Property manager and developer Rose Associates has been named the exclusive managing agent for the Riverton Square apartment complex in Harlem, as The Real Deal first reported as a likelihood last month. The 1,230-unit complex, which is located between Fifth Avenue and the Harlem River and runs between 135th and 138th streets, is infamous for the rise and fall of its former landlord, Lawrence Gluck, who bought the property for $135 million in 2005 and refinanced it with a $225 million mortgage. The complex’s title was sold to special servicer CWCapital Asset Management at auction March 11 for $125 million. Jeffrey Heifetz, managing director with Rose Associates, said that cooperation with tenants will be of paramount importance to the company. “We are currently in the process of evaluating services at the property and identifying ways to enhance resident satisfaction,” Heifetz said in a written statement. “We look forward to maintaining a dialogue with residents and community leaders.” As manager, Rose will be responsible for the day-to-day management and upkeep at the 13-building, 12-acre complex. TRD

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for the first time have made
Trepp’s list of defaulted properties that are 60 or more days
delinquent, the commercial loan tracking firm Trepp said. The
110-building Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, which spans First
Avenue to Avenue C, and 14th to 23rd streets, made the top of the list
of New York City’s commercial defaulted properties for the month of
March, with a total balance of $3 billion in commercial-mortgage backed
loans. (See full list of delinquent properties — and zoom in on them — in chart here, plus see a slide show of 10 of the properties above.) With Stuy Town at the top of the list, Riverton Apartments, the dozen 13-story buildings that lie between 135th and 138th streets and Fifth Avenue and Harlem River Drive, was bumped down to the second spot out of 46 such properties from last month’s list, of 41 properties (click here to see the list of February delinquencies). One property that made if off last month’s list is Vornado Realty Trust’s 50 West 57th Street. After five months with a special servicer, the $29 million loan payments for 50 West 57th Street were made up to date March 1. They are now current and therefore off the list, but still with a special servicer, according to Trepp. TRD [more]

While it’s just taken over as special servicer at the Riverton Houses in Harlem, special servicer CWCapital may soon be under new ownership, according to Crain’s. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, a Canadian pension fund manager, is poised to sell its controlling shares in the company, which is also known for its role as servicer at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The value of the interest is not immediately clear and CWCapital officials did not comment.

The Riverton Houses and Larry Gluck

The new owners of the rent-stabilized Riverton Houses in Harlem that sold at auction yesterday will have to pay a hefty transfer tax of just under $4 million after they take title to the property in the next couple of days, real estate experts said. Financial firm CWCapital Asset Management, the special servicer for the loan on the 1,228-unit complex between 135th and 138th streets and Fifth Avenue and Harlem River Drive, won the property at an auction yesterday with a bid of $125 million. Since it was representing the commercial mortgage trust that held the Riverton loan, it effectively put the foreclosed property back into the hands of the lender. Tom Fink, senior vice president of Trepp, which tracks mortgage-based securities, estimated the tax liability to be $3.8 million. [more]

Riverton Apartments is at the top of the list of New York City’s commercial properties that are at least 60 days delinquent, by size of loan balance, according to data from commercial loan tracking firm Trepp updated through today. (See full list of delinquent properties — and zoom in on it — here, plus see a slide show of some of the properties above.) Laurence Gluck bought Riverton, the 12, 13-story buildings that lie between 135th and 138th streets and Fifth Avenue and Harlem River Drive, for $135 million in 2005, then refinanced the property with a $225 million mortgage. The foreclosure auction is set for March 11. Other large delinquent properties include Hampshire Hotels & Resorts’ Dream Hotel at 210 West 55th Street, with a loan balance of $100 million, and Time Hotel at 224 West 49th Street, also owned by an affiliate of Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, with a balance of $55 million. Also included on the list are the Meyberry House at 220 East 63rd Street with a $90 million loan balance and and the Core Club retail condominium at 60 East 55th Street, with an $18 million balance. The Real Deal looked at commercial properties that were 90 or more days delinquent in its 2010 Data Book. TRD [more]

From the October issue: As the real estate industry scrambles to unwind billions of dollars in
distressed inventory, a number of high-profile deals are stuck in
neutral as lenders battle it out with each other to see who will get
paid and who will be left holding the (empty) bag. While creditors often turn on each other during a workout, the massive
number of securitized loans with multiple lenders and third-party
servicing firms managing the funds is creating a level of complexity
that may take years to sort out, analysts said. Unlike the previous downturn in the 1990s, the majority of large deals
during the recent real estate boom were made using securitized loans –
or at least loans with large syndicates, or groups of lenders sharing
the burden of a single loan.