Oct 20, 2008 7:42 pm US/Eastern
Carnegie Hall Tenant Wants $10 Million To Move Out
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
An elderly woman facing eviction is ready to fight back against her landlord: Carnegie Hall. She's lived in her rent-controlled apartment above the famed concert hall for almost 60 years, but is now engaged in a vicious battle with the 57th Street landmark.
Inside Editta Sherman's 800 square foot studio apartment is where history and legends have been captured for nearly 60 years.
"This is Andy Warhol. We were photographed, and he did a film on me," she explains, showing a picture to CBS 2. "That's me there with Henry Fonda."
Back in 1949, Sherman, her husband, and five children moved into her rent-controlled apartment over the concert hall.
But Carnegie Hall says it's outgrown its space and now needs all the apartments in the complex, including Sherman's, whose rent is $568 a month. It's renovating the backstage areas and taking over all of the studio towers.
Sherman's son says the situation is up in the air and that their attorneys have been talking to Carnegie Hall, but at this time its unclear if and when Sherman will have to leave her home of 59 years.
A spokesperson for Carnegie Hall sent us this statement which reads:
"We're sensitive to what these changes mean to our rent controlled subtenants. We're committed to working with them to ease their transition, including relocating them to equivalent or superior apartments in the neighborhood and paying any differential in rent for the remainder of their lives."
"I don't want to move. I'm used to being here now and I'm 96 going on 97 and I don't know how long I am going to live," she says.
Sherman says she is willing to look at a new apartment, but wants Carnegie Hall to pay a substantial amount to convince her to move – apparently to the tune of $10 million.
Carnegie Hall has already won a lawsuit that forced more than 30 tenants to leave by last March to make way for a $150 million overhaul of the towers into arts education space
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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