1 GRACIE TERRACE

Dec. 19, 2013 — Maro Goldstone is a shareholder of Gracie Terrace Apartment Corporation, at 605 East 82nd Street, a.k.a. 1 Gracie Terrace, in Manhattan. She and her husband, Thomas R. Newman, suffered extensive damage to their apartment when a 10,000-gallon water tank above them overflowed in 2003. The co-op's plan for remediation required a 50-square-foot reduction in the 1,400-plus-square-foot apartment. Goldstone objected, claiming the proposal violated the terms of the proprietary lease. So: May a cooperative corporation, when repairing an apartment, reduce its size?

Recent news affecting co-op / condo buyers, sellers, boards and residents. This week, the case may have involved a rental landlord, but a court approved "heavy surveillance" to build evidence of an illegal tenant. Condo and co-op boards dealing with illegal hoteling, take note. Elsewhere, the chickens come home to roost and the co-op board says they have to relocate, and at $125 million, a co-op penthouse becomes the most expensive publicly listed home in New York City history. Plus: Co-op board presidents tell their horror stories!