Back in August the Boston City Council held a housing hearing in regards to Anwar Faisal’s master lease agreement with Northeastern University. Faisal owns Alpha Management Corporation, a real estate firm the Council contends preys on unsuspecting college students and young professionals to sign a lease for a living space that’s barely up to health and safety codes, if at all. And while both sides have stated their piece, Northeastern has been noticeably quiet on the subject.
Freshman Councilor Josh Zakim has been spearheading the charge against Faisal, having filed the initial ordinance for a hearing, and even evoking summoning power for Faisal to testify on his behalf after declining to appear at one hearing and reneging on his promise to appear at another.
The purpose of the hearing was to determine the intricacies of the master lease agreement with Northeastern. I mean, why would any reputable higher education institution want to do business with a man branded a slumlord by municipal officials after not one, but two, exposés (here and here) were published highlighting his utter lack of managerial skills and abundance of decrepit apartments?
Mum may be the word over at Northeastern about the master lease, but they’re hardly sitting idly by as the City Council does all of the poking and prodding. They’re conducting their own internal review of the agreement, but the details of it are being kept on the down low.
Renata Nyul, director of communications at Northeastern, provided the following letter which was sent to Faisal by Steven Kadish, Northeastern’s COO back in May.
“If, after a thorough review of the facts on the ground, we are not satisfied with the quality of student housing your company provides,” wrote Kadish. “Northeastern will conclude its master leasing arrangement with Alpha Management and we will discourage our students from renting apartments from Alpha Management.”
BostInno pressed Nyul for further details regarding the review – who exactly is conducting it? what are the criteria they’re using? when the results will be available? what’s the threshold for maintaining a relationship with Faisal? etc. She has yet to comment on any of our follow up questions.
During the housing hearing, Faisal’s legal representation mentioned, during a heated volley with Councilor Zakim, that the latter has banked some $6,000 from other real estate firms and individuals since launching the “crusade” against Faisal.
In fact, between May 22 – when the ordinance was first filed – and August 5, Councilor Zakim had actually accrued $9,200 in campaign donations from other real estate, per Office of Campaign and Political Finance data. On the 22nd alone, members of the Leventhal family, some of whom operate real estate investment company Beacon Capital Partners, donated $3,500.
It’s unclear where Councilor Zakim’s hearings will go from here. His chief of staff, Dan Sibor, told BostInno that they were quite pleased with the information Faisal shared with the City Council and there may be no need for additional hearings.
