From left: Lev Leviev, the Bowlmor logo on the old New York Times building, the building at 229 W. 43rd St.

Africa Israel, which is converting the former New York Times building into a mega-hotel and entertainment complex, is facing a $32 million lawsuit from Bowlmor, for allegedly dragging its feet on the company’s new 70,000-square-foot bowling alley at the property and trying to dump millions of dollars in construction costs onto the tenant.

Manhattan-based Bowlmor, in a Jan. 13 lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court, alleged that the financially troubled company, led by billionaire Lev Leviev, agreed to contribute $6.7 million towards the $23 million cost to build the bowling alley, but continually delayed and disrupted the renovations because it either didn’t have the money or the expertise to get the job done.

“[Africa Israel] has not been able to sign a lease with any other tenant since the lease was executed and is attempting to procure additional economic concessions from plaintiff so it can avoid foreclosure and loss of the building,” wrote Jeff Klarsfeld, Bowlmor’s attorney, in the complaint. [more]

Richard Marin, chairman and CEO of Africa Israel USA has resigned suddenly and left the company after just two years on the job, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tamir Kazaz, the company’s CFO, will take over as CEO but Africa Israel does not plan to appoint a new chairman. It doesn’t appear to have been an entirely amicable split, with sources saying Marin’s departure came unexpectedly and amid disagreements with senior management. [more]

Marquis Miami and Leviev

From the South Florida website: A penthouse in the Marquis Miami tower downtown has sold for $4.2
million, down 72 percent from its $15 million asking price. The Marquis
is owned by Leviev Boymelgreen, an associate of Israeli firm Africa
Israel, owned by Lev Leviev. The company has lost about $1.4 billion in
the last two years in U.S. and Russian real estate investments. Marquis
Miami is a 309-unit, 65-hotel room tower, with the hotel rooms operated
by Rock Resorts.

[more]

From left: Lon Rubackin, Lev Leviev, Robert Futterman and Bowlmor’s new home at 229 West 43rd Street

An influential Manhattan retail brokerage, Lansco, claims it was cheated out of at least $1 million in commissions for arranging one of last year’s high-profile commercial deals, the 20-year lease by Bowlmor at the former New York Times Building in Times Square. Lansco alleges competitor GFI Capital Resources Group and Bowlmor’s parent company Strike Holdings conspired to cut it out of the deal for two floors at 229 West 43rd Street, which Lansco says was worth between $3 million and $4 million per year. The charges were leveled in a lawsuit Lansco filed April 28 in New York State Supreme Court against GFI and Strike Holdings, seeking at least $1 million as well as rights under renewal and extension clauses. “Strike and GFI conspired with each other to interfere with Lansco’s right to be the broker,” the suit says. The court papers do not provide a reason why Lansco was replaced. [more]

The historic building where J. Pierpont Morgan built his banking empire, 23 Wall Street, once a contender for the new home of the New York Stock Exchange, now sits mostly empty after being acquired by a joint Angolan and Chinese venture, the Wall Street Journal reported. China Sonangol International Holding, which has ties both to Angola’s state oil company and reportedly, the Chinese intelligence community, acquired the property from a subsidiary of Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel Investments in late 2008 for $150 million. Africa Israel still manages the property, but its interior renovation is now considered one of the city’s stalled construction sites. [more]

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce within days whether his office will approve the controversial
condominium conversion of the landmark Apthorp on Manhattan’s Upper West
Side. Cuomo’s office has investigated the property since
September 2009, when investor Lev
Leviev’s Africa Israel and the Feil Organization submitted a list
of 36 contracted buyers who critics allege are largely inside business
associates or relatives of the developers. Legal sources told The Real Deal that Cuomo’s office
has previously conducted extensive reviews of these buyers, including
sworn interviews, to determine whether these buyers were procured
through a transparent process or signed sham contracts to help pump up
sales figures for the developer. [more]

Lev Leviev, head of Africa Israel, and the Apthorp

A state Supreme Court judge ruled Monday against the owners of the famed Apthorp condominium on the Upper West Side, blocking a proposed monthly rent increase of about $37 per apartment. The owners wanted to overturn an earlier denial by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal of their effort to recoup $2.9 million in capital improvements with the hike. Judge Alice Schlesinger ruled that the ownership group, led by Africa Israel Corp. and Mann Realty Associates, failed to provide evidence that new electrical wiring in the 163-unit building had been properly installed and documented.
The case stemmed from a so-called major capital improvements request from the building’s previous owners.
“The tenants won a well-deserved victory when Judge Schlesinger correctly upheld the DHCR denial of the electrical MCI because of the owner’s failure to provide DHCR with the required documentation,” said attorney David Hershey-Webb, who represented the tenants.
[more]

Over the past decade, a number of prominent Israeli investors have had their ups and downs investing in New York City real estate. Some of these investors who have experienced hardships include Yair Levy, Shaya Boymelgreen and Africa Israel Investments, controlled by Lev Leviev, the company which purchased the former New York Times Building in Times Square. While foreign investors with billions of dollars of capital sit on the sidelines, a few new Israeli investors are testing the Manhattan commercial real estate waters. With prices at record lows, these investors hope to capitalize on the record low prices of property in New York City. Later this month, Israeli company, IDB Holdings, controlled by Nochi Dankner, and partner Joseph Cayre plan to close on the purchase of the HSBC Bank Tower headquarters at 452 Fifth Avenue.

[more]

From the February issue: It’s been a sort of parlor game in New York’s real estate community for
some time: speculating on whether peak-market buyers will hold on to
their highly leveraged properties.
Then, in a move that shook the industry last month, Tishman Speyer
Properties and BlackRock Realty decided to turn over the keys to the
$5.4 billion Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.
But not everyone has gone this route. Other overextended borrowers
have kept control of their properties following a debt restructuring,
including developers Lev Leviev and Joseph Moinian.
As part of a workout — the complex process that’s often decided by
the leverage each party has in the development — the bank or private
equity firm must weigh its options.  [more]

The year 2009 was a trying time to be a real estate broker, developer or investor, but it never lacked for news. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the industry watched in awe — and sometimes horror — as residential sales ground to a virtual halt, condo projects stopped in their tracks, office rents shrank and retail stores disappeared. Buyers at buildings like 22 Renwick sued to get out of their contracts, and some were granted the opportunity to back out of their contracts. Meanwhile, an amazing cast of characters — from Kent Swig to Harry Macklowe to Lev Leviev — publicly fought for survival. There were also glimmers of hope, from the opening of the High Line in June to the expansion of Halstead Property into Connecticut to the sale of Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld’s sale 16-room co-op apartment at 640 Park Avenue for $25.87 million, almost $5 million more than he bought it for two years ago. Click here to see The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2009. [more]