The Starrett-Lehigh Building

From the October issue: In December 2007, less than a year before the fall of Lehman Brothers and as the vise of the credit crunch was tightening, SL Green Realty closed on one of the biggest deals of the decade: $1.575 billion for 388 and 390 Greenwich Street, the 2.6 million-square-foot office complex then occupied largely by Citigroup.

But SL Green, New York’s biggest commercial landlord, did not act alone in the $598-a-square-foot purchase. It had a little help from some loonies, or Canadian dollars. The REIT’s minority partner on the deal, taking a 49.4 percent stake, was SITQ, the real estate investment wing of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, a Montreal-based pension fund. (SITQ has since merged with Caisse’s other real estate subsidiary, and now goes by the name Ivanhoe Cambridge.) [more]

From left: Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, 1107 Broadway, Yitzhak Tessler of Tessler Developments and Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies and Douglas Harmon

Steve Witkoff’s Witkoff Group has completed its purchase of part of the former International Toy Center building from Lehman Brothers Holdings for $191 million, Lehman announced yesterday, following a bankruptcy auction by Eastdil Secured in June. Witkoff is planning a $290 million condominium conversion of the property, at 1107 Broadway, featuring 145 units, in collaboration with a Morgan Stanley real estate fund.

Eastdil Secured brokers Adam Spies and Doug Harmon represented the seller in the deal, and brought the buyer and seller together.

The closing of the 16-story office building follows the sale of 200 Fifth Avenue earlier this month, which was previously the main Toy Center building, for $726 million. [more]

Real estate giants the Blackstone Group, Brookfield Asset Management, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities have all submitted bids for real estate investment trust Archstone in recent weeks, but the offers haven’t been enough to resolve a disagreement among the owners over how to unwind Archstone, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Barclays and the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings are in an ongoing dispute over Archstone, a $22 billion investment made at the peak of the commercial real estate boom that contributed to Lehman’s downfall. According to the Wall Street Journal, Barclays is pushing to sell the company or its assets privately whereas Lehman favors a longer-term approach: taking the company public in what would be the largest real estate initial public offering ever. [more]

From the September issue: In its eight years of publication, The Real Deal has covered the real estate industry in a city that’s been transformed by a massive building boom, was crippled by the subsequent bust, and is now in the midst of a tentative recovery.
The compendium of stories we’ve written runs the gamut from the record-setting building and apartment purchases during the boom, to the toppling of mega-developers during the bust, to new entrepreneurs trying to get into the real estate game during today’s fragile recovery. This month, for the anniversary of our 100th issue, we bring you some of the most compelling stories we’ve tracked in these pages, many of which have unfolded and evolved over time, much as the magazine itself has. And watch the video below to see The Real Deal Publisher Amir Korangy talk about the special process for creating the unique 100th issue cover.
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Steve Witkoff and 1107 Broadway

The Witkoff Group, owner of one of the International Toy Center buildings located at 1107 Broadway, is joining forces with a Morgan Stanley real estate fund for a $290 million condominium conversion of the property featuring 145 units, the Wall Street Journal reported. The collaborators are still searching for a financing partner, but are expected to close the deal in the next month.
Witkoff acquired the 16-story, 350,000-square-foot property for $190 million in a one-day auction in June by seller Lehman Brothers. A number of high-profile bidders attended the event, including CIM and William Macklowe, SL Green Realty, and L&L Holdings.
Witkoff and Morgan Stanley anticipate spending $100 million to renovate the building, the Journal said. [more]

From left: Steve Witkoff, Howard Lorber and 1107 Broadway

Lehman Brothers has reached a deal to sell the in-default debt on 1107 Broadway to the Witkoff Group and Howard Lorber’s Vector Group for about $190 million, the New York Post reported.
The deal, determined at auction yesterday, comes just days after Lehman sold its majority ownership stake in 200 Fifth Avenue, located between 23rd and 24th streets, to JPMorgan Chase. The two buildings, connected by a footbridge, make up what used to be the International Toy Center.
“We think it is one of the great opportunities we’ve seen,” Steve Witkoff, CEO of the Witkoff Group, told the Wall Street Journal.

Witkoff, who has 90 days to finalize the deal at 1107 Broadway, between 24th and 25th streets, said he plans to turn the building into high-end condominiums. [more]

Lehman Brothers has sold its 90-plus percent stake in the former International Toy Center at 200 Fifth Avenue to JPMorgan Chase, in a deal that values the building at $700 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lehman had reportedly been shopping the building at the corner of 23rd Street that it bought for $480 million in 2007 through Eastdil Secured’s Adam Spies and Doug Harmon. At one point it appeared the failed investment bank would lose millions on the building as it struggled through vacancies in 2009. But an expensive interior upgrade and improving market helped lure tenants like Eataly and Tiffany & Co. to the building, instantly raising the building’s profile. It’s unclear whether the costly revamp sucked all potential profit from the trade. [more]

Barclays and the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings are in a dispute over how to unwind real estate investment trust Archstone, a $22 billion investment made at the peak of the commercial real estate boom that contributed to Lehman’s downfall.  According to the Wall Street Journal, Barclays is pushing to sell the company or its assets privately whereas Lehman favors a longer-term approach: taking the company public in what would be the largest real estate initial public offering ever. Meanwhile, Bank of America, the third and final partner, has yet to decide on a favored strategy. It has, however, voiced worry about how much value an IPO would create; Analysts predict between $4 billion and $6 billion in equity. [more]

The former Toy Building at 1107 Broadway and developer Yitzchak Tessler (building photo source: PropertyShark)

L&L Holding has submitted a stalking-horse bid for 1107 Broadway, the vacant, 16-story former Toy Building that’s slated to be sold in a public foreclosure auction later this month. According to the Post, L&L, which owns the 1107 Broadway’s more financially stable sister building, 200 Fifth Avenue, across the street, bid $161.5 million for the property, where Lehman currently holds $343 million in debt. Another buyer would have to offer above $164.5 million in order to win the building, which is owned by a partnership led by Yitzhak Tessler that also includes investor Joseph Chetrit. [more]

New York-based real estate private equity firm Savanna acquired 100 Wall Street from Lehman Brothers Holdings through a UCC foreclosure auction, the company announced today. The 29-story, 504,000-square-foot office building is 77 percent occupied, and lists law firm Harris Beach, the Bank of Taiwan and the New York Stock Exchange as tenants. Savanna hired Jones Lang LaSalle agents Mitchell Konsker, Scott Cahaly and Brian Reiver to market the remaining space. Savanna reportedly purchased the debt on the building in March from Prudential Real Estate with intent to take over the property if Lehman Brothers, the previous owners, defaulted. TRD [more]