NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Assa Properties – an NYC-based real estate investment and development firm – and its founder, Salim “Solly” Assa today announced that the company and the City of New York have voluntarily entered into a settlement agreement that resolves a dispute centering on tenants’ alleged Airbnb activity at four Assa-owned residential properties. New York State Supreme Court Justice James d’Auguste formally approved the settlement on January 2nd, 2018.
The class-A properties subject to the settlement are located at 15 West 55th Street, 19 West 55TH Street, 334 West 46th Street and 336 West 46th Street, respectively.
The settlement agreement does not prohibit the relevant properties from serving as securities for loans, ensuring that Assa’s ability to access the capital markets should it so choose is unaffected. Assa will retain third-party property management providers to handle the daily operations at the properties.
“We are hotel owners here in New York,” said Solly Assa, founder of Assa Properties. “It would be against our self-interests to knowingly let tenants turn to Airbnb, a service which competes directly with established and regulated hotels in the City. We also support initiatives to keep tenants safe by ensuring that all residents are subject to full background checks and Airbnb does not enforce these standards.”
Assa Properties had become a target as the City sought to assign liability to landlords in cases in which tenants temporarily sublet units via Airbnb’s platform in contravention City regulations – regardless of whether the landlord had any knowledge of the tenants’ dealings or whether such tenant action breached lease agreements.
Specifically at issue are City regulations that prohibit occupancies of class-A units for 29 days or less absent a certificate of occupancy for the building that expressly permits such short-term occupancies for hotel use. The City had alleged that certain tenants of the Assa properties had arranged on Airbnb to sublet their units to so-called transient residents.
“This has been a regrettable process,” Mr. Assa noted. “However, we are pleased that we were ultimately able to work cooperatively with the City to settle this matter and we look forward to focusing all of our efforts on the projects in our pipeline.”
Assa has been consistent and unequivocal that it had no knowledge of such alleged practices, that it could not have gained such knowledge without unreasonably monitoring tenant activity and that, had it been aware, it would have moved to evict the tenants at issue.
Assa has terminated the leases of the particular tenants alleged to have sublet through Airbnb and, in settling with the City, does not admit to any wrongdoing.
Assa Properties has, since its 2000-inception, acquired and/or developed substantial residential, retail, commercial and hospitality holdings and has emerged as a significant player in the hotel segment.
About Assa Properties
Founded by Solly and Isaac Assa, Assa Properties has been developing and investing in major residential, retail and commercial properties since 2000. The firm has acquired over three million square-feet of premier assets located throughout the United States and Mexico. Starting in 2002, Assa Properties began acquiring buildings within the New York City Area, namely 743 Fifth Avenue, 2 Herald Square and 6 Times Square -- originally the Knickerbocker Hotel built by John Jacob Astor -- with an eye towards building luxury retail and hotel experiences in some of the New York City's most distinctive neighborhoods. They have since evolved their original vision with two developments: Cassa Hotel and Residences in Midtown Manhattan and Cassa Times Square Hotel and Residences, just south of Midtown West. Each project represents full-service luxury hotels and condominiums offering premium hotel services to their full-time residents.