Westview has a deal.

That announcement was made Wednesday by the Westview Taskforce (WTI) and Northtown Phase III Associates (NTP3). In a press release, Opher Pail of the Taskforce and Charles Lucido, representing the owners, said, "We are pleased to announce that a Letter of Intent (LOI) was executed between the parties... in a manner that would preserve affordable housing at Westview for years."

Meanwhile, the Sheldrake lawsuit that had threatened to hold up deals at both Island House and Westview was dismissed a week ago, on all counts.

The terms of the Westview LOI include a November 30 deadline for negotiating a ground-lease extension with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC).

The WTI-NTP3 release goes on to say that WTI will purchase 65% of NTP3’s interest and sponsor a conversion through which tenants will have the opportunity to purchase their apartments at an average $182 per square foot (about $129,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, $226,000 for two bedrooms), while non-buyers will receive rent protections similar to New York City rent stabilization guidelines.

Charles Lucido’s company, Westview Houses, Inc., will retain 35% of the building, including any apartments where tenants opt not to purchase.

In a letter to Judith Calogero, the Commissioner of the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), obtained by The WIRE, WTI says that, for the lowest-rent apartments, the purchase price could go as low as $160 to $170 per square foot. Tenants of these apartments, says the letter, "are expected to be in a better position" by becoming owners rather than remaining as renters. For the most desirable apartments, purchase cost will be higher than the expected average of $182/square foot.

The letter to Calogero also states an intent to reduce operating expenses 20%, from 83 cents per month per square foot to 66 cents. The presumption is that, if ground rent and payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) remain the same as now, the average increase in common charges over current rent will be just seven percent – less in the case of the lower-cost apartments.

The deal provides for a $5 million payment to RIOC and a ground-rent increase of $191,330 to be funded from "flip taxes" charged when apartments are sold.

Under the terms of the deal, 31 vacant apartments will be offered at market prices. The resulting cash is described as earmarked "to generate cash to finance the building purchase, establish a reserve for building repairs, and create affordable opportunities of home ownership."

The plan envisions enforcing income limits on outside buyers "to maintain the middle-income character" of the building. The letter to Calogero says the maximum houshold income for the last full Mitchell-Lama year will be the base, to be adjusted yearly based on the rent-stabilization increase permitted by the City.

The letter presents an "estimated conversion timeline:"

• Ground-lease extension by the end of October.

• An offering plan by February 1.

• Approval of the plan by the end of 2007.

• Closing March 31, 2008.