From left: William Beaver House, 25 Broad Street and the Setai Wall Street

Financial District condominium projects have found success since being converted to rentals early this year, according to the Wall Street Journal, although the Occupy Wall Street protests have dampened the trend in recent days.

The 300-unit Sapir Organization-developed William Beaver House, for example, put its 208 unsold units on the rental market this spring, and about 75 percent of them have been leased at a rate of 18 per month and $57 per square-foot.

Similarly, 25 Broad Street, the condo conversion by Kent Swig, went on the rental market earlier this year, and 104 of the 305 units have rented for about $55 per square foot. [more]

From the October issue: The scenario is now vexingly familiar to Tali Berzak, a vice president at NestSeekers International: Potential buyers at 99 John Street, a Downtown condo conversion where she is the project manager, come to the sales office believing the Financial District is depressed, and make lowball offers accordingly.
In reality, the Financial District submarket has posted sharp gains in the last year, both in sales volume and in prices per square foot, according to the website StreetEasy and brokers who work in the neighborhood. The larger problem, brokers contend, is that accurate sales figures about FiDi are often not widely disseminated. The lack of information, they say, leads to lower offers being rejected — and, in many cases, frustrates potential buyers into looking elsewhere.
“That’s causing deals not to happen that should be happening,” said Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Heather McDonough, who currently has five listings at William Beaver House, the newly constructed condo and rental building at 15 William Street. [more]

Rodrigo Nino of Prodigy International and the William Beaver House

William Beaver House, the André Balazs-designed Financial District condominium that was just bailed out by the Los Angeles-based CIM Group, is going partially rental under its new ownership.

The 333-unit tower, which had been facing a foreclosure lawsuit prior to the takeover, was part of a three-piece deal in which CIM agreed to buy the debt on two troubled Sapir Organization buildings (Trump Soho and Beaver House) and take an equity stake in another (11 Madison Avenue), sources said. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier today, CIM purchased the loan on over 200 unsold condos at the Beaver House and subsequently took ownership through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
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Tamir Sapir and the William Beaver House

Billionaire developer Tamir Sapir is facing a $130 million lawsuit from a fund controlled by the Blackstone Group, alleging he defaulted on a multi-million-dollar loan used to develop the William Beaver House condominium in the Financial District.

GSO Re Onshore, the fund managed by Blackstone subsidiary GSO Capital Partners, filed suit Monday against Sapir individually in New York State Supreme Court, seeking a judgment on the $66 million loan that he guaranteed and then failed to repay by the November 2009 maturity date.

“GSO RE would not have made the loan to SDS William Street absent Sapir’s personal and unconditional promise to repay the loan set forth in the guarantee,” wrote Kobre & Kim attorney Elizabeth Wolstein, who is representing the fund.

The lawsuit alleges that as of November 2009 Sapir owed $48.7 million in interest, on top of the $66 million in principal. Another $15.7 million in new interest is now due, resulting in the $130 million claim for summary judgment. [more]

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From left: Andre Balazs, William Beaver House

Hotelier Andre Balazs got a mixed bag from the City Planning Commission yesterday, as the board chose to approve a curb cut — a break in the sidewalk that allows vehicles to travel in and out — at the William Beaver House at 15 William Street on the corner of Beaver Street in the Financial District, but denied his request to build a public parking garage in the structure. The permit to build the 195-space garage was denied by a unanimous vote. The curb cut, meanwhile, was approved by the same margin, according to the commission. TRD [more]

From left: REBNY award winners Alan Pfeifer, Rena Goldstein and Nancy Teague

The founders of the New York Residential Specialist committee, a post-graduate program aimed at educating existing brokers, received the Real Estate Board of New York’s Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Service during REBNY’s annual gala award ceremony. Meanwhile, the Moinian Group announced yesterday that it has donated one year of rent-free living to a silent auction hosted by lung cancer research foundation Joan’s Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has signed an agreement to sell the Bliss Spa and product company to Steiner Leisure Limited for $100 million. Click here for more. TRD [more]