Jeff Blau, president of Related Companies, is forging ahead with his West Side rail yards project, according to the New York Observer, which recently sat down with the New York City developer to discuss development and the market’s overall strength. Having signed a contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week, Blau said that he can now “really get started on the development and talking to potential tenants coming to the project.” But Blau has yet to determine when construction will launch, noting that “the markets have just gone through a pretty significant shock,” and that “nobody has a crystal ball to know exactly when to start.” While he is optimistic about the market, Blau said that he doesn’t “think the market is quite ready,
this year, for new construction starts,” and that he doesn’t “think the
construction lending markets are buying debt.” [NYO]

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Jeff Blau, president of Related Companies, is forging ahead with his West Side rail yards project, according to the New York Observer, which recently sat down with the New York City developer to discuss development and the market’s overall strength. Having signed a contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week, Blau said that he can now “really get started on the development and talking to potential tenants coming to the project.” But Blau has yet to determine when construction will launch, noting that “the markets have just gone through a pretty significant shock,” and that “nobody has a crystal ball to know exactly when to start.” While he is optimistic about the market, Blau said that he doesn’t “think the market is quite ready,
this year, for new construction starts,” and that he doesn’t “think the
construction lending markets are buying debt.” [NYO]

[more]

B. Tuckey Devlin (top left) and David Workman (not pictured) sued Related Companies over Ocean Park Apartments in Far Rockaway. Jeff Blau (bottom left), is president of Related.

Two real estate investors filed a lawsuit seeking at least $390 million from developer Related Companies claiming the firm misled them when it partnered with the pair to buy the Far Rockaway affordable housing complex Ocean Park Apartments in 2005. Investors David Workman and B. Tuckey Devlin, partners in an entity called DB Development, claim Related induced them into partnering with it, but then used the deal for its own political advantage. The individuals claim Related and its subsidiary Related Apartment Preservation, assured them that if they bought the complex together, it would remove the 602-unit property at 125 Beach 17th Street from the Mitchell-Lama affordable housing program and convert it to market-rate apartments or condominiums. Such a move could have netted $200 million in profits, the suit filed in New York State Supreme Court Tuesday says. But it never happened and the property has been maintained as an affordable complex. “[Related’s] refusal to withdraw the property from the [affordable housing program] has completely eviscerated the value of [DB Development’s] rights to ‘cash out,’” the complaint says. “The principal, if not sole, reason for refusing to withdraw from the [affordable housing program] was so that Related could curry favor with federal, New York City and New York state officials and politicians with respect to other lucrative real estate ventures,” the suit continues. The suit cites a November 2009 interview with Jeff Blau, Related’s president, on The Real Deal Web site in which he was quoted saying, “For us, it’s about preservation, versus conversion to market rate.” Blau was not named in the suit. [more]

From left: Ara Hovnanian, the townhouse at 16 West 12th Street, and 820 Fifth Avenue, the Hovnanians’ former home (Building photos source: PropertyShark)

Developer Ara Hovnanian and his wife Rachel closed on a townhouse at 16 West 12th Street earlier this week, the Post reported. The home, which was originally listed for $24.975 million early last year, belonged to divorcing couple Luke and Julie Janklow, the Sweetiepie restaurant founder, who purchased it for $4.5 million in 2004. The most recent asking price was $17.9 million. Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens had the listing. The Hovnanian’s sold their 820 Fifth Avenue apartment to socialite and philanthropist Lily Safra last year for $33 million — they were asking $35 million — but not before a $31 milliion bid by Jeff Blau, president of the Related Companies, was famously rejected by the building’s co-op board. [Post]
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Jeff Blau

Save for a few short-term dips, the real estate market in New York has run full steam ahead since the recession of the early 1990s, when Jeff Blau joined the Related Companies out of college.

And what a run it’s been for the 41-year-old president of the privately held real estate juggernaut, which developed One Union Square South, the mixed-use tower that helped revitalize its downtown neighborhood, and Time Warner Center, which played a similar role at Columbus Circle. On the purely commercial side, Related has also developed the Gateway Center, a three-month-old mall by Yankee Stadium that’s brought big-box retailing to a low-income area.

Blau talked to The Real Deal about the economy, how distressed assets may provide opportunities and the importance of affordable housing.
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Related Companies President Jeff Blau may not have met the standards of the co-op board at 820 Fifth Avenue, but apparently Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel Investment Group, does. Griffin, who has an estimated worth of $3.7 billion and whom Forbes named the 97th richest American, paid just below the fourth-floor unit’s $35 million asking price, the New York Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil reported. The Upper East Side home, once owned by Tommy Hilfiger, is currently owned by home builder Ara Hovnanian.

From the September issue: No one knows exactly why Jeff Blau, the 41-year-old president of the
Related Companies, was denied a co-op board interview this spring at
exclusive 820 Fifth Avenue. In what would have been one of the biggest
deals of the year, Blau reportedly planned to pay $31 million for a
fourth-floor spread at the limestone building between 63rd and 64th
streets, where each apartment takes up a floor.
Many possible explanations for the high-profile turndown have been bandied about by real estate observers.
Was it the fact that Blau is in real estate, at a time when the
city’s housing market has slumped? Was it the fact that he’s Jewish, in
a city where many of the most exclusive buildings were forged in a
crucible of anti-Semitism? Was there bad blood between Blau and a
building resident? [more]

Related Companies launched an online rental and leasing Web site today, making it, what the company says, the first national developer to offer paperless leasing. The program aims to let customers complete leases without printing any paper or even picking up the phone. In a statement released today, Related President Jeff Blau said that the site was created with changing customer habits in mind. According the company’s press statement, over 72 percent of New York metro area renters begin their rental searches online. TRD