Sponsor Apartments

Just before the eight Lincoln Towers buildings were converted to cooperative ownership, all of its  residents were rent stabilized tenants. The buildings were converted pursuant to what was called a non eviction plan of conversion, which meant that none of the existing renters were required to buy or  vacate their apartments, as they would have had to do in an eviction plan. Rather, those tenants were  assured that they could remain as rent stabilized tenants for the rest of their lives. 

The Sponsor of the conversion was a limited partnership whose general partners were The Equitable Life  Assurance Society of the United States, Mendik Realty Company, Inc., and two individuals. As of May 1,  1987, the conversion date for all eight buildings, 53% of the apartment units were sold; 47% of the  tenants chose to remain as renters. The Sponsor continued to own all the apartments which were not  sold and became the landlord to those individuals who resided in them. The tenants paid the legally  regulated rent stabilized rent to the Sponsor. The Sponsor, however, paid the maintenance imposed by  the cooperative corporation for each of those apartments. The maintenance charge the Sponsor paid to  the co-op corporation was often higher than the rental the Sponsor received from the rent stabilized  tenant. 

In April 1993, the original Sponsor sold all of its interest in the unsold apartments at Lincoln Towers to  ACP Realty Group (ACP), which became the Holder of Unsold Shares, and which stepped into the  position formally held by the Sponsor. Since ACP now owns all the unsold apartments, most people  continue to refer to it as the Sponsor, though that designation is technically incorrect. Approximately  95% of the units at Lincoln Towers are now owned by individual residents; 5% continue to be occupied  by rent stabilized tenants, who now pay their rent to ACP. These apartments are almost always  renovated before closing, and, because they are being sold for the first time, do not require board approval.