Howard Milstein, head of Milstein Properties

Howard Milstein, head of Milstein PropertiesEmigrant Savings Bank, the struggling Milstein-owned institution and the lone major city holdout in the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, received $30 million in capital infusions from the Milsteins during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a recent report to the Federal Reserve. The Milsteins’ fourth-quarter contribution brings the total to $200 million injected into the unprofitable bank over the past three years. With a junk credit rating and a “negative” outlook from Fitch Ratings, Emigrant continues to post losses on real estate and business lending and failed private equity investments. Its parent company, New York Private Bank & Trust Corp., posted a net $256 million loss last year and took $267 million in federal bailout money. Still, Eric Newell, a debt analyst at Fitch Ratings, said “the bank’s capital position seems to improving.” But it may need even more donations from the storied Milstein dynasty, back on the radar with the impeding sales launch of two condo towers in Batter Park City, in order to absorb future losses. Emigrant has only 3 percent of tangible capital, compared with the 5.6 percent average of its peer group. [Crain’s]  

Howard Milstein is the head of Milstein Properties.

From the February issue: On a winter afternoon last month, sunshine streamed through the windows on the 33rd story of 30 Lincoln Plaza, illuminating the cleaning supplies and paint cans that occupy the high-ceilinged space. Innocuous though it may seem, this out-of-the-way spot is at the center of a bitter dispute now raging between the building”s tenants and the developer, the Milstein real estate family. In their quest to prevent the Milsteins from converting the rental building into condos, tenants have filed a lawsuit claiming that when 30 Lincoln Plaza was constructed three decades ago, the developer ignored city permits and added an illegal extra floor — the 33rd. Litigation is nothing new for the Milsteins. They are one of the city’s oldest and most successful real estate families, but also among the most controversial.  [more]