A Man, A Plan, A Five-Story Tenement Building: The New Economakis Of The East Village

The Latter-Day Vanderbilts trying to turn an entire East Village building into their own private five-story, 15-apartment, 60-room building — or, possibly, as a ruse to evict undermarket rent-stabilized tenants — has won an appeals court ruling to go ahead with the dream:

The state Appellate Division has given Alistair and Catherine Economakis the green light to go ahead with eviction proceedings to boot the remaining low-income tenants from their five-story apartment building at 47 E. 3rd St.

“I’m disappointed,” said David Pultz, who has lived in his $625-a-month one-bedroom apartment since 1978. “My fear is I won’t be able to live in the city anymore.”

“We’re very shocked, very stunned,” said Janet Dunson, who has lived in the building for 17 years. “It looks like it’s open season on tenants.”

The Economakises say they have big plans for the five-story, 15-apartment, 60-room building.

In a letter they wrote to their tenants in 2003 explaining their plans to evict them, the couple — she’s the daughter of a Columbia University dean, and he’s the son of a Greek shipping magnate — said their current apartment in Brooklyn was too cramped and they needed more space.