Landlord Baruch Singer: ‘Slumlord’ Was Bum Rap
The former Harvard Ph.D. candidate and son of a rabbi says he wants to tell people the truth—and shed the image the late journalist Jack Newfield gave him
One evening every week, a dozen or so hipsters in their 20’s and early 30’s file into a second-floor office above a deli on Delancey Street. They are aspiring musicians and actors. They work at Trader Joe’s or some do-gooder nonprofit. They are studying fashion design or maybe they just graduated, and like everybody else trying to make it in New York, they want a cheap place to live.
They end up on Delancey Street because that’s where an ad on Craigslist has led them. It is a recently redone office with burgundy-stained wood and bright brass fixtures, and the hipsters hang around and whisper and shuffle through papers. They can’t just hand over their checks to their broker and get their keys the way other people get apartments in New York. These people have to meet their landlord.
Their landlord is Baruch Singer.
To these hipsters, that name might not mean much; but, to any New Yorker who has been around for a while and has a knack for remembering names, that one may sound familiar. It is sometimes preceded in newspapers by the word “notorious,” sometimes by “slumlord,” and sometimes even by “notorious slumlord.”
A few minutes behind schedule on one of those recent evenings, Mr. Singer bounded into the room, said hello to a couple of his brokers, and whispered to his staff. He was tall, thin and wore a rumpled, navy blue pinstripe suit that had the look of having been to the far reaches of the city and back in a single day. His beard was scraggly. Atop his gray hair was a simple black yarmulke. He looked a bit like a philosophy professor as he leaned against the doorframe, clapped his hands together and started his spiel.
“We are very different than any other landlord in New York,” he said. “Our strength is to tell people the truth. I tell you pretty much every reason not to move in, and then, if you still want to move in, we give you a lease.”
He went around the circle, asking what each person did for a living, and then he launched into little bits of colorful history about the buildings they were moving into.
“You are moving into a drug-infested building. You have at least 10 drug dealers in there.”
“The super in your building is brain-dead. The reason I keep him on is because he does excellent work.”
A young man moving to a Clinton Hill building gets a story about a Pratt student who was murdered nearby right around the time Mr. Singer first bought the building 15 years ago. “Unfortunately, we had the murderers in the building.”
He said he buys buildings that the city considers to be “junk.” Most are in Harlem, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. He renovates the apartments one at a time as apartments become vacant. Once he gets through the whole building, he redoes the hallways and common spaces. He says he needs tenants to be his eyes and ears against crime and vandalism.
“Everybody we put in are professional people,” he said. “Very nice professional people. We have had people in Cirque de Soleil, Urinetown, Beauty and the Beast. We are a good-luck charm for people.”
One woman who was moving into Manhattan Valley—the pocket just west of the northern end of Central Park—remarked that she was pleasantly surprised that a Starbucks just opened nearby.
“What has happened there is because of what we have done,” Mr. Singer said.
The message, whether he intends it or not: Baruch Singer is not a slumlord. He is a gentrifier. Next Page >
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It's not easy being a landlord in New York.
I read your recent atricle on Baruch Singer and am a current tenant in one of his apts in Harlem. I was totally disgusted in reading that any praise should be given to Mr. Singer or to any of his staff at the Delancey Street office. I have resided in this building since May 2003 and have had a constant problem with my bathroom ceiling since May 2004. Mr. Singer took over the building in Oct. 2005. The damage to my celing has become so extensive that the ceiling has been replaced 4 times. There are times when the leak is so bad that in order for me to use the toilet I must place a large umbrella over the bowl. The last time that the ceiling had to be replaced was two weeks ago when the rats, that are infested in the building, ate through the plaster. The ceiling was repaired again but that was after 3 hours of back and forth phone calls between myself and Mary, who works in the management office. She in the past has told me that the ceiling leakage is not the responsiblity of management but mine and is extremely rude and totally unprofessional. Many times when I have called to complain about the water leaking or the lack of heat and hot water I have aksed to speak directly to Mr. Singer and have been told by Mary that the only person that I am able to speak to is her. At no time has it ever been offered to me to relocate either permanently or temporarily to another apt as was stated in your article. At no time in the 3 years have I ever had any face to face meeting with Mr. Singer. Mr. Singer nor anyone who works in that office has never contacted me to explain or apology for my living conditions.The overall conditions of the building itslef are no better - the daily up keep of the common hallways and elevator has deteriorated, there has been urine and feese left in the elevator, hallways and stairwells, the interocm system does not constantly work, there is a steady and heavy drug traffic in and out of the building, there is a constant and daily sale of alcohol to minors. I would love the opportunity to discuss in further detail this particular building and very specifcally my apt with either Matthew Schuerman, himself, or another staff member of the NY Observer.
I moved into one of Mr. Singer's buildings on the upper, upper West side in December of 2004. His management company and our Super were always very friendly, reachable, and responsive. The next year, another management company bought our building -- and quickly made us miss Mr. Singer's efficient managment style. The new company is unresponsive, hard to reach, and never returns call. I miss Mr. Singer's responsive organization so much, in fact, that I'm considering moving into one of his other buildings near the Park. It's rare that you find such kindness, professionalism, and efficiency in one NYC management office. No management office is perfect, but this is as close as I've found in NYC.
- Kelly Miller
I was a resident at 291 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem for 3 years (then a building of Singer's, now sold to another management company) In December of 2003 there was a fire in one of the apartments that destroyed 2 apartments and did extensive water damage to 2 (one of those being mine) At the time there were 2 vacant apartments in the building. When we called to ask about being relocated the office informed us they were not relocating anyone and promptly hung up on us. Absoultely no compassion was shown to the homeless residents. Because the apartment was not fixed in the alloted time stated in the lease,we moved to another apartment. It took us over 4 months to get our deposit returned after Barry stated that we "abandoned him". I don't think that the vacate notice from the city stating the apartment was unlivable is abandonment. I don't know who this Baruch Singer is that they speak of in this article, but its sure isn't the one that was my landlord.
How much did Singer have to pay to have this article written???
This slumlord’s new plan is trying to vacate all the tenants in 13-15 Essex Street buildings, by moving in new tenants who’s willing to pay market rents. Or simply demolish these two buildings for a new development such as the near-by 7 Essex St Condo building. The slumlord’s usual tactics are used here: break tenants’ mailboxes so mails got stolen, not renewing tenants’ leases and claiming tenants are ‘not living in their apartments’ and bring them to court.
Lower East Side now is a gem to many greedy slumlords like Baruch Singer. They will continually buying properties here in LES and keep doing illegal activities in LES. We urge Observer’s staff keep an eye on these slumlords to speak for us, for we are helpless when dealing with big shot lawyers they are hiring.
I have been living in LES for more than 25 years. I have witnessed the ups and downs in LES. I have had a great respect for the Jewish people here in LES, for myself had worked in a Jewish store when I was in High School. The store owners like many Jewish people I met were friendly and hardworking. But this impression has been twisted to the opposite way – greedy and evil, with Baruch Singer’s evil evacuation of LES long time tenants.
This article is a lot of horseshit. Baruch Singer's reputation for being a slumlord is well-earned. I've seen this firsthand. It takes forever to get the most basic repairs completed. His staff from the top-down is incompetent. Mary, who one of the prior posters refers to, is particularly unhelpful. I also went without heat and hot water for five days thanks to his 'efficient management.' This heat and hot water issues persisted for several years.
It's true that he likes to meet all his tenants personally. I think this is more a form of intimidation than anything else. Perhaps he's checking to make sure his tenants aren't black or Hispanic?
Once the building was sold, the management improved significantly.