
Google Maps (2024)
A 100-year-old York Avenue rental building spanning an entire block appears to be slated for demolition.
According to a Monday report by Crain’s New York Business, the Stahl Organization has submitted plans to demolish the rental building at 1221 York Avenue, a residential structure located between East 66th Street and East 65th Street. The building is six stories tall and contains 82 units—43 of which are still occupied.
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Crain’s added that many of the tenants still living in the building are in rent-stabilized apartments, and that the Stahl Organization, which has owned 1221 York Avenue since at least 1977, has plans to either help residents find new homes or compensate them for the apartments they will ultimately lose access to.
Socony Hall was built in 1925. In 2021, the building was at the center of controversy when the Stahl Organization ripped up a row of greenery lining the outside of the residence, supposedly to deal with a rat infestation.

Google Maps (2018)
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“During COVID, it was the brightest spot on many, many blocks,” neighbor Laura Jackson told Patch at the time.. “It was something all the hospital workers during the early months of COVID enjoyed on their way to or from work.”
Residents staged a sit-in at the time to try and dissuade Stahl from moving forward with its plans, but to no avail. One resident called the move an “irreversible decision,” according to Patch.
The Stahl Organization’s property portfolio includes roughly 3,000 apartments and more than five million square feet of commercial space, according to Crain’s New York.
East Side Feed has reached out to the Stahl Organization for additional information.
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Pretty bleak looking now.
The owners obviously stopped caring for the building waiting for the best offer. Longtime tenants are not given adequate compensation when they are forced out of their homes-yes, I know they aren’t owners but they have paid rent and taxes and stayed when so many left the city. I guess we have another glass monster to look forward to on the UES.
If they didn’t make any money from this building because the tenants still paid very low rent and the expenses kept rising then how could you expect them to care about the building? Are they obligated to do it as charity?
This is a direct consequence of the city giving a greenlight to the MSK demolition across the street.
That encourages developers to start laying waste to low rise residential buildings in the surrounding are, replacing them with anonymous tower blocks.
Yorkville is being destroyed.
This was definitely an intentional move to get the rent stabilized occupants out of the building. The company’s plan to help rent stabilize individuals find an apartment in New York City all the surrounding boroughs in my opinion will be nil. They plan to demolish a perfectly well structured building (which was sold to foreign investors) build a brand new building which will make it virtually impossible for the rent stabilized residents to move back in because the company has no intention on taking back their rent stabilize tenants, it’s just not profitable.
What type of “compensation” are they offering to the rent stabilized tenants that still occupy the building?
Is anyone aware of what type of dollar figure we’re talking…ballpark? It’s gotta be something attractive enough to get people to move out. Any idea?
Old buildings should be demolished to make room for nicer and bigger buildings. Unless they have nice architecture, which isn’t the case here