Controversial developer Chetrit Group has begun work on a long-neglected Midtown development site at St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital set to become luxury apartments, DNAinfo reported.
Scaffolding went up and construction workers arrived on Tuesday, according to residents near the 415 West 51st Street site. [more]
The Hotel Chelsea
The Chetrit Group’s Joseph Chetrit has been ordered to clear asbestos from shaft space at the Hotel Chelsea, the New York Daily News reported, in what is the latest legal clash between the developer and the Chelsea Hotel Tenant Association.
“Residents are very angry. Asbestos is a deadly substance,” said Zoe Pappas, president of the Chelsea Hotel Tenant Association. [more]
From the January issue: 
In a key sign that the relationship between developers and organized labor has changed, the so-called New York Plan — a century-old agreement that required most contractors to use union labor — was allowed to expire Dec. 31.
The New York Plan required any member of the Building Trades Employers’ Association — which represents the majority of the city’s construction managers and contractors — to use completely “closed shops,” with all-union labor. But in the middle of last year, the 1,700-member BTEA called for a halt to the agreement, saying it put their members at a competitive disadvantage when going up against non-union outfits for building contracts. [more]
Yitzhak Tessler, the 62-year-old CEO and president of Tessler Developments, spoke with The Real Deal in his first face-to-face interview since he started building in New York more than a decade ago.
The builder of projects such as 240 Park Avenue South decided to speak up, he said, to challenge the reporting surrounding 1107 Broadway, his failed condominium conversion of one of the International Toy Center buildings that became mired in the economic downturn and the Lehman Brothers Holdings bankruptcy. He was frustrated with the assertion that he defaulted on the Lehman Brothers loan, saying the story was more complicated. In the end, each side claimed the other owed it money.
In addition, Tessler answered questions about the Chetrit brothers, with whom he frequently partnered on deals, and his future development plans in Manhattan. [more]
A discrimination lawsuit against the Chetrits, one of city’s most powerful and secretive real estate families, has been settled just a few days before it was set to go to trial.
The suit, which essentially accused the Chetrit Group of firing an employee because he was insufficiently Jewish, was dismissed yesterday, according to a spokesperson for Judge Harold Baer of the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.
Opening arguments had been set for Monday morning. Details of the settlement were not immediately available.
As The Real Deal previously reported, the suit was brought by former employee Les Kramsky, who is Jewish. In the suit, Kramsky claims that Joseph Chetrit, the firm’s managing member and an Orthodox Jew, hired Kramsky because he thought Kramsky, too, was Orthodox, which is a strict interpretation of the religion. [more]
Developer Joseph Chetrit just won a round in his court battle with Bonjour Capital’s Charles Dayan over the future redevelopment of the Temple Court at 5 Beekman Street, the Post reported. Chetrit had to lay out both his and Dayan’s share of additional funds to extend and reduce their mortgage commitment to just over $20 million from about $53 million. Now, a judge has ordered Dayan to pay, and Stephen Meister, Chetrit’s lawyer, said he will start enforcing the judgment, which is worth about $2.55 million. Dayan said he disagrees with the court ruling and intends to appeal. [Post, 6th item] [more]
The Chetrit Group paid $34.925 million to buy a leasehold interest on a
portion of the ground under the former Standard Oil Building at 26
Broadway in Lower Manhattan, a building it bought two years ago. Midtown-based
property investment company Chetrit Group bought the 31-story office
building at the corner of Broadway and Beaver Street — as well as two
out of three parcels of land under the building — in March 2007 for
$225 million. But the third parcel, known as the Smathers Parcel,
remained under separate ownership through a long-term lease, city
property records show. Chetrit Group closed on the purchase of
the Smathers Parcel Dec. 30, after going into contract in March 2007,
city records published yesterday show. [more]
Developers such as Lloyd Goldman, the Chetrit family and commercial broker Robert Knakal have recently opened their wallets as the citywide race for comptroller heats up, according to the most recent campaign finance documents filed last week. Brooklyn City Council member David Yassky took in the largest amount of contributions from real estate interests among the four major candidates for city comptroller, an analysis of the most recent reports from the city’s Campaign Finance Board, covering July 12 to August 10, by The Real Deal shows. But Yassky remains far behind Queens Council members Melinda Katz and John Liu in overall contributions, and is about tied with David Weprin, another Queens Council member. [more]
Citibank claims developer Kent Swig owes it $5 million from a defaulted
personal loan; a contractor filed suit against Joseph Moinian’s
development company for unpaid work; and embattled Bronx landlord
Ocelot Capital Group claims a former company official sold its secrets. Click here for the full story. [more]
