By Terry Stoller

Introduction

By the early 1980s, Westbeth was in arrears for more than $2 million¹: monies were owed on the HUD mortgage, both on the principal and the interest. And HUD was threatening foreclosure. Determined that Westbeth remain an affordable housing for artists, and fed up with Jerome Belson’s management, officers of WARC set out to find a solution. They formed a committee to identify long-term options for Westbeth’s survival. WARC officers hired a lawyer and met with HUD in New York City and in D.C. in their attempt to fend off the foreclosure threat while they came up with a viable plan in which Westbeth could start paying back the monies owed. This chapter recounts WARC’s efforts in the fight for the survival of Westbeth as affordable housing for our artists.

Letter to “Dear Resident” from WARC chairperson Robert Jensen, Sept. 21, 1981 (excerpt)

“As you know, there is a growing uneasiness in the building regarding Westbeth’s future. We have watched our area change in eleven years from a district of warehouses to a district of expensive residential lofts and apartments, while we remain a group of low and moderate income artists. The new federal administration is attempting to eliminate subsid[i]es for housing and reduce support for the arts, rather than continue the social goals alive when Westbeth was founded. Our $11 million mortgage remains unpaid, and H.U.D. has indicated in the past year that this forgiveness will not be allowed to continue. … In response, we as residents have been acting. We have an agreement between ourselves, H.U.D. and the Board of Directors which sets a mor[a]torium on mortgage repayments until June 1983, and keeps our rents within specified limits until then.”

Westbeth Fest, Celebration of the Arts! 81

In his Sept. 1981 letter, Robert Jensen cited the arts festivals at Westbeth—the tenth anniversary in 1980 and the upcoming celebration in 1981—“which help make legitimate to the public the tax support we receive for our studios.” That 1981 arts event, scheduled for a weekend in October, took place in the courtyard, the Community Room, the Gallery, the Westbeth Theatre Center, the Synagogue, the Riverwest Theatre, the Merce Cunningham Studio. There was jazz, opera, dance, plays, film, art exhibits, poetry and prose readings.

Aviva Davidson, performing arts producer, co-organizer of the event: One of the things I remember caring about a lot was what I called “ambiance,” and it was what happened in the courtyard. Christina [Maile] designed the courtyard ambiance.

Christina Maile, visual artist, writer: The ambiance for the courtyard was to create excitement, movement, and draw attention. I rippled through the Yellow Pages to find an ad that fulfilled those requirements. This is how I discovered a company that rented out flags and flagpoles. I called them and explained the great advertising they would get by donating the rental fees. On the early morning of the event, a truck drove up, and men came pouring out hoisting up pennants and flags in different colors on about 20 tall flagpoles with heavy metal bases installed throughout the entire courtyard. It looked amazing!

WARC Explores Long-Term Options for Westbeth’s Survival

Report from the Long-Term Options Committee [circa 1981], appended by
the names of the co-chairs Julie Dubow and Andrea Mihok and 14 members (excerpt)

“Last year when HUD increased our rents by 37% over a three-year period, HUD, the Residents’ council and the Board of Directors signed a letter of agreement. One paragraph in that agreement says:

“ ‘The parties shall actively explore various suggestions for insuring such long-term viability including sale of the development to the residents, converting the development to cooperative or condominium ownership, recasting the mortgage indebtedness and bringing additional subsidies to the development and its residents. All such explorations shall be based on the goal of preserving the present character of the development as a residence for persons of low and moderate income who are engaged in various creative and artistic pursuits and for the families of such persons.’ ”

Merlyn Hurd, psychologist, neurotherapist, actress: We had been putting together all kinds of ideas. Bob [Robert Jensen], the architect—I did a lot of discussion with him and with other members of the board. We put together what would have been a cooperative here. And it was a very logical one. With Robert’s architectural background and art history background, it had so much depth to it. So we put it together, and then we set up a meeting with Joan [Kaplan Davidson], a luncheon meeting, so that we could discuss it, all thinking she would agree to this. We hoped she would. … We laid out how the I Building could have been made more productive, profitable. And how it wouldn’t have cost more than—at that point in time—about $30,000 a unit to buy. …

We presented it and she said that it was very well thought out, and that she would look at it. And being an actress and Robert being who he was, which was an intuitive person also, we got the picture very early on she had no intention of ever supporting it. She was very diplomatic, so that she didn’t say no at the luncheon, but it was clear, even though we had a really good plan. And I think we had quite a few people in the building who were in support of it. I remember it was a lot of people eventually.

