under an interim agreement that was extended Wednesday. The agreement, which was set to expire at the end of January, adjusts market-rate rents to estimated rent-stabilized levels for a group of tenants that successfully sued the massive complex's ownership in a case that went all the way to the state's highest court. The court ruled last October that Stuy-Town's ownership, a joint venture led by Tishman Speyer Properties and Blackrock Realty, illegally deregulated some 4,400 units at the 11,227-unit complex on Manhattan's East Side.

According to a joint statement issued Wednesday by the JV and two law firms representing the tenants, Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP and Bernstein Liebhard LLP, "Each affected tenant will also continue to be afforded certain rights as if pursuant to the Rent Stabilization Law, including renewal and succession rights." Additionally, tenants will be reimbursed for their November and December 2009 rent payments, "either by way of a corresponding reduction of current tenants' March 2010 rent bills or a refund check issued to former tenants who moved after paying their November and/or December rents," according to the statement.

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

Since the two sides worked out the interim agreement in December, Stuy-Town's current ownership first defaulted on the $3-billion mortgage, then turned the 56-building complex over to creditors last month. A number of high-profile would-be buyers, including Donald Trump and billionaire Wilbur Ross, have said publicly that they'd be interested in buying Stuy-Town, but a change of ownership could be months away.

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