MANHATTAN

New York University  is fighting with its neighbors again — but this time, the miffed neighbor is a condo board. The New York Times is reporting that NYU is trying to connect its Institute of Fine Arts, on the Upper East Side, to a newly donated, ground-floor condominium apartment next door at 3 East 78th Street. The issue? The university wants to create a covered passageway — a breezeway — in an alley between the buildings. But the condo board objects, saying it suspects NYU is using the apartment as a beachhead to eventually buy up the whole building, and that having students as a permanent presence will hurt apartments' market values — said apartments being owned by the likes of the president of Dannon.

The fight, which by now also involves the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Community Board 8, is currently at a stalemate.

The five story co-op at 199 East 7th Street has been around since that part of the chi-chi East Village was still known as the Lower East Side. The name transition was just beginning when Mary Veronica Santiago-Monteverde and her late husband Hector Santiago moved there in 1965, more than a quarter-century before the rent-stabilized walkup was converted in the co-op boom of the eighties.

And three decades down from that, the fate of a 79-year-old widow will impact like a meteor on everything co-op boards think they know about their grandfathered, rent-stabilized tenants.

One day in February 2012, a fragment of stone façade chipped away from the two-building, 14-unit condo at 42-50 Wooster Street. "The previous winter had been very cold, and this little piece — maybe two inches wide — fell down," says Liz Sabosik of The Andrews Organization, the condominium's property manager. "It must have taken on a little water, frozen and popped off. So we immediately set up a sidewalk shed and started interviewing architects."

While the main problem was dealing with damage as a result of shifting buildings, the board seized the opportunity to take on some proactive work. Board members realized they could save money in the long run by piggybacking onto this main project the smaller projects that would eventually need to be completed.

A Chelsea condominium designed by world-renowned architect Jean Nouvel is facing blowback from residents over a whopping $8 million assessment — put in place, they say, to make up for shoddy workmanship. The New York Post is reporting that at least one resident of 100 11th Avenue has since put her unit on the market, and that one 65-year-old retiree has been socked with a $120,000 bill. Nouvel, for his part, has criticized developer Cape Advisors, which controls the board, saying in 2010 that the firm went "off course" because it wanted to "complete the building as inexpensively as possible."

The condo board at Five Nine John Lofts, at 59 John Street, has failed in its attempt to prevent the New York City Probation Department from moving its adult facilities down the street to 66 John Street. According to TheRealDeal.com, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that the condominium filed its lawsuit too late – and it probably wouldn’t have prevailed based on the facts anyway.

Have any problematic city facilities come to your own neighborhood? Are any planning to? Let your fellow board members and homeowners know on Board Talk.

The West Side Rag blog has introduced a new series of profiles of Upper West Side doormen. The first one introduces Robert, a 34-year-old Serbian doorman at 333 West End Avenue, who has just become an American citizen. Tessa Abrahams discusses with Robert why he moved to the United States and hears from residents about his relentlessly positive outlook on life.

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit against the developers of The Apthorp condominium on the Upper West Side.

The Real Deal revealed that the $750,000 suit, which claimed that a descending staircase cut the plaintiff’s unit in half, was tossed when the judge ruled that the agreement was for an 'as is' purchase, and therefore it was up to the buyer to inquire as to the condition of the apartment.

The practice of turning apartments into hotel rooms or bed-and-breakfasts has become so common that it has attracted the attention of legislators, the State's bar association and the State attorney general. Co-op and condo board members, as well as apartment-owners concerned about non-vetted, non-background-checked strangers roaming halls and stairwells, should know what's going on, in order to keep the pressure on elected representatives.

Patrick Kennell, president of the board of directors at The South Star condominium, offers advice on how to handle illegal bed-and-breakfast setups in your building. Kennell and the board spent two years litigating a case against Sophie Grishanova, a unit-owner who refused to stop renting her apartment to short-term guests.

The New York Post is reporting that Tudor City is under attack for trying to evict a mentally ill woman. The co-op and a 51-year-old woman's longtime boyfriend have been fighting, both in court and out, since 2006, when the first eviction attempt came. Frank Mazzocchi, 77, claims Tudor City is trying to spiff up its image and has actually ordered the woman to stay indoors, exacerbating her condition. "Most of the board members were heavily invested in apartments in the building .... and therefore had a personal interest” in “appearances and activities they found undesirable,” Mazzocchi alleges in court documents. Each side is denying all accusations, and the board's attorney declined to comment.