From left: 201 East 25th Street, 200 East 27th StreetForest Hills-based multi-family landlord Bronstein Properties bought Alexico
Group’s 89 unsold cooperative apartments in two Gramercy Park buildings at a
UCC foreclosure auction last week for $15.05 million.

Bronstein bought the shares securing 29 apartments at the 164-unit 201 East
25th Street, and 60 apartments at the 280-unit 200 East 27th Street, at the
auction July 21. The apartment buildings are a block away from each other on
Third Avenue.

In a UCC foreclosure, also known as a non-judicial foreclosure, the buyer
purchases an equity interest in a property, not the actual real estate as in a
judicial foreclosure.

The price comes to about $169,101 per apartment. [more]

Dune Real Estate Partners has agreed to pay $190 million for Anglo Irish Bank’s mortgage loan on the embattled Mark Hotel on the Upper East Side, the Wall Street Journal reported. The note, which had a face value of around $300 million, had several interested bidders, including Starwood Capital, in an offering that had been ongoing for months. Dune now plans to work with Alexico Group, the developer of the landmark, 84-year-old hotel, whose renovation and partial co-op conversion had landed the property in financial straits. Comments

The Alexico Group has reached out to Goldman Sachs for financing to buy back its mortgage debt on its Upper East Side co-op conversion at the Mark Hotel in an effort to pull the struggling property back above water, according to the Wall Street Journal. Alexico, which owes Anglo Irish Bank roughly $270 million, entered talks with Dune Real Estate Partners earlier this year about how it might restructure the loan, and the partnership is now negotiating with Goldman. Sales have been slow at the 83-year-old property at 25 East 77th Street, where prices range from $2 million to $60 million but just two units have sold thus far for a total of $15.7 million. Alexico’s original plan was to convert 42 of the hotel’s 160 units to luxury co-ops, through which it hoped to raise $308 million. The developer later scaled back the conversion to just 10 units, which were supposed to raise a combined $167 million, due to a lack of interest. Sources said Anglo Irish would be willing to accept an offer below $200 million to purge the debt from its portfolio. The lender also sold around $230 million in loans on Alexico’s Alex Hotel and Flatotel this year for roughly $180 million. [WSJ]

[more]

At least four buyers are trying to back out of their contracts at the Mark Hotel, the landmark property at 25 East 77th Street and Madison Avenue that reopened in January after a $200 million renovation, according to the Wall Street Journal. Developer Alexico Group had originally planned to finance the makeover by selling 42 suites in the high-end hotel and residences, but scaled back that offering to 10 units due to a lack of demand. Seven contracts have been signed, but only two have closed for a combined $15.7 million. [more]

The Mark Hotel, the Alexico Group’s high-end hotel and residences at 25 East 77th Street and Madison Avenue, has officially reopened after a $150 million renovation by interior designer Jacques Grange. Grange gave the Upper East Side property an art deco-style upgrade, complete with marble soaking tubs, Italian linens by Quagliotti and Bang Olufson audio systems. Rates for this weekend range from roughly $495 per night for a courtyard queen-sized room to $3,815 per night for the Mark’s “premier two-bedroom suite,” a 1,640-square foot room with Central Park and city views, according to the hotel’s Web site. The Mark has 118 rooms for guests and 42 co-op apartments. [Hotel Chatter]

From the October issue: The ranks of Manhattan’s super-high-end listings may have shrunk over
the past year, but the city still boasts a number of properties with
sales prices north of $30 million. It’s no surprise that few of these mega-listings have traded in the
last year, with the global financial crisis paralyzing potential
buyers. But now, very high-end listings are beginning to generate
interest again, albeit at smaller price tags. (Case in point: Madonna’s
new $32.5 million Upper East Side townhouse, originally listed for $42
million in October of 2008). This month, The Real Deal looked at five of the city’s
priciest listings — some new, others market fixtures — along with
other noteworthy properties generating buzz this fall.