A leasehold on a Times Square Hotel, the 47-room Hotel 41 at 206 West 41st Street, will hit the auction block Dec. 5, after lender Crane, A.G., a 50 percent owner of the hotel, filed to foreclose on developer Benjamin Soleimani’s interest in the property, according to court documents filed with the city last week.

The 11,562-square-foot Hotel 41 building, on a side street just below Times Square, was leased by Soleiman’s 206 West 41st Street Hotel Associates and underwent a complete transformation by architect Andrew Pollack and Soleimani with ultra-modern interiors in 2008. The hotel’s on-site bar, Bar 41, has proven a hit with locals, according to online bar reviews. [more]

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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Cobble Hill Towers’ condo conversion plan has been approved by the attorney general’s office, according to property owner the Hudson Companies. The 188-unit, nine-building complex at 431 Hicks Street, built in 1879, is currently a rental building. Hudson, which has owned the complex since 2008, said it plans to continue its upgrade projects on the building, which have, so far, included the renovation of the first-floor hallways and rebuilding of the historic gates at the entrances of the complex’s courtyards. TRD

Sheffield57 developer Kent Swig was forced to halt sales after state
regulators notified the sponsor that the offering plan at the troubled
West Side condominium had expired, according to three sources familiar
with the decision. Swig will not be able to sell any apartments until Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo approves a 19th amendment to the offering plan, which
legal sources say is required to update prospective buyers about any
material changes in the operation of a condo or co-op conversion. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office did not return calls for comment. On Sept. 9 of last year, Swig issued an 18th amendment, but that amendment
only updated unit prices at the building, and the Martin Act, which
regulates conversions in New York State, says that pricing-only
amendments do not extend the expiration of the offering plan. [more]