On the surface, 789 MacDonough Street is a glowing example of tenants becoming owners of their neglected building. The 41-unit, Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment house, built in 1930, began falling apart in the 1970s as the landlord essentially abandoned what was once a “beautiful, gorgeous building,” as longtime resident Lisa Lanier described it. The building was aging, its regulated rents were about $200 a month, and Bed-Stuy had become something of a war zone. “Do-or-die Bed-Stuy,” loca...
