Lightstone to build 48-story LoMa tower

From left: 114 Fulton Street and Lightstone Group president Mitchell Hochberg
From left: 114 Fulton Street and Lightstone Group president Mitchell Hochberg

Updated, 11:44 a.m., May 3: The Lightstone Group will build a 48-story residential and commercial building on its assemblage site at Fulton Street, DNAinfo reported.

Located between Nassau and Dutch streets, the 463-unit tower will rise in a block scattered with low-rise shops and apartment buildings, replacing a row of smaller buildings that will be razed, representatives for Lightstone told Community Board 1 on Wednesday. Lightstone paid $63 million for the assemblage parcel, which included air rights from nearby Time Equities’ buildings, as The Real Deal reported. 

About 20 percent of the units, or 93 apartments will be affordable, and Lightstone will give preference to Community Board 1 residents in Lower Manhattan, Meir Milgraum, the company’s director of acquisitions and development, said at the meeting attended by DNAinfo. The affordable component would require a zoning change.

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The project will also include 20,000 square feet of retail space, Milgraum added.

The failure of the overleveraged Extended Stay Hotels deal cost Lichtenstein’s lenders billions of dollars, set off a raft of lawsuits and required him to pay more than $100 million for breaking a pledge to stay out of Bankruptcy Court.

In July 2011, chief executive officer David Lichtenstein was ordered by the New York State Supreme Court to pay lenders a $100 million penalty for placing the Extended Stay hotel chain in bankruptcy protection, but Lightstone has since made a strong comeback with a number of big-ticket projects.  [DNAinfo]Hiten Samtani