Upper West Side Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal — who trumpets not being interested in building more market-rate housing for New Yorkers — has been living in a palatial, rent-stabilized apartment in a landmarked building for 40 years, paying only a fraction of the market rate.
The Democratic chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, pays just $1,573.37 a month to live in a five-room pad on the third floor of the St. James Court off Amsterdam Avenue, according to records viewed by The Post.
The “brick and stone structure was designed in the Renaissance Revival style, the upper façade peppered with limestone balconies and scrolled keystones . . . The residents of the St. James Court were, expectedly, well-to-do” noted a brief building history from Landmark West, an advocacy organization.
“Gorgeous, Elevator Building with Laundry and Live-in Super!” gushed a StreetEasy description of the property.
Though it boasts five rooms, Rosenthal has modestly called the apartment “a one bedroom with another small room like a maid’s room.”
A similar five-room apartment in the building rents for $5,200 a month.
Rent stabilization in the Big Apple disproportionately helps wealthy older white people who live in Manhattan, such as Rosenthal, according to a 2019 analysis by the Wall Street Journal.
Rosenthal’s 1985 rent was just $580, records show.
She inherited the apartment from her grandmother, whom she once lived there with.
She’s not shy about the place either, publicly boasting about living in the rent-regulated space on her official Assembly website.
Rosenthal’s base salary as a member of the Assembly is $142,000.
She pockets an additional $12,500 for being a committee chair.
Rosenthal voted for a jumbo pay increase for herself and her Albany colleagues in 2022.
And despite her lofty elected position and committee chair, Rosenthal has expressed little interest in building new housing.
“I’m not that worried about non-affordable housing, actually,” she told a City Hall delegation during a hearing in December. “People who have means can buy, rent anything they need in this city.”
The Adams administration is looking for ways to speed up conversions of unused office space into residential housing.
Albany lawmakers have balked at developer-led conversions which don’t include large numbers of affordable units.
Developers meanwhile have said that too many affordable units would make projects unprofitable.
“It certainly points to a need that rent stabilization for wealthy people needs to be eliminated. You know how they say tax the rich? I say increase the rent on the rich,” said Assemblyman Sam Pirozzolo (R-Staten Island).
Rosenthal defended her discount digs in a statement to The Post.
“Rent regulation protects tenants from prohibitive rent hikes and displacement, and it has provided me, my family, my west side constituents and millions of other New Yorkers with stability for decades I am proud to serve the community I grew up in, and I will continue to champion housing policies that protect all New Yorkers this legislative session,” she said.
