To Stay or Go? The Last Family Living in a Gramercy Walk-up

A landlord requests Annie Grossman to relocate from a rent-stabilized two-bedroom in Gramercy to a larger newly renovated unit in a landmarked building he owns nearby. The offer keeps the same monthly rent for the rest of her life. Her current apartment has recurring problems such as lack of hot water, a railroad layout with few doors, limited closet space, and cramped sleeping arrangements for three daughters. The larger bedroom also functions as a home office and includes a laundry drying setup. The building feels isolated, with other tenants having left or died. Despite the issues, the apartment holds family history, pets, and personal belongings, including memories of a fire and a death discovered upstairs that led to police interviews.

"If she gives up her rent-stabilized, 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom in Gramercy, which she rents for $1,300 a month, he'll install Annie and her family in a larger, newly renovated unit at the same rate for the rest of her life."

"There was no hot water for several spells last winter. It has a railroad layout, so none of the rooms have doors except the tiny bathroom. There's so much stuff and so few closets "that we're essentially living in a closet," she says. Her three daughters share a full-size bed that fills every inch of the tiny second bedroom, and the larger bedroom, which doubles as a home office with a desk for herself and her husband, also includes a clothesline for drying the laundry."

"And life there can feel a little eerie. "We are the only tenants in the whole building," Annie says. "All the neighbors either took buyouts or died.""

"It's where Annie grew up, and where her mother used to run her business, and where, for two years, she herself ran a training school for dogs (and later wrote a book about it). And then there are the not-so-warm-and-fuzzy memories that have become an essential part of the family lore, like the time when the apartment caught fire and the day she discovered her upstairs neighbor dead on the toilet."

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