HFZ Capital’s Ziel Feldman, Green Bridge’s Cevdet Caner and One Madison Park

A long-awaited reorganization plan was submitted in the One
Madison Park bankruptcy case late yesterday evening giving
an outline that could finally lead to the troubled condominium
settling millions of dollars in claims and resuming sales.

The plan, submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware,
calls for senior lender iStar Financial to get $162 million in the
form of a secured note.

In addition, $12.5 million in mechanics liens would be recovered
in the form of cash, $15 million to $20 million in “unclassified
claims” would be recovered in immediate cash, deferred cash
and other payments and another $160 million to $180 million in
unsecured claims would be recovered at the rate of 3 to 5 percent. [more]

Steve Ross is the latest developer angling for a piece of One Madison Park, the skinny glass condo at 23 East 22nd Street that’s been mired in lawsuits since its owners ran out of cash in 2009. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross’ Related Companies is working on a bid with Amalgamated Bank, one of the project’s junior lenders, to wrest control of the property through a buyout of senior lender iStar Financial’s debt. The Amalgamated plan was revealed in yet another lawsuit filed yesterday by Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital, which is expected to submit an official rescue plan for One Madison to federal bankruptcy court in Delaware within days. [more]

Ziel Feldman’s Manhattan-based HFZ Capital Group is setting its sights beyond Manhattan island, as it has tapped Jacqueline Finkelstein to head a team focused on purchasing performing, non-performing notes and fee positions across the country. Finkelstein had previously worked for the Moinian Group, but left the firm (she declined to discuss her departure) to pursue some real estate opportunities of her own. Now that most of them have wrapped up, she said she is focused solely on her new role with HFZ Capital, which she started about two months ago. “I just feel HFZ permits me to have access to deals I haven’t been able to access in the past,” she told The Real Deal. TRD [more]

Ira Shapiro, Cevdet Caner, Ziel Feldman and One Madison Park

The developers of the One Madison Park condominium said they expect to formally submit an official rescue plan for the troubled project within the next two weeks, according to federal bankruptcy court documents obtained by The Real Deal.
The developers, including Ira Shapiro and billionaire investor Cevdet Caner, have been negotiating with HFZ Capital’s Ziel Feldman on a plan to buy the luxury tower, which is at 23 East 22nd Street, for $165 million, plus pay more than $40 million to complete construction on the building.
“Substantial negotiations regarding a plan have taken place over the past six weeks and the parties have made significant progress in narrowing the open issues,” wrote attorney Erin Fay, who represents the developers. They wrested control of the project from Shapiro earlier this year. “The debtors anticipate receiving committee comments to the draft plan and wrapping up negotiations on the remaining open issues within a week or two.” [more]

CIM principal and co-founder Richard Ressler, 47 East 34th Street (source: PropertyShark) and iStar CEO Jay Sugarman

Istar Financial has finalized a deal to sell the $84 million senior mortgage debt at 47 East 34th Street to CIM
Group, after the court issued a final judgment against the previous borrowers Esplanade Capital, according
to court records and financial documents obtained by The Real Deal.

Documents filed with the city Department of Finance on Wednesday show that CIM Group acquired the
loan from iStar on May 13, and court documents in Manhattan Supreme Court show that the Los Angeles-
based firm has filed documents to replace iStar as the plaintiff if the foreclosure case.

“My expectation is there will be an auction before the end of the summer,” said a source familiar with the
legal proceedings. [more]

HFZ Group principal Ziel Feldman’s presentation of a final rescue plan at One Madison Park is expected within a week, The Real Deal has learned, after he emerged as the leading bidder in a bankruptcy auction earlier this month.

Sources say the court approved another extension by the debtors, which would move the official disclosure of the plan to mid-May at the earliest, and possibly into June.

Feldman, who has been working for months behind the scenes to help move the project through bankruptcy, submitted a winning bid that would pay about $165 million to get the project out of bankruptcy court and would need at least $40 million to complete construction of the luxury tower, located at 23 East 22nd Street in the Flatiron area, according to sources familiar with the discussions. [more]

Ira Shapiro and One Madison Park One Madison Park, the embattled, 50-story condominium tower at 22 East 23rd Street, has been hit with yet another lawsuit, this time by the owner of the next-door property, which developers Ira Shapiro and his partners have been in contract to buy for $13.8 million since 2007. According to Crain’s, Abe Shrem’s Flamingo LLC, which, despite the signed contract by Shapiro, still owns 26 East 23rd Street, is claiming that the developers forged signatures and posed as the owners of the site in order to demolish part of the structure there and install a duct on a support structure there without permission. [more]

From left: One Madison Park (source: Eden Pictures via Flickr), Trump Soho and William Beaver House

Fitch Ratings upgraded the issuer default ratings of iStar Financial, citing the lender’s
recently announced $2.95 billion credit agreement, which
lowered the amount of debt coming due in June.
The funds are comprised of two credit lines that will help iStar extend its debt payments
until 2013 and 2014. The Manhattan-based lender had warned of a potential collapse
unless it was able to extend the deadline on its payments. [more]

Bruce Eichner

From the March issue: Bruce Eichner is chairman of the Continuum Company, a privately held firm focused on the acquisition and development of residential, office, hospitality and retail space in New York, Miami and Las Vegas. His projects have included the Manhattan Club, which opened in 1997 as the city’s first time-share resort and the Continuum, a 2 million-square-foot condo community in South Beach that had openings in 2002 and 2008. In this month’s The Closing, Eichner opened up about his love of Safaris, his collection of 150 “trademark” ties and why he isn’t a household name like Trump. Also, he shed some light on the latest goings on at One Madison Park. Click here to see the full interview. [more]

From left: Ira Shapiro, Cevdet Caner, Ian Bruce Eichner and One Madison Park

By Lauren Elkies and David Jones

Bruce Eichner, chairman of Continuum Companies, said he hopes to submit a new plan to rescue the embattled One Madison Park condominium project, as he awaits a tentative, rival agreement to sell the property to HFZ Capital Group, led by managing principal Ziel Feldman.

The move comes just weeks after One Madison developer Ira Shapiro settled with billionaire investor Cevdet Caner, who previously filed suit alleging Shapiro had exceeded his decision-making authority at the 23 East 22nd Street tower. [more]