Tenants, IPN Owner-to-Be, Stake Claims By Ronald Drenger As Independence Plaza tenants return home from work these days, they’re likely to encounter one or two of their neighbors, volunteer fundraisers for IPN’s tenant association, seated behind a table in the lobby. Often there’s an exchange of smiles and neighborly chatter, but the volunteers’ presence is a daily reminder that, as far as the association’s leaders are concerned, the tenants are facing a fight to save their homes. “Most people are saying they want to contribute,” said April Lang, the fundraising coordinator at 80 North Moore Street, one of IPN’s three 39-story towers. “It’s not with enthusiasm. It’s more fear that’s operating here.” The city’s Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD) is reviewing the proposed sale of IPN to developer Larry Gluck, who intends to withdraw from the Mitchell-Lama government housing program that keeps rents below market value in IPN’s 1,330 apartments. Tenants fear that their rents will rise to unaffordable levels. Last month, while the tenants launched fundraising and voter registration drives to counter the perceived threat, Gluck sought to reassure them, at least those with low and moderate incomes, that they had little to fear. In a phone interview with the Trib, Gluck said he understood the tenants’ concerns. But he said that after a buyout, “rent-burdened” tenants, who he estimated make up 75 percent of IPN’s population, would qualify for government subsidies covering the difference between what they can afford and market-level rents. Rent increases for the rest of the tenants, “whose wealth level qualifies them as not rent burdened,” will have to be negotiated, he said. Tenant association president Neil Fabricant said no tenant should feel safe. Since the federal government has to reappropriate funding for subsidy programs every year, low-income tenants are not guaranteed protection. And in other residential complexes where landlords withdrew from Mitchell-Lama, even when the tenants fought in court, “the tenants ultimately had to settle for a bad deal,” he said. On Oct. 16, Fabricant told hundreds of residents in a theater at Borough of Manhattan Community College that they will have to raise up to $350,000, round up substantial political support and remain united to keep their rents affordable. “We’re not going to let them kick us out of our homes,” he said to loud applause. Most apartments are being asked to pledge $500 to a defense fund. “We need a deal-making law firm, a litigating firm and maybe a lobbying firm. We need them to know that we’re serious, and the only way is to register to vote and kick in the money to pay the professionals.” If Gluck’s purchase of IPN is approved by HPD, the buyout from Mitchell-Lama would probably take one to two years. Fabricant said that a real estate finance consulting firm hired by the tenants association was devising an alternative model, perhaps for a limited-equity co-op. Tenants could buy their apartments for below-market prices, and those who declined would be protected from steep rent increases. “I have a binding contract to purchase the asset,” Gluck said of such a plan. “I don’t understand how that will work.” Regarding the tenant group’s rallying to fight for their homes, Gluck said, “It’s prudent on their part, but it’s my strong hope we can sit down at the table and negotiate as gentlemen and come to an agreement that is comfortable for both sides.”