Rector Square and Yair Levy

Anglo Irish Bank acquired unsold shares of Rector Square, the troubled Battery Park City condominium, during a public auction at the New York state Supreme Court this afternoon, with a winning bid of $82.75 million.

Anglo Irish, the senior lender at the 304-unit building at 225 Rector Place, plans to resell the building to new investors, according to the bank’s attorneys, who explained that the bank wanted to make sure the property had stable ownership going forward.

“The bank invested so much in [the building] that it’s interested in seeing that the building finds a good home,” said Herrick Feinstein attorney Chris Sullivan, who represented Anglo Irish in its foreclosure case against the property. [more]

While building and development projects stagnated across most of New York City during the financial crisis, Battery Park City has been largely unaffected, according to the Wall Street Journal. Over the past 10 years, nine residential buildings with 2,435 units have been built as part of a 40-year master plan developed through the state’s Battery Park City Authority. While hundreds of residents were displaced after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and many didn’t return, a combination of temporarily reduced rents, government subsidies and rebuilding funds helped to restore the neighborhood. The influx of new developments has caused apartment prices to drop 17 percent, according to the Real Estate Board of New York. On Battery Park’s last two developable sites, Milstein Properties is constructing two residential buildings that are slated for completion in 2011. In between the two buildings will be the 52,000-square-foot Battery Park City community center, which will have a pool and fitness center, a 156-seat theater and classrooms. [WSJ]

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Construction workers at the World Trade Center site uncovered a historic wall that once separated the streets of Lower Manhattan from the Hudson River, DNAinfo reported. While sections of the wall have always been visible above Chambers Street, this piece, found today along West Street between Liberty and Vesey streets, has been hidden by the landfill on which Battery Park City was built. So far, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has exposed a section of granite blocks 19 feet long and 8 feet tall, part of Manhattan’s first seawall, which was built over 100 years ago and is part of a much larger blockhead that runs to 59th Street. But the Port Authority plans to demolish an 80-foot long section of the wall to make room for an underground passage to connect the World Trade Center with Battery Park City, slated for completion
in December 2012. [DNAinfo]

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Construction workers at the World Trade Center site uncovered a historic wall that once separated the streets of Lower Manhattan from the Hudson River, DNAinfo reported. While sections of the wall have always been visible above Chambers Street, this piece, found today along West Street between Liberty and Vesey streets, has been hidden by the landfill on which Battery Park City was built. So far, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has exposed a section of granite blocks 19 feet long and 8 feet tall, part of Manhattan’s first seawall, which was built over 100 years ago and is part of a much larger blockhead that runs to 59th Street. But the Port Authority plans to demolish an 80-foot long section of the wall to make room for an underground passage to connect the World Trade Center with Battery Park City, slated for completion
in December 2012. [DNAinfo]

[more]

Adrienne Albert of the Marketing Directors and Liberty Luxe (left), Liberty Green

Two new Battery Park Ctiy condominiums, Liberty Luxe and Liberty Green, opened their sales offices yesterday, according to Curbed. The openings for the Luxe and the Green, which are 32 stories and 22 stories, respectively, come shortly after Fannie Mae agreed to step up its financing on Battery Park City homes. Although floorplans and pricing are currently available for the Milstein Properties-developed buildings, details on the two neighboring properties have emerged. Both properties are seeking LEED gold certification and will include a fitness center, pool and spa. The Marketing Directors is in charge of sales. [Curbed]

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The owners of a condo unit at the Riverhouse development in Battery Park City have filed a $1.5 million suit against developer Sheldrake Organization and manager Centurian Real Estate Partners, claiming that their home is not as eco-friendly as promised, according to the Wall Street Journal. Although the 264-unit waterfront building, home to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tyra Banks, is seeking gold LEED certification, residents Steven Gidumal and Allison Keeley say that their three-bedroom, three-bathroom, $4.2 million condo isn’t as green as the sales pitch said it would be. Gidumal and Keeley hired their own engineer to evaluate the building’s energy performance and claim that “a deviation of 49 percent” from the LEED standards was found. [WSJ]

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Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has announced that it will back loans on homes in Battery Park City, according to Crain’s, after an in-depth review of the neighborhood’s ground leases. The move has caused many home sellers there to breathe a sigh of relief, after a potential ground lease fee hike cast on doubt whether Fannie Mae would underwrite the loans there. [more]

Andrew Gerringer, the erstwhile head of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Development Marketing Group, has announced that he will move to new development sales firm the Marketing Directors.

The move marks a homecoming for Gerringer, who got his start in real estate at the Marketing Directors when he worked there as regional director of sales in the 1980s. “We’re delighted to welcome Andrew back,” Marketing Directors founder and CEO Adrienne Albert said in a statement released to The Real Deal. “Following his tenure with us… Andrew went on to become one of the top producers and most accomplished professionals in the industry. His resume speaks for itself, and we’re thrilled to have him back on our team.” [more]

Christopher Albanese, the developer of Battery Park City’s energy-efficient Visionaire condo and rental building the Solaire, is setting his sights on busted condo projects for his next green endeavor. Albanese, a principal of the Albanese Organization, told the New York Times that while “banks have been very slow to dispose of property,” there are several busted condo projects his firm is eyeing and he expects banks to be willing to sell by this time next year. Meanwhile, sales at LEED Platinum-certified condo the Visionaire, at 70 Little West Street, are on a one-per-week pace, down from 8 to 10 per week before the Lehman Brothers collapse. Prices are averaging $1,150 a foot, down from $1,300 a foot at the peak of the market. At the Solaire, which is located at 20 River Terrace and is 100 percent occupied, rents are down to $55 a foot with no concessions from $65 a foot at the peak. [NYT]

A state Supreme Court judge has named veteran real estate attorney Jonathan Newman as interim receiver of the controversial One Madison Park condominium, which is currently facing a foreclosure lawsuit by iStar Financial.

Newman, a partner at Newman Ferrara, was granted limited rights to oversee the project, including the collection of common charges and sales proceeds, however Judge James Yates allowed lead developer, Ira Shapiro, to continue sales at the 23 East 22nd Street property, at least until a number of legal issues are sorted out.

Yesterday’s move represents a partial victory for Shapiro, the president of Slazer Enterprises, who was facing allegations of forgery by his development partner Marc Jacobs and claims by the lender that millions of dollars in borrowed money was unaccounted for. [more]