Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village (/ˈstaɪvəsənt/ STY-və-sənt), colloquially known as StuyTown, is a large post–World War II private residential development on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

Later, Slovaks and other Eastern Europeans were the dominant ethnic groups, including a large population of Armenians who lived in the upper Twenties between First and Lexington avenues.

When Alexander S. Williams was promoted to police captain on May 31, 1872, and assigned to the area, he met the gangs' violence with equal force of his own, putting together a brute squad that beat up gangsters with clubs.

"[23] Although nominally a private development, it was championed by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who has been called the "dominant force in [the] creation" of both Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

[24] At the behest of Mayor LaGuardia, Moses sought "to induce insurance companies and savings banks to enter the field of large-scale slum clearance.

Councilmen Stanley M. Isaacs and Benjamin J. Davis Jr. sought to introduce a provision into the contract that would prevent racial or religious discrimination in tenant selection.

This provision was not accepted; those who rejected it, including Robert Moses, argued that the company's profitability would be harmed, and that opponents were "obviously looking for a political issue and not for results in the form of actual slum clearance.

[30] Lee Lorch, a City College of New York professor, petitioned to allow African Americans into the development, and was fired from his teaching position as a result of pressure from Metropolitan Life.

Upon accepting a position at Pennsylvania State University, Lorch allowed a black family to occupy his apartment, thus circumventing the 'no Negroes' rule.

In July 1947, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the development was private and that, in the absence of laws to the contrary, the company could discriminate as it saw fit.

Lawsuits were brought by property owners of the land, but in February 1944 the Supreme Court of the United States refused to review the constitutionality of the New York State law that enabled the development, despite the taking of public property for private profit, the granting of tax exemptions, and the public benefits advanced by the developers and their advocates.

[35][36] In October 2006, MetLife agreed to sell the complex to Tishman Speyer Properties and the real estate arm of BlackRock for $5.4 billion.

The sale was expected to close by November 15, 2006, according to documents which CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate broker representing MetLife, sent to bidders.

[37] New York City Council member Daniel Garodnick, a lifelong resident of Peter Cooper Village, attempted to organize tenants and investors to place a buyout bid on the complex.

[39][29] Tishman Speyer paid just $56 million in cash for the property while raising $4 billion in debt from Wachovia and another $500 million from Merrill Lynch & Co.[40] On January 22, 2007, a class action lawsuit was filed against MetLife, Tishman Speyer Properties, and their associates on behalf of the market rate tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

[44] While the legal battle over rent stabilization played a small role in the demise, it is likely Tishman Speyer would have defaulted even had it won the case.

As of October 2015[update], the property was set to be sold to Blackstone Group LP and Ivanhoé Cambridge, the real-estate arm of pension-fund giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec for about $5.3 billion.

New York City was expected to contribute $225 million to help preserve a portion of the complex as affordable to low- and middle-income residents.

[47] The Federal National Mortgage Association would be providing Blackstone with a $2.7 billion loan through Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, and the debt would have a term of 10 years.

[49] Growing rents and a gradual conversion of more rent-regulated units to market rates brought the net operating income of the property up each year from 2006 - 2015.

Its design was heavily influenced by the modernist "Towers in the park" theory advocated by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier[52] in which residences consist of tall apartment buildings situated within a park-like environment.

[4] In 2018, an estimated 10% of Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

[64] The requirement of photo ID card-keys was introduced in mid-October 2008 in Stuyvesant Town, and replaced door keys to each building's lobby.

[55]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown is 0.0102 milligrams per cubic metre (1.02×10−8 oz/cu ft), more than the city average.

[70] The United States Postal Service operates the Peter Stuyvesant Station post office at 335 East 14th Street.

[71] Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update].

[55]: 6  The percentage of Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.

[72] Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City.

[56]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [55]: 6  Additionally, 91% of high school students in Stuyvesant Town and East Midtown graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.