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From left: David LaRue of Forest City Enterprises, 8 Spruce Street and DKLB BKLN

Forest City Enterprises and National Real Estate Advisors announced agreements to restructure the financing at 8 Spruce Street, the Frank Gehry-designed 76-story rental tower in Lower Manhattan and at DKLB BKLN the luxury tower in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, saving the companies hundreds of millions of dollars in debt payments.
The development is key for Forest City, the parent firm of Forest City Ratner, as this $876 million rental tower, formerly known as the Beekman, was under pressure to bring in enough renters to become profitable in a market that is just getting its sea legs.

“By extending the bank credit facilities, it allows for additional time for economic conditions and rents to further improve before refinancing is necessary,” said David LaRue, CEO of Forest City Enterprises, in a statement. [more]

From the January issue: They’re giving it away. Hundreds of buildings these days tout one, two
and sometimes three months of free rent on new leases. But most of the
time, the “base rent” stays the same, even as rental agents talk about
“net effective” rents — the apartment’s cost once the free rent is
amortized over the life of the lease. It’s sort of like a no-money-down
offer. Brokers say that despite their popularity, net effective rents are
something of a gamble for landlords: Lower the initial sticker prices,
fill apartments and pray that the market rebounds and tenants stay
after their lease expires.
But there are signs that lenders may be allowing landlords to lower
the base rent instead of relying on concessions, thus recognizing that
market-rate rent levels have lowered.