Sales of three- and four-bedroom apartments rose last year in New York City, while sales of smaller units declined, and the trend has continued, the New York Times reported. Large family-size apartments have always been a small segment of the housing market, but the number has grown as developers have started to build more of them. Within the last year, developers
of several new projects — including Manhattan House and Superior Ink — have responded to the demand by combining units to produce as many as seven bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms and close to 6,000 square feet. In addition, prices for these larger, family-sized apartments have decreased more significantly than the prices for smaller units. Brokers say that these types of apartments are attracting families who want a suburban layout within the confines of a Manhattan apartment, as well as empty nesters moving to the city from the suburbs who want the extra room for visiting family members. [NYT]

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Stuart Saft, a partner at law firm Dewey & LeBeouf, was tapped in January to lead the firm’s global real estate practice. Saft represents some of the city’s highest-profile owners in complex cases involving residential properties such as conversions at Manhattan House and the Apthorp. He also works on deals at commercial properties, for example working recently on the development of Mt. Sinai’s new Center for Science and Medicine in East Harlem. In addition, Saft has written 15 books.

Has there been more activity in the residential market?
We have seen an increase in activity in preliminary offering plans [filed with the attorney general's office] to convert [rental] buildings [to condominiums]. We probably have started on three just in the last month and we are getting a great many inquiries from landlords. [more]

The New School’s planned University Center — a 16-story dormitory and classroom facility on the corner of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue — is being held up by a labor dispute over the Upper East Side’s Manhattan House condominium, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tishman Construction, which is the construction manager for the $215 million New School project, is also involved with the Manhattan House project. Because the Manhattan House painters are not unionized, the painter’s union is refusing to agree to a program that would reduce the costs of the New School’s project. [more]

New details about the financing behind the massive condominium conversion at the Manhattan House are raising questions among critics and some public officials about the long-term viability of the Upper East Side project. Documents filed with the state attorney general’s office show that in 2009, HSH Nordbank, which holds a $750 million loan on the building at 200 East 66th Street, established a special fund to help the developer, O’Connor Capital Partners, meet its monthly expenses at the property. “My concern about Manhattan House is that one day the sponsor says that they have no money and that basic repairs and maintenance cannot be maintained,” said City Council member Dan Garodnick, who, along with state Assembly member Jonathan Bing, has held discussions with the developer over the financial condition of the building. Developer O’Connor Capital Partners has insisted the conversion is in good shape, Garodnick said. [more]

Brooklyn developer Isaac Hager is facing litigation after he allegedly took out a $17 million loan from N. Richard Kalikow’s Alpha Capital, and allowed his terminally ill business partner, Chaim Lax, to personally guarantee the loan, less than a year before his death.

Alpha, a firm controlled by Kalikow’s Manchester Real Estate and Construction, entered an agreement in October 2007, to lend the $17 second mortgage to Kent Wythe 9th Street, a firm led by Hager and Lax, who was at the time suffering from terminal cancer, according the lawsuit filed Nov. 20 in New York State Supreme Court.

In December 2007, the developer paid $42.6 million for a development site at 421-431 Kent Avenue and 464-474 Wythe Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, with plans to build several apartment buildings there, according to PropertyShark.com records and the complaint. [more]

A group of 24 market-rate tenants at the struggling Upper East Side condominium Manhattan House were granted the right to appeal their evictions to the New York State Appellate Division, a move that could renew the debate over the rights of non-stabilized tenants in a residential conversion. In December 2008, an appeals court overturned an earlier ruling to block the evictions of 29 tenants at Manhattan House, who were originally issued eviction notices during the conversion of the property from a rental building to a condo. The tenants refused to leave the building after developers Peter Kalikow and Jeremiah O’Connor acquired the building at 200 East 66th Street, for a record $623 million in 2005. The developers planned to convert the 583-unit rental building into a luxury condo, but faced significant legal opposition from tenants who challenged the legality of their evictions. [more]

The financially troubled Upper East Side condominium,
Manhattan House, is facing a $2.5 million lawsuit from a buyer who wants to back out of
her contract amid concerns that the developer could default on its
construction loan. The buyer, Helene Kahn, is demanding that developer O’Connor Capital
Partners return her deposit, after the company refused to guarantee
that the building was solvent. The suit, filed March 20 in New York
State Supreme Court, alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment,
breach of fiduciary duty and breach of implied warranty. Kahn, who put a 10 percent deposit down on a $1.3 million apartment at Manhattan House, at
200 East 66th Street, in March 2008, demanded that the sponsor offer
written assurances that it would complete construction and not default
on its loan with Germany’s HSH Nordbank, the senior lender for the
conversion. [more]

A New York State Appellate Court on Wednesday granted market-rate
tenants the right to appeal their landmark eviction case at the
embattled Sheffield57 condominium. In November 2008, a state appeals court overturned two prior rulings
that blocked the evictions of market-rate tenants at the building, at
322 West 57th Street, and Manhattan House, a rival condominium
conversion at 200 East 66th Street. Kevin McConnell, the attorney for the Sheffield57 tenants, expressed confidence that his appeal will succeed. [more]