Andrea Mihok, writer, actress: We optioned a feasibility study with a very good lawyer, and he drew up the plan for the co-op. And we kept saying, this is limited equity. You could not turn the co-op over for a profit. It had to go to an artist on the list. But we were constantly accused of trying to make money off of it. Some pretty nasty hate mail came along with that. … We tried everything else we could think of. We spent hours trying to contact people who might give us money. That’s what the opposition in the building thought we should do. We were artists and people should support. They said there are people who will give money to keep us afloat. It just didn’t exist. The idea of the co-op was kind of our last straw. There wasn’t any other option except a large rent increase.

Mae Gamble and Andrea Mihok of WARC and Board of Directors Chairman
James Shaw Go to Washington [Feb. 23, 1983]

Andrea Mihok: It was during the Reagan years, and you can imagine how HUD would look upon housing for artists. They were unnecessarily rude to us.

The Media Weighs In

Westbeth’s struggles made headlines in the New York Times and was closely followed in The Villager.

“Westbeth Races Foreclosure Deadline,” Joseph Malinconico, New York Times, May 22, 1983 (excerpt)
“Countless handbills and posters clutter the cork bulletin boards near the mailboxes at Westbeth … But amid the colorful cluster, a block of black print on white paper stands out. It is a letter from Representative Theodore Weiss to Secretary Samuel R. Pierce of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, asking the Federal Agency to be more patient and understanding in dealing with the financial problems threatening the complex. At the bottom of the letter, someone has scribbled, ‘Tenants—Stop splitting or we’ll all be on the street.’ ”

“The Case Favoring Westbeth Co-ops,” New York Times,
Letter to the Editor, June 12, 1983; signed by photographer Shelley Seccombe
“As a member of the Westbeth Residents Council, I liken the situation at our building to that of a patient facing complicated medical treatment. Without the treatment he will probably die. But he mistrusts the doctor and fears the cost and pain of the recommended course. In such circumstances the wise patient seeks expert advice, asks many questions and informs himself. If alternatives exist, they are explored and the risks weighed. The Residents Council has spent much time and effort, with the help of several excellent committees, investigating options for the survival and continuous financial health of the building and its tenants. The needs of all, co-opers or not, have been carefully considered and we believe the co-op plan to be a good one. In the absence of a viable alternative, opposition on emotional or political grounds seems suicidal.”

In Spring 1983, Westbeth Regularly Made Villager Headlines. A Few Examples:
“Westbeth at a Crossroads: Is Co-oping a Viable Future?” The Villager, April 28, 1983
“Westbeth Tenants Still Split on Answer to Debt Crisis,” The Villager, May 26, 1983
“Westbeth Inches Closer to Financial Solution with HUD,” The Villager, June 30, 1983

Time Out for Potluck Dinner (Oct. 18, 1983)

Letter to Westbeth Residents from WARC’s Mae Gamble, Andrea Mihok,
and Mordecai Siegal, Nov. 20, 1983 (excerpt)

“We have at last reached an agreement with H.U.D. regarding a way to work out the long-term financial problems of Westbeth. They have signed a six-month provisional work-out agreement, which states that we must pay full debt service. The 22% increase that we received in November will generate enough cash to do that. They have also agreed to let us pursue the development of a limited-equity co-op as a means to raise enough cash to: (a) do the necessary and recommended repairs to the building and (b) pay a portion of the interest and principal arrears which we owe them. They are willing to recast about half of the money owed them over the remaining twenty-six years of the mortgage. They demand that the partial payment of arrears be accomplished by October of 1985 or they will foreclose. …

“David Sweet has been retained as the lawyer for the development of the prospectus. Elliott Glass has been hired to do a complete engineering study. Jerome Belson Associates, under our supervision, will do the work relating to the allocation of shares. The Settlement Housing Fund, a not-for-profit housing consultant group, will assist us with planning the prospectus and attaining bank loans for residents.”

