The developers of the Upper West Side’s Apthorp condominium are planning to withdraw their lawsuit against Anglo Irish Bank, according to documents filed in New York state Supreme Court this past Friday, and will allow the lender to sell the property’s troubled $385 million building loan to Dallas-based Loan Star Funds.

Anglo, the senior mortgage lender at the troubled condo, at 2211 Broadway, blasted the developers, led by Africa Israel USA and Broadwall Management, in a proposed order submitted to Judge Jeffrey Oing, detailing what it considers numerous attempts by the building sponsors to squirm out of their crumbling lawsuit, which sought to block the bank from selling the senior mortgage.

“Plaintiff’s current effort to dismiss this case in its entirety suggests that Anglo’s contention that this is a strike suit may well be correct,” Anglo Irish lawyers wrote in the proposed order. [more]

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are two of the banks among the final candidates that bid for parts of $9.65 billion in
U.S. property loans owned by Anglo Irish Bank, Bloomberg News
reported. The lenders are interested in acquiring pieces of the $4.52
billion of performing loans. Investor groups led by private-equity
firms Blackstone Group, together with Deutsche Bank, and Lone
Star Funds also submitted offers for parts of the portfolio, which
includes $5.13 billion of subperforming and non-performing debt,
according to Bloomberg News. Anglo Irish aims to sell off its loans after it was seized by the Irish government in January 2009 during a surge in souring debt. [more]

The Apthorp’s retail space

Travel accessory retailer Tumi has signed a lease for 1,000 square feet on the ground floor of the Apthorp, and will open there next fall, the Apthorp’s sponsor announced. The cost and length of the lease were not disclosed. The retail condominium in the building at 390 West End Avenue was purchased by William Friedland for $37 million in February, and already lists JPMorgan Chase and the Apthorp Pharmacy as tenants. Another space of about 2,500 square feet remains available. Robert K. Futterman Associates Managing Director Beth Rosen, Executive Vice President Karen Bellatoni and Lynne Bremer of Fandel Retail Group represented Tumi in the transaction, while Friedland completed the deal without outside representation. TRD [more]

The developers overseeing the Apthorp’s controversial condominium conversion project have been hit with another two dozen violations by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, including several categorized as Class C violations — the most serious kind. According to the New York Times, a March 23 inspection of the stately Upper West Side building revealed exposed electrical wiring, a missing fire hose, illegally installed doors and padlocks in the hallways. Apthorp tenants have long complained about poor conditions as a result of the renovation project, and a visit to the building by The Real Deal last year confirmed construction zones that were not cordoned off, common areas filled with debris, exposed cables and punctured walls and ceilings. [more]

Corcoran Sunshine succeeds Elliman’s Dolly Lenz in handling sales at the UWS condo

From left: Dolly Lenz, Lev Leviev, the Apthorp and Kelly Kennedy Mack

It’s been nearly a month since Dolly Lenz, Prudential Douglas Elliman power broker and one of New York real estate’s most polarizing figures, left her exclusive sales role at the Apthorp, but the newly appointed sales team has yet to officially take the helm. Meanwhile, the rental-turned-condominium, where the sponsors’ controversial efforts to sell off multi-million dollar units at the legendary address has be [more]

Corcoran Sunshine succeeds Elliman’s Dolly Lenz in handling sales at the UWS condo

From left: Dolly Lenz, Lev Leviev, the Apthorp and Kelly Kennedy Mack

It’s been nearly a month since Dolly Lenz, Prudential Douglas Elliman power broker and one of New York real estate’s most polarizing figures, left her exclusive sales role at the Apthorp, but the newly appointed sales team has yet to officially take the helm. Meanwhile, the rental-turned-condominium, where the sponsors’ controversial efforts to sell off multi-million dollar units at the legendary address has be [more]

Dolly Lenz and the Apthorp

As if the Apthorp condominium wasn’t already embroiled in enough controversy, the latest news out of 390 West End Avenue is sure to sound off alarms within the real estate community. Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Dolly Lenz and her entire sales team at the conversion — who were brought on last July and charged with the formidable task of helping the 163-unit building cross its required 15 percent-sold mark in a little over a month — have resigned, according to an e-mail from Lenz sent to Apthorp management Tuesday and obtained by Curbed. In the e-mail, which was addressed to Andrew Ratner of the Feil Organization, Lenz and her team cited unpaid commissions, “a total lack of communication and direction” and “a continuing situation beyond our control.” That situation, they wrote, “is negatively impacting our reputations, a situation which we can no longer permit to continue.” Neither Lenz or the Feil Organization were available for comment when contacted by The Real Deal; the Apthorp’s sales office voice mailbox is still directing callers to Lenz. [Curbed]

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Less than two months after closings began at the Apthorp, at least three of the 20 buyers have already listed their new apartments for rent on broker websites, despite having signed declarations that they would use the condominium units as their own residences, the Wall Street Journal reported. The developers of the controversial Upper West Side condo conversion, led by Africa Israel Investments, received approval from the Attorney General’s office in May for their 163-unit offering plan, which was based upon at least 15 percent of those units — 25 apartments — being in contract to buyers who intended to live at the storied 390 West End Avenue address. The rental listings throw into question whether those units should have counted toward the developers’ required 15 percent, though there is no evidence to suggest that the developers knew of the buyers’ rental intentions at the time of the signed declarations. Still, the Apthorp is already coming under renewed scrutiny from the AG’s office after it was revealed that the developers had completed a restructuring agreement on their mortgage loan, which requires that the rent from the Apthorp’s remaining tenants be diverted to lender Anglo Irish Bank. The Real Deal first reported the news that Apthorp rent payments were diverted to the lender last month. [WSJ]

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Jon Pollock — a senior portfolio manager at New York hedge fund Elliott Associates — is aiming to combine three recently purchased units at the Apthorp into one of Manhattan’s largest single-floor apartments, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pollock closed earlier this month on his third ninth-floor apartment at the landmark building – at 390 West End Avenue — with the combined three units comprising nearly 8,500 square feet, at a price tag of close to $14 million, roughly half the $28 million asking price. He paid more than $2,000 per square foot for the third unit, which is the Apthorp’s most expensive sale on a price-per-square-foot basis. All three units are in poor condition and will have to be or already have been gutted. The purchase is some rare good news for a property that has struggled to build sales momentum. Sales of only 20 condos in the 163-unit building have closed and prices for some have been around half the offering levels. Buyers have signed contracts for another 16 units but haven’t closed. [WSJ]

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Lev Leviev, head of Africa Israel, and the Apthorp

A state Supreme Court judge ruled Monday against the owners of the famed Apthorp condominium on the Upper West Side, blocking a proposed monthly rent increase of about $37 per apartment. The owners wanted to overturn an earlier denial by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal of their effort to recoup $2.9 million in capital improvements with the hike. Judge Alice Schlesinger ruled that the ownership group, led by Africa Israel Corp. and Mann Realty Associates, failed to provide evidence that new electrical wiring in the 163-unit building had been properly installed and documented.
The case stemmed from a so-called major capital improvements request from the building’s previous owners.
“The tenants won a well-deserved victory when Judge Schlesinger correctly upheld the DHCR denial of the electrical MCI because of the owner’s failure to provide DHCR with the required documentation,” said attorney David Hershey-Webb, who represented the tenants.
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