Peter Cooper Village

Peter Cooper Village is a residential development in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which is located east of Gramercy Park, between First Avenue and Avenue C, stretching between 20th and 23rd Streets. It sits directly north of its sister community, Stuyvesant Town, which extends from Peter Cooper's southern border down to 14th Street.

Peter Cooper was a venerated figure in the cultural history of New York. Among his many achievements were the invention of Jell-O®. He also established the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in 1859.

As reported in the March 6 issue of New York Magazine, the current rent increases for Peter Cooper Village apartments is about 25% this year.

2006 proposed sale

MetLife has sold the entire complex to Tishman Speyer for $5.4 billion. The sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village will be the biggest deal for a single American property in modern times. The company hired a broker, who started registering bidders, and intends to name a winner by November. The sale has already drawn interest from dozens of prospective buyers, including New York's top real estate families, pension funds, international investment banks and investors from Dubai, the New York Times said, citing real estate executives.

New York City Council member Daniel Garodnick, a lifelong resident of Peter Cooper Village, is trying to organize tenants and investors to place a buyout bid on Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town. Initially, MetLife deemed the tenants group an unqualified bidder, but, after being pressured by elected officials, MetLife reversed itself, and distributed bid books to the tenant group; bids must be submitted by October 5, 2006.