Plans for Co-oping Still Not Resolved, but Life Goes On at Westbeth

The Opposition Groups

Strongly disagreeing with the council’s co-op plan, a group “hired a lawyer who questioned the legality of converting a 501 (C)(3) not-for-profit corporation to a limited equity cooperative.”³

“Artist-Housing Tenants Are Split on Co-op Plan,” William G. Blair, New York Times, Nov. 24, 1985 (excerpt)
“On one side, supporting co-oping of the rental complex as the only way to save it while essentially preserving its special character and nonprofit status, is the Westbeth Artists-Residents Council. On the other, saying the conversion plan would do just the opposite, is the Westbeth Artists in Opposition to the Co-op.⁴ … The issue is before State Attorney General Robert Abrams, whose office is responsible for determining the legality of cooperative-conversion proposals. Unlike most co-op plans, however, the Westbeth proposal is being scrutinized not only by the Real Estate Financing Bureau of the State Law Department, which is normal, but also by the Charities, Trusts and Estates Bureau, which is not. The Charities Bureau is examining whether, under the state law covering not-for-profit corporations, the issue should not first go to State Supreme Court for a ruling.”

In 1986, Co-op Off, Rent Increases In

Retrospective Letter to Board Members from Former Tenant Representatives on the Board of Directors, Sept. 26, 2003 (excerpt)
“After an engineering study that revealed needed capital improvements, the development of a proposal, and many arguments and conflicts among the two groups of tenants who were divided on the co-op issue, the Westbeth Housing Development Fund withdrew its support of the tenant plan and voted down the limited-equity cooperative. They opted instead for a series of rent increases. H.U.D. accepted this alternative proposal, tacitly approving deferment of the capital improvements. This was 1986.”⁵

Andrea Mihok: I think we were relieved. It was one meeting of the Board of Directors, and Jerome Belson was officiating as he always did. The board members just came and ate lunch and listened and Belson told them about everything. It was Belson who told us what arrears we were in. He said, But even if you co-op, you’re going to have to take a rent increase. And we said, Yes, we understand there will probably be maintenance that will be more than we’re paying in rent. And he said, Really? And he leapt up from his chair and rushed out into the hall dragging us with him and said, You will take a rent increase? And we said, Well, yes, we understand we will need to. And he rushed back and said, It’s all settled. They’re taking a rent increase. And that was the end of the co-op.

Andrea went on to explain: “The lawyer who drew up the plan … wanted very much to get a tax break for the amount of interest we had to pay because all of us would have had to borrow money somehow to pay.⁶ … He worked day and night on that for a long time and postponed it so long that it kind of pushed it to a climax, and that was that board meeting. We realized that they were never going to give us a co-op, so we took the rent increase.

George Cominskie, longtime resident of Westbeth: HUD was threatening to foreclose on our mortgage. Mae Gamble and Fay Spahn traveled to Washington to seek the assistance of Senator Alfonse D’Amato. They wanted his help to convince HUD to extend our HUD mortgage for an additional three years. This additional three years would pay for the arrears and eliminate the foreclosure threat. HUD did extend our mortgage for three years, and the co-op plan faded when we were no longer under the threat of foreclosure.

