TOKYO — Japanese real estate tycoon Genshiro Kawamoto has agreed to give 570 renters he's booting from whole neighborhoods in Northern California more time to relocate, but will still sell their houses to make investments in New York.
The tenants in Sacramento and Santa Rosa will get 90 days--triple what's prescribed by law--before they're uprooted under an agreement reached with Kawamoto, who last month created an international stir with the evictions and has since been buffeted by legal and political pressure.
In a 30-minute interview Thursday, Kawamoto denied that he is heartless and greedy or that he needs the cash to prop up failed investments elsewhere, although at least one Japanese real estate expert suggests his company "brand" may well be lagging.
The real estate investor blamed California lawmakers for crafting an eviction statute that gives tenants only 30 days.
"I just followed the law," he said. "This one-month notification period obviously doesn't make sense for people's lives. It's a ridiculous law. The legislators are the ones at fault."
That said, he stopped short of fully explaining why he was in such a rush to sell.
A spokesman for the international multimillionaire has repeatedly said that the sale of the houses, including another 80 in Hawaii, was necessary to finance a potentially lucrative investment that comes along only once in a generation.
Kawamoto said that investment opportunity is in New York, though he didn't offer any details about how he planned to spend the money--be it in real estate or the stock market.
In Sacramento, renters and tenant rights groups declared victory after Kawamoto agreed to let them stay put into June. The agreement came after a Superior Court judge this week set a March 20 hearing on an injunction blocking the evictions.
Housing officials say about a third of the residents in the half a dozen neighborhoods owned by Kawamoto are interested in attempting to purchase their homes, and the 90-day reprieve will help give them time to raise money. It will also allow those who wish to move more time to find property in the region's tight housing market, where the vacancy rate hovers around 3%.
"I'm very grateful," said Margret Hefley, 75, one of the tenants who joined in the legal fight against Kawamoto.
Private sector and nonprofit groups have rushed to help.
