A new 181-unit luxury rental building with a retail component will rise on Broadway and 77th Street thanks to a recently closed $125 million loan funded by the issuance of bonds provided by the New York State Housing Finance Agency, GlobeSt.com reported.

The building, slated to be called the Larstrand, will be developed by Friedland Properties and its representative Rose Associates. CVS has already agreed to lease part of the retail space.

Thirty-seven of the units at the Larstrand will be designated as affordable. [more]

William Friedland, vice president at Friedland Properties, the Melar and Costas Kondylis, founder of Costas Kondylis & Partners

Developer Friedland Properties and architecture firm Costas Kondylis & Partners have finally settled all charges with the federal government relating to the Melar, a rental building at 250 West 93rd Street that came under fire for violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office.
Negotiations between the developers and federal authorities have been ongoing since last year. The government’s initial complaint, filed in October 2010, alleges that Friedland and Kondylis had failed to create public areas in the building, which is between Broadway and West End Avenue, that were readily accessible to residents with disabilities, as well as set light switches and other outlets in easy to reach locations or provide kitchens and bathrooms that were accessible to disabled persons. [more]

New York-based landlord Friedland Properties is in settlement negotiations with the federal government for allegedly failing to comply with housing discrimination laws that protect the disabled, the Wall Street Journal reported. The building in question is the 22-story, 143-unit Melar, a rental building at 250 West 93rd Street on the Upper West Side, which the U.S. Attorney’s office believes Friedland did not make accessible enough for wheelchair users. Friedland initially agreed to set aside $180,000 to cover discrimination claims, pay a $40,000 fine and spend $288,300 to remedy the situation. But in April, the landlord filed a motion seeking to withdraw from the settlement. The implications of the ruling could extend far beyond the Melar and affect some 176,000 apartments — including 64,000 affordable housing units — throughout the city, industry insiders told the Journal. [more]

William Friedland, vice president with Friedland Properties, and the UWS neighborhood that’s been the subject of rent disagreements, according to tenants

An office and retail property owner has been drawing ire from tenants on the Upper West Side for allegedly refusing to budge on rents and, they say, effectively forcing tenants out.

Friedland Properties, which has maintained a famously influential grasp on the Manhattan retail scene while maintaining top-dollar rents, has failed to renegotiate rents with tenants on a handful of blocks along Broadway, at least between 76th and 78th streets, some tenants there say.

Lisette, a shopkeeper who declined to provide her last name, said she had to shut down her salon, Curl Up & Dye, this past Christmas, after Friedland refused to adjust her rent, which she declined to disclose.

“[Friedland] has almost a whole block closed down because [they] won’t negotiate rent,” she said. [more]

787 Madison Avenue

From the November issue: One of the most important names in Madison Avenue retail is not lit up in glitzy letters above a swanky boutique. But among those who know Madison Avenue’s “Gold Coast,” from 57th Street to 72nd Street — and have watched the strip suffer an uncharacteristic glut of vacancies — the low-profile Friedland family holds the informal title as the masters of Madison’s destiny. Madison Avenue has suffered the steepest rent drops of any major Manhattan retail district — the average asking rent plunged 41 percent, to $770 per square foot, in the third quarter of 2009 from the fourth quarter of 2008, according to CB Richard Ellis. If that isn’t bad enough, numerous sources said asking rents on Madison Avenue have actually plummeted even lower than the CBRE report indicated, to as low as $500 per square foot, while vacancies remain stubbornly high. One broker counted 11 availabilities, both publicly and quietly marketed spaces, just between 66th and 68th streets. Now, as the avenue’s leasing limps back to health, the Friedlands are expected to play an outsize role in its future development, tenant mix and rent levels.