WARC Accomplishments Following the “Co-op” Years, per the Sept. 26, 2003, Letter to Board Members (excerpt)

“In 1987 the tenant members of the Board started a search for new outside members. The existing outside members had served on the board for almost twenty years. … The tenants were eager for a new board that would get us out of our financial dilemma. Over a period of a year, a new board was constituted. Mae Gamble was elected its president because she was the board member with the most tenure. In 1990, Carl Stein, a Village resident and practicing architect, became its president. … In addition to reconstituting itself as a board, the Westbeth directors began a long process of researching management companies. … A company had to be found that would decrease operating expenses, increase revenue from commercial tenants, and build a reserve fund for capital improvements. T.U.C. Management was chosen on the recommendation of Clara Fox and Anne Loeb, of Settlement Housing Funds, Inc. … The first major accomplishment of the new board and management was getting H.U.D. to recast the mortgage so that Westbeth was no longer in default and vulnerable to foreclosure.”⁷

Looking Back at the Co-op Plan

Merlyn Hurd: It would have been incredible for all of us to have owned our area. It would have been fabulous. I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, and one of the things that you always did was you owned where you lived. To me it made sense that we own where we live. To me, it would give a lot of stability to the building, … a wonderful stability and ownership for everyone: actors, all forms of artists.

Joya Staack, former WARC officer and board member: I was for the co-op very much because I felt it would be wonderful for artists to own their own space. With hindsight, I’m very glad that we did not co-op because we are independent in ways that we would not have been if we had been co-oped—and we are now with New York’s DHCR [Division of Housing and Community Renewal], and it looks good for Westbeth to be an artists housing for this area.

And Time to Remember the Arts

Caricature by Sherry Lane

Drawing by John Manship

For more tenant stories celebrating 50 years at Westbeth, go to westbeth.org/westbeth-chronicles/

Coming next: Chapter 5: Final Thoughts from WARC Officers, Past and Present

Notes and Sources for Chapter 4

Notes:

As I stated in Chapter 1, the contents of Westbeth X Files are taken from remembrances of residents along with documentation from tenants and tenant councils—as well as some newspaper reports. This is not a comprehensive research project, but instead a sample of materials I have archived for WARC.

In addition to the names of the WARC officers and tenant board members cited herein, there were many residents who gave their time and energy in the years-long effort to prevent foreclosure of Westbeth. People worked on committees; went door to door explaining the options; joined the efforts to raise funds for the lawyer and the various professional studies.

1. The “delinquencies” as of March 1983 “totaled more than $2.4 million,” according to Stephen May, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Legislation and Congressional Relations, in a letter addressed to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan (date stamped: March 21, 1983).
2. December 5, 1982, “Results, to Date, of the Survey taken in Westbeth,” Letterhead: Westbeth Artists-Residents Council.
3. “A History of the Finances and Governance of Westbeth,” Sept. 26, 2003, letter addressed to the Westbeth Housing Development Fund Directors, signed Mae Gamble, Andrea Mihok, Fay Spahn, and Joya Staack, all former tenant representatives on the Board of Directors.
4. I have not come across that group name. Memos in the archival paperwork are from Concerned Citizens of Westbeth.
5. See note 3.
6. A Feasibility Study summary (1982), done by Charles Laven of Caine, Gressel, Midgley & Slater, listed a number of assumptions for a limited-equity co-op, including: “Down payments of $10,500 per apartment necessary” and “Minimum sales of 300 units needed to raise $3,000,000 for rehab and delinquencies.” The paperwork I have is the summary distributed by WARC in June 1982, for a meeting and discussion. The files don’t include a prospectus.
7. See note 3.

Interviews by author, tape recorded, and email

Cominskie, George, email, Aug. 21, 2026
Davidson, Aviva, telephone, Feb. 18, 2023
Hurd, Merlyn, New York City, May 24, 2026
Maile, Christina, email, April 2, 2026
Mihok, Andrea, telephone, Sept. 3, 2024
Staack, Joya, New York City, July 30, 2026

New York Times articles and Letter to the Editor were retrieved from digitized versions of the Times’s print archive at nytimes.com.

Written material

WARC’s archival papers

Special thanks

Joya Staack for WARC flyers, artwork, minutes and correspondence; Aviva Davidson for materials connected to Westbeth Fest! 81; Sherry Lane for her caricature of the Westbeth Residents’ Performing Arts Center. John Turner for scans and posters. And as always, to Fred Gates for design and layout.