Patricia O’Grady moved into the top floor of a Greenwich Village walk-up in 1955 with three other roommates. In exchange for a discounted rent of $16, the four women would help sweep the hallway. The unit had nothing except walls and floor, so the girls, all aspiring actresses, added to it themselves with small amenities and a sink. Though the other roommates moved on, O’Grady never did, and because of that, she had the ultimate NYC prize: $28 a month rent. O’Grady, 84, was fatally struck by a car just a few feet from her home in March, but until then, she paid $28.43 a month for the apartment.
Adam Pomerantz bought O’Grady’s building, which also houses his business, Murray’s Bagels, in 2002. He “consulted with an attorney to find out if this rent was possible.” He discovered it was a legitimate rent, but using a rent-control-formula, he was able to increase her rent $1.98 — she had been paying $26.45 before he bought the building.
Besides being one of, if not the, cheapest apartment in Greenwich Village, it was also potentially New York City’s last cold-water flat: It had neither heat nor hot water, reports New York Post. O’Grady never let Pomerantz update the apartment and would fight back against any changes he tried to make.
“I didn’t even know that [cold-water flats] existed anymore,” Ava Farkas, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, said to New York Post, “I think that’s highly, highly rare.” Farkas had not heard of a lower current rent in New York City.
Other landlords tried to force O’Grady out. A fire was set with the intention of evicting rent-controlled tenants, said O’Grady’s sister, Roberta. Everybody left except O’Grady.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
