living area in the back, which contained a bathroom with a shower, a kitchen, and a sleeping area.
Dunlap testified that in addition to staying with Alexander at the loft, he often called him, at least once a week during the early 1980’s, at his telephone number located in Alexander’s loft.
Dunlap testified that in the early 1980’s when he stayed at Alexander’s loft, the space was a center of social activity, where a group of friends would get together and prepare dinners. He stated that Alexander’s kitchen was well stocked with pots, dishes, glassware, and lots of herbs and spices.
Dunlap testified that he met Rosie Schuster around the same time that Alexander met her, and that she had a loft on Broome Street. He added that he did not know of any other address for Alexander during the 1980’s, except for the loft at 482 Broadway.
On cross-examination Dunlap testified that he did not know much about Alexander’s first sublet apartment in New York, but that he remembers Alexander being very excited about finding and moving into the loft at 482 Broadway in the early 1980’s.
Dunlap testified that when he first visited Alexander at his Broadway loft, Alexander was working in laying out the space as a studio and a living space. He added that at that time Alexander was already living in the loft, which had a kitchen, a bathroom, and his bed. He also stated that, during the early 1980’s, he had a set of keys to Alexander’s loft.
Dunlap testified that during the 1980’s and early 1990’s he knew that Alexander rented summer places in the Hamptons, and that he saw him there only during the summer.
Dunlap testified that he knew that Alexander and Rosie Schuster were married sometime in the mid 1980’s, but that he did not know how public the wedding was. He stated that, as far as he knew, Alexander and Schuster did not live together; she had her loft on Broome Street and he had his at 482 Broadway. He stated that he never saw Schuster’s personal possessions in Alexander’s loft, nor did he ever see his at her loft. He stated that he was in Schuster’s loft about three times.
Dunlap testified that if he wants to reach Alexander, as of the time of the hearing, he first calls him at the number at the loft. If he cannot reach him there, he calls him at his number in Amagansett, Long Island, where Alexander now owns property.
John Alexander, the applicant, testified next. He stated that he has lived on the fifth floor of 482 Broadway for fifteen years. He occupied one-third of the floor, between Broadway and Crosby Streets. Also Cynthia Chapin and Elisabeth Giros live on the fifth floor in separate units.
Alexander explained that he is an artist, who paints pictures of landscapes and people. He has a B.A. degree from the University of Texas (1968). He has an M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University, which he received in 1970. He taught at the University of Houston until 1978 and came to New York in 1979.
When he first came to New York, Alexander stated, he lived at 302 West 12th Street, in an apartment he had sublet when he first began his frequent trips to New York in 1978. He moved to 482 Broadway on January 1, 1981. He found the loft through Frank Gillette, who was Cynthia Chapin's husband at the time, and occasionally used the loft before the previous tenant, Kaare Rafoss, moved out in 1980.
Alexander explained that he moved most of his belongings from Houston to the loft in January 1981 and moved his clothes and other items from 12th Street. He rented the loft because it had a large painting area, and he had his bedroom in the back. He put in a wall to separate the bedroom area and eventually built book shelves. He also added insulation to the wall between his and Chapin's lofts. He said that most of the walls are covered with art work.
He stated that most of the major changes in the living space were made by the spring of 1981. Alexander drew a floor plan of the loft, which was admitted as Applicant's Exhibit 1. He explained that the elevator comes into a common area for Alexander and Chapin, and Giros has a separate entrance.
The witness testified that no one else lived with him in the loft, but he did have occasional guests. He explained that he dated Rosie Schuster on and off throughout the early 1980's. In the mid-eighties, he saw a woman named Marianne Brady, who lived with him for about two years. Then he began seeing Schuster again in 1986 or 1987, and they married in 1987 or 1988.
Alexander testified that the only other properties he rented were summer houses in Long Island. He said he did pay rent on a studio in Houston, Texas in 1981, but he sublet it to someone else. He stated further that he owned a small house in Houston that he never lived in and that he sold in the mid-eighties.