New York Unemployed Renters Can Exit Archstone Leases

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- New Yorkers who lose their jobs can walk away from their Archstone-Smith Trust apartment leases if they live in one of the company’s metropolitan-area buildings. The initiative, called the Archstone Lease Assurance Program, is open to those who sign or renew leases before March 21, Denver-based Archstone said in a statement today. Tenants have 45 days after a job loss to... [more]

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- New Yorkers who lose their jobs can walk away from their Archstone-Smith Trust apartment leases if they live in one of the company’s metropolitan-area buildings. The initiative, called the Archstone Lease Assurance Program, is open to those who sign or renew leases before March 21, Denver-based Archstone said in a statement today. Tenants have 45 days after a job loss to cancel their rental contracts without penalty, the company said. “New York is one of the hardest hit markets and many people have a very real concern about the stability of their jobs,” Matt Smith, Archstone’s executive vice president of operations for the east region, said in the statement. “We want to give them some peace of mind in making the important decision of where to call home.” New York City will lose nearly 300,000 jobs from the middle of 2008 through 2010, with 46,000 coming from financial services, according to city budget officials. Archstone’s tenant initiative comes as car companies and airlines offer similar contingency plans to would-be customers who might be lured by an escape clause. JetBlue Airways Corp. announced in February it would refund fares to some customers who are laid off after buying tickets. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, promised in January to buy back vehicles from U.S. customers who lose their jobs, a bid to boost sales in the country’s slumping car market. Archstone has at least 13 buildings in Manhattan; Brooklyn; Hoboken, New Jersey; and on Long Island, according to its Web site. Luxury Amenities They include the Archstone Chelsea, where units come with washers and dryers, bamboo floors and custom lighting. The Archstone Clinton on West 52nd Street features a rooftop lounge with panoramic views of Manhattan, stainless steel appliances and “high efficiency” windows that dissipate cold and heat from outside. Available one-bedroom apartments rent for around $3,300 a month and two-bedrooms for about $5,000 in the landlord’s Chelsea building. At an East 39th Street property, two-bedrooms start at around $4,200 and studios at $2,600. Manhattan rents fell in the fourth quarter as the recession entered its second year and Wall Street cut jobs. Rents fell 3.9 percent for studios to an average of $1,841, according to a Jan. 14 report by Citi-Habitats Inc., a Manhattan-based real estate broker. Rents for one-bedroom apartments dropped 2.5 percent to $2,527 on average and two-bedroom apartments fell 4.2 percent from a year earlier to $3,551. Three-bedrooms dropped 0.1 percent to an average of $4,712. Archstone was the biggest U.S. apartment REIT by market value when a group led by Tishman Speyer Properties LP bought it in 2007 for $13.5 billion. Archstone had expanded in urban markets in New York, California and Massachusetts, where job growth drove rental demand. [less]