The 35-story brick building towers over the West Harlem skyline at the corner of 135th Street and Broadway; a seven-story banner urges, “Rent now.” On nice days, residents stand in the front courtyard and on the sidewalk, catching up and laughing as the 1 train occasionally rumbles by.

But since new management took over at 3333 Broadway more than two years ago, the building has become a battleground. Some residents and advocates charge that disrepair, rising rents and evictions are forcing lower income tenants to leave and they’ve gone to court to seek lease provisions ensuring low- and moderate-income housing. But the landlord of the 1,190-unit building disputes the complaints, saying the company has pumped millions of dollars into repairs after years of neglect and offers the same service to all tenants, regardless of income.

Alicia Barksdale, president of the tenants association, said residents with Section 8 vouchers—which pay the difference in rent for low-income participants, who pay 30 percent of their adjusted income—aren’t getting the same type of renovations. “It’s just a lot of people feeling slighted and discriminated against” she said, adding that disparities in treatment also exist between newcomers and longtime tenants.

Barksdale, who works as a community liaison for City Councilman Robert Jackson, recalled the example of a tenant who paid the market rate for the apartment where she’d been living for 35 years.  Her kitchen was recently measured for a formica countertop, even though market-rate tenants should have granite countertops, said Barksdale, who would not name the tenant.

But Douglas Eisenberg, president of Urban American Management insisted via email, “all residents in properties managed by Urban American are provided the same quality of service no matter the rent that the resident is paying.”

A reflection of New York City’s gentrification and its discontents, the clash highlights the fast-shrinking amount of subsidized, affordable housing units for low- and moderate-income residents. Regulated apartments accounted for 74 percent of city rentals in 1991; by last year, the proportion had fallen to 64 percent, according to a State Comptroller report in April.

The dispute also spotlights local concerns about displacement as the city’s planning department considers a rezoning from 126th to 155th Streets to blunt the overdevelopment and soaring property values that could result from an influx of Columbia University students and staff.

Urban America bought the building in April 2007 for $277 million, according to press accounts, though Eisenberg would not confirm that price.  He also declined to discuss vacancy rates or the number of residents paying market rates versus those using subsidies.

But since the sale, tenant objections have spilled over into court. The Legal Aid Society and a Manhattan law firm sued the landlord and the city agency that owns the land last October, charging that subsidized housing restrictions had been wrongfully removed. A State Supreme Court justice sided with the landlord in July, but the case will be appealed.

The seeds of today’s fight were sown by one sentence written 37 years ago. Because the building was constructed on land also housing a public school, I.S. 195 Roberto Clemente, the 1972 lease between the city and the developer said the property would be used “for persons and families of low or moderate income only.” The building participated in the Mitchell-Lama program until April 2005. After that, low- or moderate-income residents could apply for federal Section 8 assistance or a landlord assistance plan to stay in the building.

In June 2006, the New York City Educational Construction Fund, the city agency owning the land, met with the developer and removed the provisions for low- and moderate-income housing. Tenants and their lawyers argued they weren’t notified about that meeting and only learned of the change through a Freedom of Information Act request. The October 2008 lawsuit pressed for the re-inclusion of the language ensuring low and moderate-income housing. But attorneys for the landlords—and the presiding judge—said tenants had received proper notice.

State Supreme Court Justice James Yates acknowledged the lack of low- and moderate-income housing in his July 13 decision but said, “The Court cannot solve that problem by reading an obligation into the original Ground Lease which does not exist.” An appeal will follow, said Legal Aid Society Staff Attorney Ellen Davidson. No appeal has been filed yet, according to a review of New York State Unified Court System website this week.

Urban American opened approximately 400 eviction proceedings between January and October 2008, according to the judge’s decision. Urban American evicts when residents fail to pay rent or do something illegal, said Eisenberg, but uses “all possible means of amicably resolving a situation” before taking legal action.

Dave Powell, director of organizing and advocacy at Tenants and Neighbors, a statewide tenants advocacy group, said longtime tenants with vouchers were not getting the same services as market-rate tenants. “A lot of what Urban America is doing seems like discrimination,” he said.

The New York City Buildings Department database shows 78 complaints at the property with six open cases. Complaints have risen under the new owners: five in 2006, eight in 2007, 19 last year, 12 more so far this year.  Urban America processes complaints and works with residents to make sure they are complete, Eisenberg said. Noting the investment in repairs, he added, “This is a process which will take time but we are certain that we are on the right and that at the end of the day all of the residents at the property will be happy to call 3333 home.”

By paying a steep price for the building in flush times, said Powell, the new owner overextended itself. “They set themselves up where they need certain amount of turnover, otherwise not going to make mortgage payment,” he said. Eisenberg fired back: “Sadly David Powell does not have a clue about that which he is commenting on and is simply trying to further his own political agenda.”

As residents and visitors streamed in and out of the building one late fall afternoon, opinion on the landlord was mixed. “It needs improvement. For what everyone’s paying, they’re not getting what they deserve,” said 20-year-old Gabriel Montanez, who grew up here. For example, he recalled how someone’s toilet had been broken, and the . workers who fixed it charged the tenant $100. But Juana Rivera, a resident for 12 or 13 years, said she had no problem with the new management, which, she found, fixed leaks quickly. By contrast, Rivera said, she once waited nine months for the installation of a refrigerator under the old management.

Ray Anthony, who’s lived here for nearly 30 years, estimated that 100 black and Latino families had moved out since the new management took over. “We are the low-income people,” he said, “White people got no problem paying the rent.” Many wealthier tenants would in the future be coming from Columbia, which intends to build a massive new campus in Harlem, or the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, he added.

Anthony’s rent in 1998 was $470 per month. It’s now $3,700. He pays $2,000 and Section 8 assistance contributes another $1,700. He has a job with the Board of Education but is concerned about others who aren’t so lucky. “I worry about the people who don’t make any money,” he said.