Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Apthorp

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has shut down the sales office at the Apthorp, fined the developers $190,000 and ordered rescission for all contracted buyers following an investigation into misleading statements made to the AG months before they filed suit to block Anglo Irish Bank from selling their $385 million mortgage loan.
The Apthorp developers, led by Africa Israel USA and Broadwall Management, filed suit against the troubled bank Sept. 12, alleging the sale of the $385 million Apthorp loan would “adversely impact sales” and potentially “threaten the conversion project itself.”
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The developers of the Upper West Side’s Apthorp condominium, led by Africa Israel, have filed suit against a state housing
agency alleging the building is suffering financially because an application to deregulate 45 rent-stabilized apartments has dragged on for more than nine months.

Apthorp Associates, in the April 4 lawsuit, alleges the New York State Division of Homes and Community
Renewal has sat on the application since June 2010, and urged the court to force the agency to make a
determination.

“DHCR’s delay in processing the proceedings has denied the petitioner an increase in its monthly cash
flow required for the preservation, maintenance and operation of the subject premises,” said Apthorp
attorney Daniel Roskoff, in the petition. [more]

Maurice Mann, the original developer of the Apthorp
condominium conversion, has filed a new lawsuit against his
former partners, alleging they reneged on an agreement to let him
buy an apartment at the building.

Mann, in a lawsuit filed Monday in New York state Supreme
Court, alleged that in 2009, his former development partners,
Apthorp Associates and Broadwall Management, agreed to sell
him apartment 2C at the building, but then refused and offered him
apartment 6A.
Mann initially agreed to buy the historic Apthorp at 390 West End
Avenue in 2006, and later brought in Africa Israel chairman Lev
Leviev as his partner in a record $426 million acquisition. [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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From left: the Apthorp, the tenants’ meeting last night (Ratner pictured center at table), a tenant’s photo of a plastic-covered construction site in the building

The attorney representing the Apthorp tenants’ association is filing an application for a rent reduction today with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, due to “ongoing degradation of services” for renters, said David Hershey-Webb, a partner with Himmelstein McConnell Gribben Donoghue & Joseph, who represents the association. The filing comes less than 24 hours after a meeting between the association and Apthorp building manager and part-owner Andrew Ratner, COO of Broadwall Consulting Services, to go over grievances which weren’t addressed in a meeting between the parties a month ago, Hershey-Webb said. Ratner faced opposition at last night’s meeting from 15 to 20 people out of approximately 100 attendees, including rent-stabilized tenants as well as renters who have bought or are planning to buy apartments in the Upper West Side condo conversion at 2201 Broadway between 78th and 79th streets.  More

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