NYC residents fume over potential $30M sale of 110-spot parking lot which co-op board kept secret

Tempers are flaring at an East Village co-op over the board potentially selling one of its parking lots without keeping shareholders in the loop.Around 400 residents at Village View — a seven-building Mitchell-Lama complex with 1,236 units between East Second and East Sixth streets and First Avenue and Avenue A — have signed a petition seeking transparency around the proposed sale and redevelopment of Parking Lot 7.Angry shareholders say the board has been breadcrumbing information about the potential sale — that it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing a sale and has received a bid for $30 million — but has failed to disclose all details, provide proper notice, release all documents and halt any redevelopment actions until a shareholder vote.The Post has learned that the board received six or seven bids for nine-story rental buildings with an affordability component, starting at a mid-$30 million price.The board is waiting for the “best and final offers,” said the board’s representative, land-use attorney Jodi Stein.“No decisions have been made with regard to the sale,” said Stein, a partner at Sheppard.Regardless, the board doesn’t have to obtain shareholder approval in order to proceed.Shareholder Sebastian Kot cited part of Business Corporation Law, Section 909, as the reason why the board should have informed shareholders about selling the lot. Section 909 says if a corporation wants to sell, lease, exchange or otherwise get rid of all, or substantially all, of its assets, and this move is outside its normal, everyday business operations, the board must pass the proposal along to the shareholders for a vote.The board said the irregular lot is about 100 feet by 230 feet, and though it represents around one third of the property’s parking spots, it is a fraction of the size of the complex.

“This is but a small portion of what they own,” Stein said.Kot has lived in the complex for more than 20 years and has one of the 110 ...