Lehman Brothers plans to recover $12 billion from its real estate assets in five years, as it liquidates much of its holdings in bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg news. The failed investment bank will hold on to certain illiquid assets, per a bankruptcy judge’s approval on April 15, with plans to sell them within the next five years. Lehman also said it will recover approximately $17 billion in private equity assets during the same time period.

One of the developers of Williamsburg’s Warehouse 11, the 120-unit luxury condominium at 214 North 11th Street, has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The deal cut down the debt load of developer Isack Rosenberg and his partners at McCaren Park Mews to $35 million. The partners, who defaulted on their $50 million mortgage with Capital One Bank last summer, hope to pay off their remaining balance through sales of the remaining 36 units in the Karl Fisher-designed building. Sales had come to a halt during the bankruptcy process, but relaunched with verve in January as the developers slashed prices and raced against the clock to raise cash by a lender-imposed deadline. Aptsandlofts.com, which is marketing the building, expects the remaining units to go quickly now that the developers have worked through the bankruptcy. [Brooklyn Paper]

The Lenox Condominium at 380 Lenox Avenue on the corner of 129th Street in Harlem has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to Crain’s, after missing the due date for its $10 million mortgage on unsold apartments. Developer Uptown Partners, which filed for bankruptcy early last year (note: correction appended), said that it has applied for a loan extension with its lender and that the company is hopeful the situation will be resolved soon. “We had to temporarily protect our rights to give us enough time to negotiate and get apartments sold,” Lewis Futterman, Uptown Partners co-founder, said. “We are inches away from a settlement with the bank. I would be surprised if this filing is not withdrawn in three weeks.”

H. Thomas O’Hara Architect designed Twenty9th Park, on left, and the Mondrian Hotel, on right

The luxury Manhattan design firm H. Thomas O’Hara Architect filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, but remains in operation, recent court documents show. The firm, which designed buildings such as Twenty9th Park at 39 East 29th Street and the Mondrian Hotel at 150 Lafayette Street, filed for Chapter 11 protection Dec. 11 in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan. The filings show assets of $1.2 million and debts of $4.3 million. The bulk of the money counted as assets, some $1.1 million, was in unpaid money owed to the firm by clients, the papers show. The largest amount the firm owes was $1.5 million to Citibank Commercial Loan Servicing, while the second largest amount was owed to the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid payroll taxes, totaling $643,166. The president and managing member of the firm, H. Thomas O’Hara, said in an interview with The Real Deal today that he filed the suit because of the difficult financial pressures brought on by the declining economy. [more]

From the February issue: During the last major real estate
downturn, in the early 1990s, New York developers frequently used
bankruptcy filings to shield troubled assets from foreclosure. This
time around, however, that haven may not be available. Changes to
federal bankruptcy laws and a recent court ruling in New Jersey could
have a major impact on how the collapses of the commercial and
multi-family real estate markets play out in 2009. Mark Fawer, a
partner in the real estate group of law firm Dickstein Shapiro, said
developers have often used bankruptcy filings to delay the repayment of
delinquent loans or to extract more favorable terms from a lender to
prevent a property from going into foreclosure. “There are those
borrowers who would use bankruptcy as just another delaying technique,
as a last resort before a foreclosure sale takes place,” said Fawer.
“There are others that would look to it as a tool to reorganize.” [more]