State Rules for Owners in Artist Evictions By Carl Glassman A state agency last month gave the go-ahead for the eviction of rent-stabilized tenants living above City Hall restaurant at 131-135 Duane Street. The decision by the Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), which the tenants say they will appeal, allows the owners to gut the interior of the building above the restaurant and convert it to luxury apartments. Most of the tenants are artists over 60 who pioneered the building more than 30 years ago. The group that owns the building, Duane Street Realty, includes Henry Meer, the restaurant’s proprietor, Martin Gruss, a prominent financier and philanthropist, and Gruss’ son, Joshua. The rent stabilization law allows a landlord to evict tenants if he plans to demolish his building and construct a new one in its place. DHCR rejected the tenants’ argument that the owners’ plans, which would leave the restaurant and facade intact, do not fit the definition of demolition. Demolition is the only provision in the rent stabilization law that allows the eviction of tenants over 62. “It is an egregious example of legal maneuvering and abuse of a loophole” said Assemblywoman Deborah Glick,  “and to have it validated by a state agency is outrageous.” If the agency upholds its action on appeal, tenants say they will take their battle to the courts. A loss there, tenant advocates worry, could set a precedent for other buildings. “This is the test case that everyone is watching,” said Bill Hall, co-chair of Lower Manhattan Loft Tenants. “Certainly loft tenants would be very much at risk if this is upheld.” The DHCR decision had been pending for almost two years. In that time, the tenants rounded up support not only from elected officials but also from Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff. Apparently responding to the tenants’ argument that gutting the building would not constitute demolition, in March the owners submitted papers to DHCR, signed by Meer, saying that their architect had filed new plans with the city’s Buildings Department to remove even structural floor beams that support the facade. (Exterior supports would keep up the facade, they said.) Barely a month later, DHCR issued its decision, citing the wider scope of work. Contacted by the Trib late last month, the architect, Harry Kendall, said he had “no knowledge” of the new plans. “I’m perplexed,” he said. Asked about the discrepancy, Cheri Fein, a spokeswoman for Duane Street Realty, called the owners’ claim a “misstatement.” Fein defended the evictions in a statement provided to the Trib. She said that the tenants rejected early offers “in excess” of $150,000 and that more recently three of the six tenants refused to discuss any offer and the other three would not discuss offers of less than $1 million to $1.5 million each. The tenants, who pay far less than market rate, have “earned income from their professional positions for many years,” Fein wrote, and “reaped the benefit of living in huge spaces for more than 20 years for almost no rent.” The tenants’ lawyer, Robert Petrucci, responded that his clients were interested not in money but in keeping their homes. He emphasized that most of the tenants are teachers with moderate incomes. “The owners look at this from a purely economic point of view,” he said. “We have another stake in the community that’s not economic, and these owners don’t put any kind of value on that.” Tenant Donna Dennis, the artist who created the fanciful fence at P.S. 234, agreed. “It would be the end of my life as I’ve lived it for more than 30 years, both personally and professionally,” she said.