From left: 505 West 47th Street and Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass,
co-founders of Parkview Developers

A federal district judge late last week ruled that 35 buyers at the 505 Condominium in Hell’s Kitchen should get their escrow deposits refunded, overturning an earlier verdict for Parkview Developers in this closely watched case involving the Interstate Land Sales Disclosure Act.

In June 2009, 53 buyers filed suit in U.S. District Court alleging that Parkview, led by Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, failed to provide the buyers with property reports at the building, at 505 West 47th Street. Eighteen of the buyers settled with the developers or closed on their purchases before a federal district judge dismissed the case in December 2010.

On Sept. 28, Judge Lawrence McKenna reversed the 35 buyers ruling, citing a reversal earlier this year in the case by Lola Bodansky against the Fifth on the Park condominium. … [more]

[Updated 1:15 p.m., April 15, 2011 from a previous version of the story] Trump Soho hotel-condo recently entered discussions with a number of brokers, including Prudential Douglas Elliman, on a potential deal to replace Prodigy International, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Developers and lenders have been in furious discussion about how to revive sales at the luxury tower, located at 246 Spring Street, following a 2010 deal with Los Angeles-based CIM Group to recapitalize more than $295 million in debt.

When asked about this last week, Elliman declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Trump Soho denied the move. “There has been no change in the sales and marketing team,” the spokesperson said.
… [more]

From left: Fifth on the Park and One Hunters Point

In one of the nation’s most closely watched Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act cases, a federal circuit court yesterday overturned a controversial lower court ruling involving two New York condominiums, forcing the release of millions of dollars in escrow funds and potentially ending the debate over whether the federal statute applies in New York City real estate.

The U.S. District Court previously ruled that Harlem’s Fifth on the Park condo and One Hunters Point condo in Long Island City were exempt from ILSA laws because even though the condos were larger than the federally mandated 100-unit limit, the developers sold less than 100 units when they got the temporary certificate of occupancy from the New York City Department of Buildings…. [more]

Buyers’ attorney Lawrence Weiner and the 505

An Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act case brought against the 505, a new 108-unit Hell’s Kitchen condominium, has been dismissed in U.S. District Court, the developer announced today, marking a defeat 35 buyers.

Fifty-three buyers filed ILSA claims, starting in June 2009. Subsequently, 18 of those either settled with the builder Parkview Developers or closed on their units at 505 West 47th Street.

But while a statement from Parkview said the developer intends to seek legal fees from the claimants, the buyers’ attorney Lawrence Weiner said that his clients intend to appeal…. [more]

5th on the Park and Stephen Kliegerman

Fifth on the Park, the Harlem condominium that saw a landmark Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act case earlier this year, has switched up its marketing team after selling 51 percent of its 160 units since launching sales in April 2007. Halstead Property Development Marketing will become the exclusive sales team for the development, located at 1485 Fifth Avenue between 119th and 120th streets. Prices there range from $489,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $1.74 million for a four-bedroom apartment. Stephen Kliegerman, executive director for Halstead Property Development Marketing, was not immediately available for comment.

Yoav Haron, CFO with Artimus Construction, a partner with the development team, Uptown Partners, said in a statement that the team has “been very pleased with the progress made up until this point.”… [more]

From left: “Royal Pains” actress Anastasia Griffith, 80 Metropolitan and Fifth on the Park

Three buyers, led by “Royal Pains” actress Anastasia Griffith, won the right to get their deposits back at 80 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg.

U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Peck ruled that developer Doug Steiner’s Steiner Studios failed to register the 123-unit condominium, and was not exempt from the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act despite selling less than 100 apartments at the property.

“When plaintiffs… signed their purchase agreements, the condominium was publicly announced as consisting of 123 units,” Peck wrote. “Therefore the condominium was not exempt from ILSA registration and disclosure provisions under the 100-lot exemption unless 24 units were exempt at that time.” … [more]

From left: Adam Leitman Bailey, the Edge and its developer, Jeffrey Levine of Douglaston Development

At least nine apartment buyers, represented by attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, are now trying to back out of their contracts at the Edge, a 575-unit condominium at 22 North 6th Street on the Williamsburg waterfront. Bailey, who just won a similar case at the Brompton on the Upper East Side, is using the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act to fight for his clients, Curbed first reported. “Our client purchasers at the Edge are entitled to a full refund of their deposit and to rescission of their purchase agreements,” Bailey said in a statement. TRD… [more]

A series of recent rulings in New York and other states allowing buyers to recoup their deposits after backing out of signed contracts has enraged developers, the New York Times reported. The buyers are successfully using a 1968 federal law — known as Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act –intended to protect buyers of out-of-state land from corrupt developers or brokers. But instead, attorneys for these buyers are finding fault in wording that technically violates the law in contracts or other documentation. Lawyers have won back deposits for errors as simple as failing to give buyers a legal description of the property. Experts say that these decisions could lead to more buyer lawsuits. “The crash of the market resulted in people losing their jobs, No. 1, and No. 2, the tightening of the credit market meant they couldn’t get the loans they needed to buy the property,” said attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who has represented buyers in several cases involving ILSA. “We had to find some law to help these people, and that’s what ILSA did. Desperation inspired creativity.” A handful of recent ILSA cases saw judges finding in favor of buyers. Earlier this month, at 20 Pine Street in Lower Manhattan, a judge denied an attempt by the sponsors to have two cases brought forward by buyers thrown out. In September, a judge ruled against Related Companies in an ILSA case, order the developer to return a $510,000 deposit on a unit at the Brompton on the Upper East Side. [NYT]

… [more]

20 Pine Street

A federal district court judge denied an attempt by the sponsors of the 20 Pine Street condominium to throw out two … [more]

The Related Companies must return a $510,000 deposit, plus interest, to the Greek shipping executive who bought at the 22-story Brompton condominium on the Upper East Side, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a decision that could have broad implications for developers and condo buyers in New York and nationwide.

The Brompton buyers, Vasilis Bacolitsas and his wife, Sofia Nikolaidou, had signed a contract in May 2008 for a $3.4 million three-bedroom unit and later decided to back out, making use of a 1968 federal law called the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act. The obscure law, originally intended to be applied to the sales of large plots of undeveloped land, requires contracts in large developments to be in a form that can be filed with the city register.

At the Brompton and most other new condominiums, lenders stipulate that buyers are only allowed to register their contracts after they’ve closed on the purchase because a recorded agreement would result in a lien against the property. The decision, therefore, said the buyers’ attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, entitles “every buyer in a newly constructed condominium which has sold more than 100 units within the last three years to obtain a refund of their down payment.”

Lawyers for the sponsors said the decision could be a death sentence for existing and future new development in the city and intend to appeal. [NYT]

… [more]