Clockwise from top left: Simon Elias, Alex Hotel, Flatotel and Izak Senbahar

The Alexico Group will likely lose control of a pair of Midtown hotel properties by the end of the year, after a New York State Supreme Court Judge ruled that the debtholders on the Flatotel and Alex Hotel may foreclose on the properties, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Flatotel is a 272-room hotel the Alexico Group developed at 135 West 52nd Street that the debtholders moved to foreclose on in September 2010 with a $197 million lawsuit. The Alex Hotel, a 205-room property at 205 East 45th Street, was first hit with an $81.7 million lawsuit two months earlier, The Real Deal reported at the time. [more]

From left: Hines Interests Chairman Gerald Hines, renderings of 56 Leonard Street, 1045 Sixth Avenue and the MoMA Tower

Already behind the controversial MoMA Tower and a new Bryant Park tower, perpetually under-the-radar real estate firm Hines Interests is undertaking another major project, the New York Observer reported in a lengthy profile, by reviving the stalled 56 Leonard Street condominium project in Tribeca.

The Herzog & de Mueron-designed 57-story condo was first announced by developer Alexico Group a month before Lehman Brothers collapsed, and even sold four of its planned 145 units. But the recession took the plans for the building down with it, and the site currently has a foundation and little else. Typical of the understated firm, Hines refused to divulge much detail other than to say it would become another of Herzog & de Mueron’s “global landmarks.” [more]

[Updated at 2:50 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. with most recent sales figures for the Laurel and a statement from Studley] Real estate investment firm Prudential Real Estate Investors has closed on its purchase of three separate commercial condominium units, including one parking garage, at the Alexico Group’s Laurel condominium building at 400 East 67th Street, according to public records filed with the city today. The units were acquired Aug. 24 for a combined $61.6 million, records show.

Alexico recently signed TD Bank as a retail tenant at the building. Quik Park, a parking facility, currently occupies one of the other lots. Quik Park wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Woody Heller, Will Silverman and Eric Negrin of Studley’s Capital Transactions Group represented Alexico in the transaction. Prudential handled the deal in house. [more]

The Laurel, the $11.025 penthouse and Victora Logvinsky of Prudential Douglas Elliman

The penthouse in the Laurel, at 400 East 67th Street, was just sold for $11.23 million, public records show, and according to Victoria Logvinsky, the Prudential Douglas Elliman agent who represented the buyer in the sale, that is a record price for First Avenue.
While its difficult to substantiate that claim, information available from Streeteasy.com is consistent with it.
The 4,073-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home was originally put on the market in March 2008, by the condominium’s developer, Alexico Group, with a $13 million asking price, according to Streeteasy.com. The price was dropped to $12.5 million 20 months later, before going into contract in June. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

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]

From left: Simon Elias, the Mark hotel, Izak Senbahar

Fillmore Capital Partners filed a $21.1 million suit against Mark hotel developers Simon Elias and Izak
Senbahar of the Alexico Group, alleging the two defaulted on a mezzanine loan at the Upper East Side
hotel.
The suit, filed Monday in New York State Supreme Court, claims the two developers guaranteed
repayment of a $25.8 million mezzanine loan from Dublin, Ireland-based Anglo Irish Bank in 2006, and
acquired by San Francisco-based Fillmore in May 2007.
The loan, amended in December 2007, allowed the developers to borrow up to $43.28 million and some
of the funds advanced towards the project, leaving a balance of $38.5 million, as of April 2009. Fillmore
says the borrowers waived their rights to make any claims against the lender, and agreed to guarantee
the lesser of $7.75 million or the unpaid balance of the loan.

[more]

Developer Simon Elias and Flatotel

Developers Simon Elias and Izak Senbahar of the Alexico Group are suing Anglo Irish Bank for $1 billion in a funding dispute over $500 million of loans that the bank gave to the men and their companies to redevelop three Manhattan hotels, the Mark, the Alex and the Flatotel, the Irish Times reported. The bank would not comment, but sources said it intends to defend the lawsuit and that the developers’ case has no merit. [more]

Panel, from left: Eric Anderson of Tamarkin Anderson, Tom Nolan of the Radco Companies, Eric Anton of Eastern Consolidated, Garrett Thelander of Anglo Irish Bank, Avi Banyasz of Westbrook Partners and moderator Robert Knakal of Massey Knakal Realty Services (credit: Marc Becker)

After a couple of years of extending and pretending, Anglo Irish Bank is beginning to find that a [more]

Simon Elias (left), Flatotel at 135 West 52nd Street and Izak Senbahar

Alexico Group is facing a $196.7 million lawsuit at the Flatotel, after Atlas Capital accus [more]

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]

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