A stalled condominium project at 290 Mulberry Street is slated to be revived as a rental building, after being purchased by a mystery buyer for $25 million, Crain’s reported.

The 12-story building, opposite to the Puck Building on Houston Street, was initially conceived as a condo with eight full-floor apartments and a shared 2,600-square-foot terrace by former owner Cardinal Real Estate Investments, said Michael DeCheser, director of sales at Massey Knakal Realty Services, which marketed the building in the spring. However, the new owners have decided to change course.

“I’m told it will be finished as a rental,” DeCheser said. [more]

From left to right: Kent Swig, Yair Levy, Harry Macklowe and Aby Rosen could be personally liable to lenders.

From the November issue: Contrary to popular belief, commercial lenders did not throw out all of their standards in the recent cycle of easy credit.
When developer Aby Rosen structured his $133 million loan for the
acquisition and development of the Shangri-La hotel at 614 Lexington
Avenue in April 2007, the mortgage document included a personal
guaranty to cover losses in the event of a default. Similarly, when Kent Swig negotiated $49 million in loans with
Lehman Brothers Holdings to develop a hotel and condo project at 45
Broad Street in the Financial District in 2006 and 2007, the bank
demanded a similar guaranty in the mortgage documents.
And other big-time borrowers such as developer Yair Levy and
investor Steven Elghanayan have made the same types of commitments to
convince banks to make loans on their projects. [more]

Troubled Midtown-based commercial lender CIT Group is seeking to foreclose on a $12 million loan made to a developer that has been successful in Manhattan but recently came up short with a luxury Noho condominium conversion at 654 Broadway. CIT claims developers 654 Broadway Partners LLC, an affiliate of Cardinal Real Estate Investments, has missed a total of $890,603 in mortgage payments since November 2008 in the two-year loan that was due in August and is now in default, a complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court Sept. 9 shows. [more]