From left: Hotelier Ian Schrager, Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs of RFR Holding and the Gramercy Park Hotel

The bad blood simmering at the Gramercy Park Hotel is apparently heating up again, as Ian Schrager’s firm has filed a lawsuit against former investment partners Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs alleging they failed to pay him back on a relatively small $1.15 million loan.

The suit, filed in New York state Supreme Court, alleges that Rosen and Fuchs, who are partners in Manhattan-based RFR Realty and owned 50 percent of the hotel in a high-profile partnership with Schrager, borrowed the money in December 2010 and was not repaid by the due date of Dec. 20 of last year. [more]

The U.S. real estate arm of international investment firm Investcorp has purchased the mezzanine debt on the Paramount Hotel at 245 West 46th Street from San Francisco-based Fillmore Capital Partners, GlobeSt.com reported. The debt includes two existing mezzanine loans with a principal balance of $40 million.

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Holding bought the Paramount Hotel for $275 million from Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings earlier this year.

“We’re pleased to have had a chance to provide financing for a transaction involving one of New York City’s most renowned hotels, and one that is in a particularly attractive location,” Christopher Hoeffel, a managing director at Investcorp, in a statement. [more]

From left: Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs of RFR Holding

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ RFR Holding is marketing a development site between West 44th and West 43rd streets, Crain’s reported, which could accommodate construction of a building as big as 355,000 square feet.

Sources told Crain’s that the site, on which there are currently three buildings, could command a hefty price tag — $500 per buildable square foot, going by a recent $400-a-square-foot asking price of a nearby site: a 12,000-square-foot plot at 20 West 40th Street, across from Bryant Park. Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets Group brokers are marketing the site.

Meanwhile, RFR is still trying to sell a 59 percent stake in the Seagram building at 375 Park Avenue. Sources told Crain’s that investors have been balking at the $700 million price tag for the Seagram building stake. [Crain's] [more]

From top: Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs and the Seagram BuildingAby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, partners at RFR Holdings, have yet to find a buyer for their  49 percent stake in the Seagram Building due to the high asking price, Crain’s reported. The pair has looked to sell its stake since May for $700 million, which amounts to roughly $1,800 per square foot. The record price for an office building was set at 450 Park Avenue in 2007, at $1,585 per square foot.

Though Seagram, located at 375 Park Avenue near 53rd Street, is coveted for its location, its architectural design and its bevvy of elite investment firms paying high rents, Crain’s cites industry sources who say the price would need to be lowered to around $1,200 to $1,500 per square foot, in order for the stake to sell. [more]

Aby Rosen

From the July issue: Lately it seems developer Aby Rosen’s every business relationship is worthy of its own daytime soap opera. While Rosen and his company RFR Holding have been in the news a lot since the downturn hit because of struggles at 610 Lexington Avenue, which is on the brink of foreclosure, and because of a split with hotelier Ian Schrager, in the last few months the headlines have been even more fast, furious — and personal — than normal.

In May and June alone, multiple news outlets, including The Real Deal, have published accounts of Rosen’s business feuds. They include: turmoil with his long–time business partner and friend Michael Fuchs; a nasty lawsuit filed by investor Harry Lis involving the sale of one of their joint investments; and a salacious dispute Rosen had with billionaire partner Peter Brant, who is selling his stake in RFR’s Seagram’s Building. According to Crain’s, Brant is selling his stake partially because of “disparaging remarks” Rosen and Fuchs made about Brant’s wife, Stephanie Seymour, whom he’s divorcing.

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RFR co-founders Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, billionaire Peter Brant, investor Harry Lis and hotelier Ian Schrager

A $700 million asking price may be the least of prospective buyers’ concerns as they contemplate the purchase of a 49 percent stake in the landmarked Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd streets, according to Crain’s. Another major problem may be the trail of failed partnerships left behind by majority owners Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs. Billionaire Peter Brant is selling his share of the property after his relationship with Rosen and Fuchs soured. At one point, the pair reportedly made somewhat disparaging remarks about Brant’s wife, former supermodel Stephanie Seymour. Brant and Seymour were reportedly going through an especially public divorce at the time of the remarks, with accusations of infidelity and drug use referenced in the media. Brant is expected to make between $100 million and $150 million from the sale, based on a valuation of about $1.1 billion for the building and its debt. [more]

Aby Rosen and the approved plans for 980 Madison

This isn’t Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ finest hour. In addition to a feud with longtime business partner Harry Lis, and an impending foreclosure at their 610 Lexington Avenue development site, Rosen and Fuchs’ RFR Holding is also now running low on cash at 980 Madison Avenue. The loan on the five-story, 100,000-square-foot building, which sits between East 76th and East 77th streets and within the Upper East Side Historic District, is still current, but according to Crain’s, it has entered special servicing and could go into default when it matures in October. [more]

Aby Rosen and a rendering of the proposed hotel

Foreclosure is nearing on Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ 610 Lexington Avenue development site, where they and their partners had planned to build a Shangri-La hotel tower. According to Crain’s, the group has failed in their an attempt to re-argue a case they had lost, which clears the way for lenders ING Real Estate Finance and Swedbank AB to foreclose. In that case, they had argued that their obligation to repay their $130 million-plus loan should be suspended until market conditions improve, and alleged a conflict of interest between lender ING and ING Clarion, which was advising one of their development partners. [more]

From left: Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, managing partners of RFR Holding, are feuding with their longtime business partner over their struggling real estate assets. According to the Post, Rosen and Fuchs sued partner Harry Lis in February for his refusal to inject capital into several properties that became distressed after the Lehman Brothers collapse, despite reaping the benefits of deals, like their $28.9 million sale of 451 Lexington Avenue last fall. According to the lawsuit, the trio had agreed that when one property within their portfolio made money, those profits would go toward propping up other properties in need of cash. [more]

Aby Rosen and Chinatown Brasserie

The retail condominium that houses Chinatown Brasserie may be headed for an ownership battle now that Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’ troubled loan on the property is up for grabs. According to the Wall Street Journal, the $17.7 million loan, made in 2007 to the pair’s RFR Holdings and converted into commercial mortgage-backed securities, is backed by the retail condo at the landmark 380 Lafayette Street, where the upscale Chinatown Brasserie opened in 2006. [more]