Miki Naftali, the CEO and president of Israeli real estate and hotel development conglomerate Elad Group, announced last week that he would step down from the role he’s held for more than a decade in order to start his own company, and The Real Deal got him on the phone to find out more. Naftali, who will retain a 49 percent stake in New York subsidiary Elad Properties, chatted about his new real estate venture, the Naftali Group, and about what will become of Elad in his absence. Meanwhile, Naftali sought to quash rumors that recent retail struggles at the Plaza Hotel — the revival of which was the hallmark of his tenure, at least as far as New York City is concerned — had anything to do with his departure. Click here for the Q & A.
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From left: Miki Naftali, the Plaza, 21 Astor Place and the Grand Madison

Miki Naftali has stepped down as CEO of Elad Properties, which owns the Plaza Hotel, the New York Post reported. Despite speculation that controversy in the Plaza Hotel led to his stepping down, Miki Naftali insisted that was not the case. Naftali, who forged the $675 million purchase of the Plaza in 2004, vacated his role to pursue a new venture that includes an investment in an undisclosed mixed-use space in the city. Naftali will hold on to a 49 percent stake in Elad Properties. According to the Post, insiders believed Naftali was under fire from his boss, Isaac Tshuva who owns Elad Properties’ parent company the Elad Group, because of an inability to land long-term tenants in the hotel’s restaurant and retail spaces. [more]

The owners of the Plaza Hotel’s Oak Room have decided to close the legendary restaurant amid a bitter dispute with their landlord. According to the New York Times, Oak Room owner Eli Gindi gave the Plaza a 90-day notice of departure three weeks ago, after landlord Elad Group said the Oak Room would have to either cancel its lucrative “Day and Night” Saturday afternoon parties or pay more than twice its current rent. That brought lease negotiations to a halt, prompting Elad to sue Gindi for $33.3 million over “numerous violations of the lease, unacceptable activities and significant financial arrears.” [more]

Plaza Hotel landlord Elad Properties has filed a $33.3 million lawsuit against the owners of its famed Oak Room and Bar, decrying its recent lack of class. According to the Post, owners Jeffrey and Eli Gindi have allowed the reputation of the legendary eatery to falter, hosting regular Burlesque shows and encouraging “raucous and/or vulgar” behavior, loud music, and illegal drug use, in addition to failing a city health inspection and garnering less-than-stellar restaurant reviews, the suit alleges. [more]

From left, Gilad Azaria, Daniel Senor, Campbell Brown and the Tribeca condo at 71 Murray Street

Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown [more]

The legendary Demel Bakery is planning to walk away from a 10-year lease at the Plaza hotel’s grand concourse and is suing developer Elad Properties for fraud, the Post reported. Demel is claiming that Elad lured the Viennese bakery to the below-ground mall under false pretenses in February 2008 — namely, that the location would put it in the midst of retailers like Harrods, Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Elad, which purchased the famed hotel for $675 million in 2004, has not followed through, according to the suit, filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court. The basement’s Plaza Retail Collection, part of a $450 million hotel renovation, is now “populated with unknown… retailers or — worse — vacant, unleased space,” the suit claims. Demel, which stopped paying rent to the Plaza in February 2009, is the only restaurant in the 160,000-square foot mall and could leave within weeks, according to sources, and other retailers are threatening to follow. [Post]

Prior to The Real Deal‘s forum last week on distressed properties and real estate market recovery, moderator Brian Sullivan, of Fox Business News, spoke with Elad President Miki Naftali outside the forum venue about recovery in the New York hospitality industry. Naftali said that recovery will largely rely on the financial sector and whether lenders will begin loosening their tight grip on credit. “The problem is really more on the financial side,” Naftali said. “Any hotel owner that has a loan coming due has the almost impossible mission or task to refinance the property. That’s the biggest problem that we see right now.”

From the July issue: Kasirer Consulting’s client list reads like a who’s who of local real
estate luminaries. The Manhattan-based lobbying firm’s clients include
SL Green Realty, Manhattan’s largest commercial landlord; the
developers of the New Domino, the biggest mixed-use project planned in
Williamsburg; Elad Properties, the Israeli company that converted the
Plaza Hotel into one of the most expensive condominiums ever, and a
host of others. Public records show that Kasirer Consulting took in
more than $3 million in fees in 2006, making it the highest-earning
lobbying firm in New York for that year, the last year for which the
city has released rankings. [more]

1. City expected to lose $24 million from the mortgage and sales tax
exemptions granted to Atlantic Yards Nets arena [Brooklyn Paper]
2. ML Management Associates moves to new headquarters at 250 West 57th Street [NYT]
3. After 74 years, Manny’s Music closed on Sunday [NYT]
4. Planners say new concert hall in Coney Island would be quieter than the existing bandshell [NYDN]
5. City expands available funding for charter school construction to $3.8 billion [Post]
6. $25 million Tribeca home comes with private pool [NY Mag]
7. Large number of borrowers who took out $15,000 loans from Fannie Mae defaulted [NYT]
8. Real estate ads move from newspapers to the Web [Ad Age]
9. So far this year, just three homes listed for more than $16 million have sold [NYT]

10. Some buyers use “value price range” instead of one listing price for homes [NYT]

11. New York Crane allegedly knew the crane that collapsed on the Upper
East Side last year was faulty [Gothamist] and the parents of a
construction worker killed will mourn at the site [Newsday]
12. Problems expected for commercial non-performing loans [NMN]
13. Editorial on the Gowanus Canal clean-up [NYT]

14. Living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn [NYT]
15. Queensboro Bridge turns 100 years old [Gothamist]
16. Elad Properties gives tours of the Plaza [NYT]

17. GMAC, former financing arm of General Motors, subleases entire 18th floor of 1177 Sixth Avenue [Crain's]

18. Ex-Lehman Brothers workers move private equity fund to 399 Park Avenue, where Lehman had offices [Crain's]

19. Lucky’s Famous Burgers opening location at 264 West 23rd Street [Crain's]
20. Natasha Richardson’s will includes New York homes [Post]
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A second-floor duplex at the Plaza Hotel Residences sold for $2,751 per
square foot, about half the price that similarly sized units were
closing for last year. The three-bedroom unit with 4,283 square feet was sold by the developer,
Elad Properties, to a company called Paradeplatz Ltd. for $11.786
million. The condo faces Central Park in the rehabilitated hotel at 768 Fifth Avenue. The purchase by Paradeplatz went into contract in September 2008 and
closed May 15, according to city property records published today. [more]