A parking garage in Manhattan
The car is waging a losing battle in New York City, the New York Times reported. And its main foe is luxury development.
As demand for luxury apartments spurs development, parking garages are often sites for new buildings, and due to zoning that discourages the inclusion of parking even in new residential developments, the amount of Manhattan parking overall is declining, the Times said. [more]
Madison 92nd Street Associates, an affiliate of Madison Equities and owner of the Upper East Side Courtyard by Marriott at 410 East 92nd Street, has filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to prevent a foreclosure sale of the property and is working with Westport Capital Partners to line up refinancing, Bloomberg News reported. The corporation listed assets of as much as $500 million and debt of as much as $100 million, according to the filing.
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance holds the biggest unsecured claim of $679,581, Bloomberg said, and lender General Electric Capital, owed $74 million, has scheduled a foreclosure sale for Aug. 24. [more]
Amid the credit crunch, New York City’s large and growing inventory of stalled projects seem to have scared off even the wealthiest of new development apartment buyers. At pricey developments like 57 Irving Place, where the cheapest unit is a $6.75 million three-bedroom, buyers are still wary of committing to anything before the building is finished, Robert Gladstone, CEO of developer Madison Equities, told the New York Times. “There’s no market of people buying from plans,” he said. “Basically everyone is saying, we’d like to see a representation of how the lobby is going to look, we want to see the apartment a little further along.” Gladstone’s next project is 145 Perry Street, a bed-and-breakfast inn. He says New York has a dearth of hotels, and the outlook for those types of properties is “very, very strong.”
An Upper East Side Marriott Courtyard hotel that is losing money fast is subject to its second lawsuit in less than two months.
Just eight weeks after the owner of the Marriott Courtyard New York Manhattan/Upper East Side hotel sued the hotel’s management for allegedly making secret deals that hurt the bottom line, the lender on the property has sued the owner to foreclose on a $62 million mortgage at the building.
The pair of lawsuits highlights the difficulties facing commercial building owners and borrowers in the weak economy, said Harvey Krasner, a real estate partner at Warshaw Burstein Cohen Schlesinger & Kuh, who was not involved in the litigation.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved the construction of
two townhouses in the West Village. Madison Equities will develop the
two five-floor townhouses through ground-up construction, giving buyers a greater say in the look of their home. “The interiors will be a nearly blank canvas where buyers
are able to design a one-of-a-kind home,” Robert Gladstone, CEO of
Madison Equities, said in a statement released today. The two homes,
at 705 and 707 Washington Street, will be 7,437 square feet and 6,924
square feet, respectively, and will cost $23 million and $21 million.
The homes will feature garages with electric car capability, wine
cellars and artist’s studios. TRD
