under an interimagreement that was extended Wednesday. The agreement, which wasset to expire at the end of January, adjusts market-rate rents toestimated rent-stabilized levels for a group of tenants thatsuccessfully sued the massive complex's ownership in a case thatwent all the way to the state's highest court. The court ruled lastOctober that Stuy-Town's ownership, a joint venture led by TishmanSpeyer Properties and Blackrock Realty, illegally deregulatedsome 4,400 units at the 11,227-unit complex on Manhattan's EastSide.

According to a joint statement issued Wednesday by the JV andtwo law firms representing the tenants, Wolf Haldenstein AdlerFreeman & Herz LLP and Bernstein Liebhard LLP, "Each affectedtenant will also continue to be afforded certain rights as ifpursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law, including renewal andsuccession rights." Additionally, tenants will be reimbursed fortheir November and December 2009 rent payments, "either by way of acorresponding reduction of current tenants' March 2010 rent billsor a refund check issued to former tenants who moved after payingtheir November and/or December rents," according to thestatement.

The two sides are working to negotiate a settlement to thelawsuit, which under Wednesday's agreement will proceed as a classaction. They expect that rents for the 4,400 affected units will berecalculated over the next few months by an independent consultant,"who has been selected but not yet formally retained," thestatement says.