Timour Shafran of Capin & Associates in front of the Hamilton Heights building where he has a syndication deal pendingFrom the October issue: It’s a deal that blends the American Dream with a touch of globalization, and hints of a bubbling trend.
Fifty-three Chinese-Americans pooled $160,000 each to buy a corner at Delancey and Pitt streets on the Lower East Side for $8.5 million this summer. They each plan to contribute $240,000 more to fund the construction of a 53-unit condo to replace the auto shop that is there now, said seller Anthony Marano, a principal at Ozymandius Realty.
“Fifty of the units are already spoken for,” Marano told The Real Deal. “It’s not a building that will be vacant or unfinished. We wish we could have done it, but there’s no construction financing to speak of.”
[more]

210 Delancey Street
A large group of Chinese-American investors paid $8.48 million for a plot of land at the corner of Pitt and Delancey streets on the Lower East Side, the Lo-Down reported, and plans to build a 12-story condominium.
The 53 investors each plunked down $160,000 under a corporation called Delancey Bridge Tower, Inc. for a 128-by-100 foot plot of land currently occupied by an automobile repair shop at 210 Delancey Street and a surrounding parking area. The lot was assembled by the owners of the automobile repair shop, which bought out its landlord in 1979, and then bought the surrounding land in three separate transactions for a total of $254,500 between 1983 and 1999. [more]

The wheels are being set in motion to finally begin construction on the long-stalled residential project at 75 First Avenue, EV Grieve reported. The site was originally purchased for $3.7 million in 2005 by former Corcoran broker and Ozymandius Realty founder Anthony Marano, and renderings for a 14-story, 30-unit condominium made the rounds in 2007. But by 2009 it made the Department of Building’s list of stalled projects. Now, Marano tells EV Grieve, that he has restructured the financing on the site, and has obtained a work permit for the empty lot. But because of zoning changes that went into affect in November 2008, Marano said he will have to take about 80 feet off the top of the building. [more]

Eastern Consolidated’s David Schechtman and a stalled development site at 75 First Avenue

At least one of the projects on the city’s list of stalled development sites may soon be changing hands. Chinatrust Bank has named Eastern Consolidated as the exclusive broker in the sale of two non-performing commercial mortgages, at 75 First Avenue in Manhattan and 333 Fairmont Avenue in Jersey City. Originally slated to become residential condominiums, 75 First Avenue is now listed by the Department of Buildings as one of nearly 400 stalled construction sites in New York City.  More

[more]