Maurice Mann

From the November issue: Maurice Mann founded Mann Realty Associates, a property management and residential development company, in 1980. The company employs about 20 individuals and owns and operates 13 Manhattan apartment buildings worth about $250 million. Mann is probably best known for partnering with Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel USA to buy the Apthorp in 2006 for the record-breaking price of $426 million. The two firms planned to convert the storied Upper West Side rental complex to condos, but their business relationship soured. Under pressure from Africa Israel, Mann reluctantly agreed to step down as managing partner. He said he and his partners still own a 50 percent interest in the project, although it is loaded with debt, and the lenders are the official sponsors. [more]

From left: Area Property Partners’ Richard Mack, the Apthorp and Izzy Cohen of AFI

Unit owners at the Apthorp condominium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side voted to approve changes to the building’s bylaws that would relieve the property’s new sponsors of financial obligations, but could strip the condo of some financial protections, sources with knowledge of the property told The Real Deal.

The condo, which was taken over by Area Property Partners in August, approved plans to waive the requirement that lenders assume any “unpaid common charges or special assessments.” The plan is an attempt to help relieve the building’s lenders of the crushing debt incurred by Africa Israel USA. [more]

The Apthorp, at 2211 Broadway

Irish Bank Resolution, which changed its name from Anglo Irish Bank in July 2011, has decided not to sell a portion of its U.S. loans due to fears of lawsuits from U.S. customers, whose consent would have been required in order to sell their performing loans, an article in Irish Times said.

The bank will maintain an office in Boston to manage the $1 billion in U.S. loans that it retained, the paper said. [more]

Courtyard at the Apthorp

Following months of legal maneuvering, a state Supreme Court judge has ruled that Anglo Irish Bank can finally sell the troubled mortgage loan backed by the Apthorp condominium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Judge Jeffrey Oing issued an order Nov. 29 finally allowing Anglo Irish Bank to move ahead with the sale of the $385 million mortgage loan to Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, but sources familiar with the negotiations say a final agreement was still being worked out to complete the deal.

The Apthorp loan, which has a remaining balance of $225 million. just before the suit was filed Sept. 13, was one of the largest in a group of $5 billion in troubled loans to be acquired by Lone Star. Anglo agreed to sell its entire $9.5 billion U.S. portfolio after the Irish government took over the troubled lender and agreed to sell off all of its non-core holdings around the world. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo agreed to buy the remaining tranche of performing loans…. [more]

Developer Maurice Mann and the interior and exterior of a penthouse unit at the Laureate

Maurice Mann, the original developer of the Apthorp condominium conversion, has purchased a penthouse unit at the Laureate, the Stahl Organization’s new luxury condominium at 2150 Broadway, for over $7 million, according to public records filed with the city today.

Mann closed on the 2,532-square-foot, three-bedroom residence at the Laureate on Nov. 18, according to records, with a price of $7.37 million. Though he was not immediately available for comment, a person who answered the phone at his office confirmed the purchase.

The unit, which boasts “a great room with extra large windows and a set of French doors that open to a Juliet balcony at the [front] of the building,” was last listed with Shlomi Reuveni, a broker and head of the Brown Harris Stevens Select team, for $7.7 million, according to Streeteasy.com. … [more]

The developers of the Upper West Side’s Apthorp condominium are planning to withdraw their lawsuit against Anglo Irish Bank, according to documents filed in New York state Supreme Court this past Friday, and will allow the lender to sell the property’s troubled $385 million building loan to Dallas-based Loan Star Funds.

Anglo, the senior mortgage lender at the troubled condo, at 2211 Broadway, blasted the developers, led by Africa Israel USA and Broadwall Management, in a proposed order submitted to Judge Jeffrey Oing, detailing what it considers numerous attempts by the building sponsors to squirm out of their crumbling lawsuit, which sought to block the bank from selling the senior mortgage.

“Plaintiff’s current effort to dismiss this case in its entirety suggests that Anglo’s contention that this is a strike suit may well be correct,” Anglo Irish lawyers wrote in the proposed order…. [more]

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.”
… [more]

Anglo Irish Bank said in a court filing yesterday that the developers of the Apthorp condominium, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, gave the lender the right to sell the property’s $385 million mortgage to a third-party by waiving a “no-assignment” clause in the loan agreement, and later defaulted on the loan by failing to meet sales targets.

The Apthorp developers, led by billionaire Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel USA, filed suit in state Supreme Court earlier this month asking a judge to block the sale of the loan to Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, claiming the transfer would threaten the viability of the project by creating uncertainty in the market, which would cut into sales.

Anglo Irish is selling the debt as part of a massive restructuring to exit the U.S. commercial real estate market. The lender is selling its entire $9.5 billion American commercial loan portfolio, and the Apthorp loan sale is part of a $5 billion sale of nonperforming and sub-performing loans to Loan Star. … [more]

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the Apthorp

The developers of the Apthorp condominium, who filed suit earlier this month to block Anglo Irish Bank from selling the property’s $385 million mortgage loan, previously told state regulators that the potential loan sale would have no impact on them or the property, according to documents obtained by The Real Deal.

In February, the Apthorp developers — led by Africa Israel — disclosed in a filing with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman that it was “not in default” on the mortgage, but there was a possibility that Anglo Irish “may sell the loan, however this would have no effect on the sponsor or the building.”

That disclosure stands in stark contrast to the language used by the developers in Sept. 12 suit against Anglo Irish, where they warned that the sale would violate a 2010 loan restructuring deal and would potentially harm the conversion…. [more]

After failing to come to any agreement last week, developer Apthorp Associated LLC, sponsor of the condominium conversion at the Apthorp, between 78th and 79th streets, is suing Anglo Irish Bank over the sale of a loan tied to the 103-year old Upper West Side landmarked building, Bloomberg News reported.

Private equity firms Lone Star, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase triumphed in a battle for Anglo Irish’s $9.5 billion portfolio of U.S. commercial real estate loans last month. Lone Star took pools of non-performing and sub-performing loans worth around $5 billion, including the Apthorp mortgage.

Anglo Irish, which is selling a $9.7 billion portfolio of U.S. real estate loans, is required to maintain at least a 51 percent interest in the $385 million loan, Apthorp Associates LLC said in a complaint filed today in New York state court in Manhattan…. [more]