Sterling American Property, the real estate investment management fund controlled by Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz’s Sterling Equities, is letting go of a struggling Long Island office complex in a deed in lieu of foreclosure, according to the Wall Street Journal. The 127,000-square-foot Hauppauge property, Woodlands Office Park, had a loan balance of $12.7 million as of last summer, which was being overseen by special servicer ORIX Capital Markets. … [more]

The Donald is pitching the embattled Wilpon family on a bailout for their New York Mets, he told the New York Times today. Trump, who has a habit of making public plays to take over struggling New York City institutions (see: Tavern on the Green, Lasker and Wollman rinks), told the paper that he called friend and fellow developer Fred Wilpon a couple of weeks ago to set up a meeting to discuss the possibility of buying the team. Wilpon, who is the team’s principal owner, said last month that he was seeking a buyer for up to a quarter of the club after being sued by the trustee in the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy case for as much as $1 billion. The Wilpon-Trump meeting hasn’t happened yet, but Trump said he won’t settle for anything less than majority ownership. … [more]

Time is running out for the holdouts in Queens’ Willets Point, where the city is planning to make its first move towards seizing a 20-acre swath of land through eminent domain next week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the parcel represents the first phase of the 62-acre development project, for which the city will begin soliciting bids from developers in April. Among the developers who have previously expressed interest in the project are the Related Companies, Muss Development and the Wilpon Family’s Sterling Equities. … [more]

Mets principal owner Sterling Equities is considering selling part of the team to “strategic partners” due to the financial uncertainty created by the lawsuit filed against them by the trustee in the Bernie Madoff bankruptcy case, the Post reported. Fred Wilpon, the team’s CEO, and his son Jeff Wilpon, the COO, said in a statement that they have hired investment bank Allen & Co. to explore alternatives, including adding one or more strategic partners. While Sterling Equities is working to settle the suit, it wants to “address the air of uncertainty created by this lawsuit, and to provide additional assurance that the New York Mets will continue to have the necessary resources to fully compete and win,” the statement said…. [more]

845 West End Avenue and Fred Wilpon of Sterling American PropertiesA New York state appeals court has handed down a victory to investment partners Atlas Capital and Fred Wilpon’s Sterling American Properties, who challenged a lower court ruling that blocked an eviction at their 845 West End Avenue condominium conversion based on the landmark class action victory by tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Jeffrey Turkel, a partner at Rosenberg & Estis, representing 845 West End, said that the decision represents the first time that the state appellate term has reviewed a case involving tenants trying to get out of a stipulation agreement based on the Stuy Town case, which was owned by Tishman Speyer. In the Stuy Town case, the landlord was found to have illegally deregulated apartments and overcharged tenants…. [more]

Real estate investor Fred Wilpon and his Sterling Equities were hit with a lawsuit today by the trustee overseeing the recovery of funds for victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, according to the Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit was filed under a seal, but Sterling Equities is among those Madoff investors that trustee Irving Picard has said emerged from the scandal with net gains. In a court filing last year, Picard had said that a partnership associated with Wilpon’s New York Mets deposited a total of $523 million with Madoff and ultimately came away with around $571 million. … [more]

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An affiliate of Fred Wilpon’s Sterling American Property is more than 90 days delinquent on a securitized loan on a 128,000-square-foot Hauppauge, N.Y. office complex on Long Island, the Wall Street Journal reported. The three-building property, called Woodlands Office Park, was purchased in 2006 near the height of the market and now has a $12.7 million loan balance, according to data from research firm Trepp. It is roughly two-thirds occupied, though a number of major leases have expired. The largest tenant, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, recently renewed its lease, according to Phil Wachtler, Wilpon’s son-in-law and the principal of the complex’s management company. The debt on the 7.5-acre property, which was sold as commercial mortgage-backed securities, has been turned over to special servicer ORIX Capital Markets, Trepp said. [WSJ]

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Fred Wilpon and his former home at Sterling Plaza

The former New York City home of Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon is back on the market for $7.5 million. The 33rd-floor-penthouse at 255 East 49th Street, Sterling Plaza, has 3,256 square feet of living space, plus a 2,000-square-foot roof deck. Wilpon’s Sterling Equities developed the building in 1984 and he kept the apartment for himself until selling it in 1997. Linda Stillwell of the Corcoran Group, who was Wilpon’s listing agent at the time, is now charged with selling it again. It has three bedrooms, a library, two wood-burning fireplaces and views of the East River, United Nations and the Midtown skyline. [NYT]… [more]