The Real Deal New York

From the January issue: Developers converting the landmark Apthorp apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side must follow a new playbook that takes into account both a changed real estate market and a spate of court rulings that could bolster the resolve of tenants battling the shift to condos. After buying the 163-unit rental complex for a record $425 million in March, Maurice Mann and Lev Leviev became the latest investors to ride a wave of massive deals in a Manhattan real estate market that many deemed unstoppable. But recent court fights waged by rental tenants at Sheffield57 and Manhattan House could mean Mann and Leviev face a highly charged regulatory environment where tenants, lawyers and legislators will fight them at every turn.