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]

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

The estate of Lehman Brothers believes the 200 Fifth Avenue part of the former International Toy Center has already rebounded enough to be worth unloading, but its vacant sister building at 1107 Broadway is a different story entirely. According to the Post, the bank’s scheduled June 6 foreclosure auction of $137 million in mezzanine debt at the 16-story property doesn’t mean it will breathe new life any time soon. “The foreclosure is really to pressure the owners to make a comprehensive deal,” one source explained. “Lehman has to put the debt on the market, but it isn’t something you’d likely buy because then you’d still have to get control of the senior loan,” another said. [more]

The Lehman Brothers Holdings estate is looking to unload its 90 percent equity stake in the former International Toy Center building at 200 Fifth Avenue, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bank bought the 800,000-square-foot property in partnership with L&L Holding for $480 million in May 2007, after which its value plunged to below the value of the $390 million mortgage. But with the Manhattan office market on the rebound, and several big-name tenants — including Eataly and Tiffany & Co. — now in place, the property is again worth more than the debt, and Lehman, which has been holding on to many of its real estate assets on the assumption that the market will eventually improve, is now ready to sell. [more]

From left: Blackstone CEO Stephen Shwarzman, Laurence Gluck, 1140 Sixth Avenue, Andrew Scandalios, and Rockpoint head Pat Fox

Private equity firm Blackstone was the winning bidder in the highly competitive process to buy the $116 million non-performing note for the leasehold on the entire building at 1140 Sixth Avenue, which is owned by Stellar Management and Rockpoint Group, sources said.
Blackstone will pay something close to — but a little bit less than — $100 million for the note held by German lender Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, sources said, but the precise figure could not be obtained. In addition, the owners have an agreement to transfer the leasehold to Blackstone, a source said, but it was not clear if Blackstone would pay for the title, or when the exchange would happen. [more]

From left: Former Lehman exec Joe Gregory, the Bridgehampton mansion, and ad mogul Donny Deutsch

Advertising bigwig Donny Deutsch has signed a contract to buy the Bridgehampton mansion that belongs to former Lehman Brothers President Joe Gregory, who has been trying to sell the property since he resigned and his company filed for bankruptcy in 2008. According to the Post, Deutsch is set to pay around $20 million for the 9,500-square-foot mansion, which sits on 2.5 acres on Ocean Road and was originally listed for
$32.5 million.
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Since late 2008, most residential data shows long plunge followed by only a small, recent rebound

From the September issue: Sept. 15, 2008, is seared into many New Yorkers’ memories as the day the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, shredding confidence in the economy and shoving stock prices — and apartment prices — off a cliff. As the second anniversary of that dark point approaches, there are glimmers of good news. Overall, Manhattan’s residential market has recovered from the lowest post-Lehman lows logged in 2009. Average prices for Manhattan co-op and condo sales, and for rentals in the borough, have bounced back in the low single-digit percentages since last year. However — like the economy as a whole — the residential market still has a long way to go before it hits a solid recovery (see related story on another possible shoe drop here). Pick almost any residential data series, and its chart looks like a hockey stick — a long plunge followed by a small, recent recovery.

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Xanadu, the $2 billion stalled retail and entertainment project in East Rutherford, N.J. is expected to land back in the hands of its creditors after an Aug. 9 financing deadline, according to the Wall Street Journal. Behind the nearly-complete project, which stalled in early 2009 not long after the collapse of its original lender, Lehman Brothers Holdings, is a group of developers led by Colony Capital. The group had been negotiating with Stephen Ross’s the Related Companies, among other potential partners, to help finish the complex, which is adjacent to the New Jersey Nets’ current home at the IZOD Center. Now that creditors are poised to take over, sources say that Related is in direct talks with the project’s lenders. A state commission also recently recommended state financing to help complete construction. [WSJ]

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