An 89-year-old rent-stabilized tenant at 985 Fifth Avenue is at the center of a showdown over Eliot Spitzer’s plan to knock down the 46-unit rental tower and replace it with luxury condos. Her lawyers say she was given a valid lease renewal, then pushed to give it back, and they are now asking state housing regulators to pump the brakes on the project.
Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey has filed an emergency complaint with the state Division of Homes and Community Renewal on behalf of tenant Stephanie Phillips, according to The Real Deal. The filing alleges Phillips received a renewal offer on Feb. 6, then was confronted days later by two men who demanded she surrender the paperwork. Bailey argues that a landlord’s written offer to renew can be binding for the length of the tenant’s acceptance period and notes that a DHCR settlement conference took place on March 4. The Real Deal also reports that Spitzer submitted demolition applications for each tenant in May 2024 and that Bailey’s team has told regulators those filings did not adequately prove the developer can cover tenant relocation costs. The plan is to replace the rental building with high-end condominiums, and some units in the existing tower are listed at more than $30,000 a month in rent, according to StreetEasy.
Developer pushes back
A spokesperson for 985 Fifth told The Real Deal that the renewal documents were “sent in error by the management company in direct contravention of what they were instructed to do.” The spokesperson said the tenant’s lease had expired and that the owner is pursuing a separate DHCR procedure to enforce its claimed right not to renew. Spitzer’s side also points out that the project has already cleared several design and review checkpoints and says it is following required regulatory steps while the agency weighs the emergency complaint and related filings.
Landmarks approvals and the timeline
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has advanced the application multiple times. Public hearing notices and presentation materials describe a proposal to demolish the 1970 building and put up a new structure within the Metropolitan Museum Historic District. Notices published in the City Record show hearings and certificate actions for 985 Fifth Avenue in 2023 and again in late 2025, and LPC presentation materials outline amendments to an earlier certificate of appropriateness. Together, these actions have left DHCR review as the main procedural obstacle tied to any demolition that would affect rent-stabilized units. City Record notices from July 25, 2023, and City Record notices from Nov. 18, 2025, list the LPC calendar items for the address.
Legal implications
Because the building includes rent-stabilized apartments, any demolition that involves removing those regulated units must get DHCR approval first. Tenants and their attorneys can use emergency complaints and agency correspondence to slow or potentially derail that process. New York’s rent-regulation framework, particularly the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, strengthened protections for stabilized tenants and has turned agency review and legal challenges into a regular feature of high-end conversion efforts. The state HCR details how rent-stabilization rules and its oversight shape demolition and withdrawal procedures, and Homes and Community Renewal publishes summaries of those rules.
For now, the two sides are locked in at the agency level. The tenant’s emergency complaint and earlier letters from Bailey’s office have forced the developer to defend its approach even as it leans on prior Landmarks approvals. Whatever DHCR decides to do next, the battle is a reminder that rent-stabilized tenants and aggressive counsel can stretch out redevelopment timelines along trophy corridors like Fifth Avenue. Expect more DHCR filings and scheduling notices before any wrecking ball shows up at 985 Fifth.
