From left: Gary Barnett, 220 Central Park South and Steven Roth
Developers Steven Roth and Gary Barnett are set to face off at 220 Central Park South, a 1950s-era apartment building that Roth’s Vornado Realty Trust has been planning to demolish and replace with a 41-story, $400 million condominium tower for more than five years. But Barnett, president of the increasingly powerful Extell Development, is the leaseholder on the parking garage below, and so far he’s refusing to be bought out, according to the Wall Street Journal. In December, Vornado agreed to pay $40 million to buy out the remaining 26 rent-regulated tenants at the 124-unit building, which it acquired with the Clarett Group for $131 million in 2005. Barnett, who has operated the garage for the past few years, has about six years left on his lease. Vornado may still be able to build at 220 Central Park South if Barnett continues to rebuff the company’s buyout efforts, but that would make it a much more expensive project, sources said. Barnett also owns a neighboring lot on 58th Street — adjacent to another Vornado-Clarett building at 229 West 58th Street — and has already filed plans to build an 18-story apartment building on that site. [WSJ]