A group including Belvedere Capital Real Estate Partners and Angelo Gordon & Co. has agreed to pay approximately $70 million for the 105 rental units at the Printing House at 421 Hudson Street and plans to convert them into condominiums, the Wall Street Journal reported. The West Village apartment building is already part-condo; seller Mountbatten Equities converted some of the units from commercial space three decades ago. The remaining units will now be vacated and renovated, with some possibly being combined. As The Real Deal reported in April, the sale of the unsold Printing House units has been the subject of controversy for months. Taconic Investment Partners, which had at one time agreed to pay $77.25 million for the rental units, is suing Mountbatten for using the company as a “stalking-horse bidder” in an attempt to find a more lucrative deal. [more]

From left: the Printing House condo and Taconic co-CEOs Paul Pariser and Charles Bendit

[Updated at 5:05 p.m. with information on who the developers were in talks with] Taconic Investment Partners has filed a $4.38 million lawsuit against the developers of the West Village’s Printing House condominium, alleging they were used as a “stalking-horse bidder” on a deal to buy 104 unsold units, when the true intent was to find a more lucrative deal.

Taconic, in a suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court April 18, alleges that the developers, Mountbatten Equities, led by investors Winthrop Chamberlin and Barnet Liberman, offered the units at 421 Hudson Street for $77 million, but allegedly moved on to another bidder, after several weeks of negotiations.

“During the negotiations, defendants and Mountbatten’s exclusive agent represented to Taconic that all material terms had been agreed to and Mountbatten was committed to consummating a deal with plaintiffs,” wrote Taconic’s attorney, Janice Mac Avoy of Fried Frank, who alleged in court papers that Taconic was preparing to close the deal. “In fact,” she wrote, “defendants did not have any intention of selling the condominium units to plaintiff.” [more]