Stuyvesand Town and City Council member Daniel GarodnickThe New York state appeals court ruled today that tenants in the blockbuster lawsuit at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village will be able to pursue millions in rent overcharges, tossing a move to dismiss the case by MetLife, the original landlord of the Manhattan complex (note: correction appended).

In 2007, Stuy Town residents, led by tenant Amy Roberts, filed a class action suit against Tishman and the previous landlord, Metropolitan Life, alleging they illegally deregulated apartments while receiving J-51 tax benefits, which are designed to help landlords renovate apartment buildings in return for keeping rents affordable.

The decision means that thousands of current and former tenants will be able to pursue more than $215 million in excess rent that was paid to previous landlord Tishman Speyer or MetLife, which had sold the complex to Tishman.
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[Updated at 2:30 p.m.] When Boston-based real estate investment firm the Rockpoint Group announced that it had sold its stake of Park Avenue Plaza at 55 East 42nd Street earlier this month, the company declined to reveal how much it had received for the sale — but in New York City, secrets don’t stay secret for long.

According to public records filed with the city yesterday, Rockpoint received a massive $569.1 million for its 49 percent share of the 1.2 million-square-foot plaza plus another building at 49 East 52nd Street. The company was represented by CBRE, according to data from Real Capital Analytics. The buyer, Soho China, provided a residential address at 1185 Park Avenue, the same building where JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon resides.

Tenants at Park Avenue Plaza currently include BlackRock, McKinsey & Co. and Swiss Re., it was previously reported. Rockpoint bought into the building last year for around $330 million or $570 per square foot. — Katherine Clarke [more]

From left: Yair Levy, Rector Square (source: PropertyShark) and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman

A state Supreme Court judge has ordered developer Yair Levy to pay $7.4 million in restitution to the Rector Square condominium and permanently banned him from selling real estate in New York state.

Judge Joan Lobis found last month that Levy defrauded the Battery Park City condo conversion, spending millions of dollars in reserve fund money on illegal personal and general business expenses, including charge card accounts, mobile phone bills and writing checks to family members.

The judgment permanently bans Levy from selling condos or co-op projects in New York state, virtually ending a career lasting more than 30 years in the U.S. [more]

From left: Winston Fisher, a partner with Fisher Brothers, Park Columbus and Doug Harmon of Eastdil Secured

A joint venture between Fisher Brothers, BlackRock and a California pension fund won the 95-unit Upper West Side apartment building Park Columbus with a bid of $48 million in a bankruptcy auction this morning.

In March, embattled developer Yair Levy lost the building located at 101 West 87th Street that he had tried to convert to condominiums, in foreclosure to Garrison Residential Funding. The mortgage and other debts totaling $52.6 million will be wiped out once the closing occurs, court records show.
Fisher Brothers, a major Midtown-based commercial and residential property owner, partnered with investment firm BlackRock and California State Teachers Retirement System, to place the minimum bid in November. Winston Fisher, a partner with Fisher Brothers, declined to comment. [more]

Stuyvesant Town

The three senior creditors for the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex are expected the buy the properties at a foreclosure auction on Monday, according to Crain’s. The senior lenders, represented by special servicer CWCaptial, currently hold the complex’s $3 billion mortgage. While the mezzanine lender upstart partnership between Pershing Square Capital Management and Winthrop Realty could pose a challenge, it’s considered unlikely that they will — the team would have to bid more than the senior debt’s $3 billion face value in order to acquire the complex, which is currently valued at $1.9 billion. [more]

Investment management firm BlackRock was hired by state insurance regulators to evaluate the industry’s potential losses from holding commercial mortgage-backed securities, Bloomberg news reported. By the end of the year, BlackRock will review more than 7,000 securities, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said yesterday in a statement. The New York-based firm will calculate loss expectations for the holdings, which will determine how much capital insurers must hold to cushion potential declines, NAIC said. Insurance regulators are searching for an alternative to Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s, whose ratings were cited by some as one cause of the financial crisis. BlackRock advised financial companies and governments during the credit crisis on how to value mortgage-related assets. It won the NAIC contract from among 16 bidders. [Bloomberg]

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Winthrop Realty Trust has brought in hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management to form a joint venture with the intention of taking over Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Winthrop announced today. The new entity has purchased all $300 million worth of the senior mezzanine debt on the Manhattan apartment complex, Crain’s reported. Winthrop — which already owned a portion of that senior mezzanine debt — and Pershing recently spent $45 million to buy the remainder. Winthrop has a 22.5 percent stake in the new joint venture, while Pershing owns 77.5 percent.

The $300 million senior mezzanine debt, along with the $3 billion first mortgage on Stuy Town secured by the property, is in default. Winthrop and Pershing initiated a foreclosure on the equity interests in the property and scheduled a foreclosure auction for Aug. 25. If the group wins, as it expects to, the partnership would take control of Stuy Town and assume the $3 billion debt on the property. Earlier this year, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock, which together bought the 11,000-unit residential complex for $5.4 billion in 2006 near the peak of the market, defaulted on their loans. Since then, the first mortgage on the property has been handed over to special servicer CW Capital. [Crain's]

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Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village

A state Supreme Court judge ruled that MetLife could remain liable for over $200 million in rent overcharges at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, which the [more]

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village

Tishman Speyer’s interim rent-adjustment agreement with tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village has b [more]

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village might be split in two in a foreclosure sale if the price is right, according to senior creditors for the East Side mega-complex. In a court filing yesterday, Bank of America and special servicer CW Capital Asset Management asked for approval to put the property up for auction in either one or two pieces, Bloomberg reported. Tishman Speyer and BlackRock have been trying to turn over the complex to creditors since defaulting on a $3 billion mortgage in January. Proceeds from the foreclosure sale will go toward covering the senior mortgage — on which debt has reached $3.66 billion, the filing says — as well as the litigation costs and late charges. [Bloomberg]