The real estate and management platform Outpost Club offers various programs and benefits to help people find and better afford rentals across New York City.

Outpost Club helps to provide furnished housing for prospective renters. They also put a lot of effort into screening potential tenants in order to try and make the property feel more like a thriving community. Creating such an environment can prove to be very comforting to those moving in from outside New York City, as they can better adjust to the area.

“We wanted to make it easier to move and also provide some kind of community for newcomers,” Outpost Club Founder and CEO Sergii Starostin said. “We want to create an easier and more affordable option for young people who move to a large city. The rent is becoming more and more unaffordable. The regulations in the city make it extremely difficult to build something new. The only way to create affordable options is to work with existing inventory. We want to make the existing inventory design-wise nice and community-wide nice and provide a proper alternative. We provide large apartments and keep at least three communal spaces in every property, so people have space to spread out.”

The common spaces shared among various tenants at properties Outpost Club provides, including basements, rooftops, and backyards, allow people to have their own rooms, granting them independence and individuality. They would not need to share a room with a potential roommate they are unfamiliar with. At the same time, the common spaces are shared among a community of like-minded people, as Outpost Club works to curate the community, helping make sure tenants are comfortable in their living spaces.

Outpost Club has its own low-voltage technology stack at the properties it helps provide housing for, including smart locks, cameras, and Wi-Fi. This gives them a great degree of control over who accesses the property, providing strong security.

While Outpost Club has a dedicated sales department that finds more inventory by reaching out to landlords for properties with at least three communal spaces, the real estate and management platform has built a strong reputation. Many landlords hear about them through word of mouth and reach out in hopes of getting help finding renters.

“We do an analysis of where the property is located, if they have three or more common area spaces that we can use for communal activities and the innovation level,” Starostin said. “If a property requires some additional investment, we outline it. We also check the ratio between the number of bedrooms, private bathrooms, kitchens, etc. When all that is ready, we furnish it with furniture and put it on the market.”

Prospective tenants with incomes that meet the requirements for the units have the option to tour the unit in-person or virtually. Starostin also noted the process of becoming a tenant is easy and can be finalized in one day.

Outpost Club works with many different programs to make moving in less expensive for renters. These include security deposit options, payment plans, pre-negotiated insurance options, and more. These can help tenants save money on the move that can otherwise add up to the equivalent of three or four months’ rent.

“For the renter, to move to a new place, they need to pay two to three times the monthly rent,” Starostin said. “If they find something for $3,000 out there, they need to be prepared to spend around $10,000 for the move itself, between the different deposits, first month’s rent and move-in costs. With Outpost, we build a model where people would need between one and two times the rent to move, decreasing that cost 50%, from $10,000 down to $5,000.”

In addition to reducing moving costs, Outpost Club also helps tenants obtain lower rents than normal, further enhancing their affordability. This is especially attractive to younger prospective renters, who may have lower annual incomes than others.

Outpost Club does not take broker commissions from prospective tenants, as landlords cover this cost. The financial management platforms Qira and The Guarantors ensure Outpost Club can provide security deposits towards rent, allowing tenants to move into their units and pay only the first month’s rent rather than multiple months.

Short-term leases are also available to prospective tenants who need a home on short notice. This flexibility allows Outpost Club to offer housing units to numerous people for different reasons at an affordable rate.

One Outpost Club tenant in Brooklyn had high praise for working with Outpost Club to find a place to stay in New York City. While searching online for a place, he discovered Outpost Club. Their site pays great attention to detail in showing the residences, with many pictures available of the units and buildings as a whole. After finding a location he was interested in, he contacted Outpost Club, and an agent was quick to get back to him and work with him to get a deal done.

The tenant, who frequently travels from out of state to New York for business, stays about 10-16 nights each month at this Brooklyn residence. He has been a tenant there since March of 2023.

“[Outpost Club] is responsive. When you have a question about your lease or the building, an individual gets back to you the same day,” the tenant said. “Whenever there’s been a maintenance issue in the building, they get somebody out, if it’s urgent, the same day, or if it’s not urgent, within two days.”

He also described the relationship between tenants there as being pretty collaborative. Many are willing to help each other out and treat each other with respect. His building’s manager has also been very accommodating and helpful.

