Clockwise from top left: Alchemy Properties’ Kenneth Horn, Bob Toll of Toll Brothers, Leonard Taub of Kaish & Taub, Jonathan Caplan of Jones Lang LaSalle, 376-380 Third Avenue and the State Supreme Court Building

From the August issue: For the owners of distressed properties, it’s a harrowing ride to stabilization. Note sale, foreclosure, bankruptcy or recapitalization, there is no easy path from financial trouble to stable footing. And while some savvy investors have seized control of valuable New York City properties, many owners and lenders have lost billions of dollars through distressed real estate sales and restructurings since the financial crisis began. This month The Real Deal examines five deals and how they unfolded.
In the last of the series, builder Kaish & Taub Development Group threw its struggling Gramercy Park condominium project into bankruptcy in a bid to hold on while its lender, Swiss bank UBS, moved to foreclose. The effort ultimately failed, and developer Toll Brothers bought the site at a court auction for $35.5 million. Click here to read the story. [more]

Robert Toll and a rendering of 205 Water Street

Toll
Brothers is setting up a new Dumbo construction and sales office next
door to the vacant former site of the Brillo soap pad factory, where
the luxury builder has proposed a 67-unit condominium tower, according
to Crain’s. The Toll Brothers lease is for two years in the
3,200-square-foot ground floor retail space at 215 Water Street, where
landlord Pearl Street Realty was asking $30 per square foot. If all
goes according to plan, the office will soon become the condo sales
office for Toll Brothers’ adjacent 10-story condo at 205 Water Street, which was unanimously approved
by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in April. The builder
bought the site for $8.6 million, or $100 per square foot, at the end
of last year, and plans to begin construction later this year. But if
not, the company has the option to cancel the lease next door after 18
months, said David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at Toll
Brothers. Yesterday, the company announced that it would also form a new distressed property venture that would pursue distressed loan and property portfolios, among other investment opportunities. [Crain's]

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Yesterday’s report of a narrower quarterly loss for luxury home builder Toll Brothers has company Chairman Bob Toll optimistic that things are looking up for new home sales. In this MSNBC video, Toll, who recently stepped down as CEO, comments on the new figures. “Our second quarter was up 86 percent over last year,” Toll said. “We’re still running at half-speed… but we’re definitely no longer looking for light at the end of the tunnel — we’re out of the tunnel.”

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Bob Toll (l), Doug Yearley

Leading U.S. luxury home builder Toll Brothers reported a $40.4 million second-quarter loss today, representing a $0.24 loss per share. The report marks a narrower loss for Toll than seen in previous quarters — the company reported an $83.2 million loss in the same quarter a year earlier and a $40.8 million loss last quarter. While Toll isn’t necessarily on the upswing, newly-appointed CEO Doug Yearley said that there is reason to believe the company is stabilizing. “With demand increasing in many areas, we are very focused on growth,” Yearley said. “We believe we are well-positioned for future growth.” The quarterly fiscal report comes just days after 43-year CEO Robert Toll announced he was stepping down from the post, while staying on as chairman. TRD

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Robert Toll and a rendering of 205 Water Street

Toll Brothers’ planned residential tower on Dumbo’s Water Street cleared the first phase of the public review process when a Community Board 2 committee approved the project’s design in an 8-3 vote last night. Toll Brothers’ plans call for 67 market-rate apartments and 86 underground parking spaces. Current zoning in the district allows for up to 12-story buildings and does not have the 20 percent affordable housing requirement that other areas of Brooklyn have, so the steel and gray concrete project at 205 Water Street glided through the vote easily. “We loved the gritty nature of this industrial area, and that was our inspiration,” said Navid Maqami of Greenberg Farrow, which designed the project. Toll Brothers, which recently abandoned its long-planned Gowanus Canal development after it garnered a Superfund designation from the Environmental Protection Agency, will now need to win approval from the full community board before an April 6 vote by the Landmarks Commission. [Brooklyn Paper] [more]

Robert Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers

Luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers’ most recent securities filing hints at a bit of modesty in response to the housing market’s woes. While CEO Robert Toll “performed exceedingly well during fiscal 2009,” his salary was slashed 11 percent and he didn’t get a bonus “due to overall economic conditions, both in our industry and the country as a whole,” the company’s compensation committee said. Recent Toll Brothers projects include Northside Piers in Williamsburg and 700 Grove in Jersey City. Salaries remained flat for Toll COO Zvi Barzilay and CFO Joel Rassman, each taking in $1 million in salary pay, plus bonuses of over $1 million. Even with the pay cut, Robert Toll reaped in $1.17 million for the year, down from $1.3 million in both 2007 and 2008. While Toll received less in the way of option awards this year, he got $1.34 million in stock. He now owns 11.22 percent of his company’s common stock, which bodes well for his personal finances because Toll Brothers shares rose almost 9 percent over the past year.