“It’s not probably something for everyone, but for people who are going through a transition or a relocation or looking for something flexible, it’s been a great solution,” the tenant said. “You just have to choose your building and make sure it’s a building that you like. The customer service and responsiveness, having a human on the other end, made it unique for me. They jump into action when you need something.”

According to Starostin, Outpost Club gets approximately 1,500 qualified leads per month, translating to 18,000-20,000 requests for units a year, with around 2,000 being placed in units. He hopes to see the Outpost Club be able to place as many as 10,000 people a year in the near future. While he is confident New York City is capable of absorbing more housing units, Starostin said it can be difficult to find projects suitable for the kind of setups that Outpost Club requires for renters. More projects that meet these requirements can be very helpful for Outpost Club, as it is capable of placing 10,000 people a year.

Starostin said Outpost Club is looking to continue growing in some of the most in-demand locations across New York City, including Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn, Astoria in Queens and pretty much any part of Manhattan.

“We’re trying to build a presence and we’re trying to work with the government, explaining who we are, what we do and how we do it,” Starostin said. “It’s not only working towards the tenants and landlords but also towards the legislators.”

Brooklyn detectives are on the hunt for the daring masked thief who almost got away with more than a million dollars in jewelry stolen from a soon-to-be-closed Macy’s store.

According to police, the crook — while disguising himself as a security guard — got into the Downtown Brooklyn Macy’s at 422 Fulton St. just after closing time, at about 10:15 p.m. on Feb. 10. The location is one of many Macy’s locations permanently shuttering nationwide as the chain cuts operating costs.

Store staff later told officers that a masked man entered the store by unknown means, changed clothing, and concealed himself as a security guard until after the store had closed for the day.

Once the floor was empty of patrons, authorities said, he began helping himself to expensive jewelry, stuffing the exquisite items into a suitcase until the goods had totaled about $1.5 million in worth.

According to police sources, the jewelry thief was spotted by a store employee leaving through the Hoyt Street exit and decided to follow him. The worker then confronted the crook near 6 Hoyt St., an encounter that led the thief to drop the hot items and flee southbound on foot. 

The incident was reported to the 84th Precinct. No injuries were reported, and all of the stolen loot was recovered, police sources said.

The perpetrator was last seen wearing all black, with grey gloves and a Nike hat. 

Anyone with information regarding this incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.

A man killed in an early morning apartment fire in Bay Ridge on Sunday has been identified as Gregory Fernandez, a 37-year-old Navy veteran and father of one.

The fatal blaze broke out on the third floor of 510 80th St. shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 9, according to Fire Department officials.

Twelve units and 60 firefighters responded to the one-alarm fire, bringing it under control by 4:39 a.m. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the fire marshal.

Fire Commissioner Robert S. Tucker urged New Yorkers to avoid parking near hydrants, as two cars parked in front of the closest hydrants to the building hampered firefighting efforts.

“I’m begging New Yorkers in all five boroughs: Please do not leave your cars on hydrants,” Tucker said. “Cars parked on hydrants are part of the reason we have the outcome that we have here today—this is a fatal fire, and there’s no doubt that the cars that were parked on the hydrants have slowed down our members from engaging in firefighting tactics.”

First responders found Fernandez unconscious and unresponsive inside the apartment, according to the NYPD. He was transported to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he was pronounced dead. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine his cause of death.

Fernandez, who served in the Navy, had worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the past four years. He had also recently begun coaching basketball at St. Ephrem Catholic Academy in Dyker Heights.

Fernandez’s wife and their 2-year-old son were also treated at NYU Langone and are now in stable condition, police said.

A GoFundMe campaign organized by Linda Bowen, the aunt of Fernandez’s wife, has raised more than $9,000 from 86 donations to help the family “rebuild their lives.”

Bowen wrote that the family lost all their household goods in the fire and described the loss of Fernandez as “devastating.” She said that funds will go toward funeral expenses, household needs, and travel costs for family members coming to New York to provide support.

“Anything you can donate to help this family would be so appreciated,” Bowen wrote.

The FDNY encouraged the public to call 311 to report any blocked or improperly opened fire hydrant.