From left: REBNY President Steve Spinola, Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer, Partnership for New York City President Kathryn Wylde and CBRE's Mary Ann Tighe

An advocacy group largely supported by the city’s real estate industry raised more than $12 million for Governor Andrew Cuomo, and $17 million overall, in 2011, its first full year of operations. A review of the Committee to Save New York’s finances conducted by the New York Times found more than two-thirds of the $17 million to have come from donors giving $250,000 or more, and three donors combined to give $6.25 million. By donating to the advocacy group, which has funded television and radio ads in support of Cuomo, these wealthy contributors can bypass the $60,800 state limit on direct donations to candidates. [more]

From left: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Real Estate Board of New York President Steve Spinola and Tishman Speyer President Rob SpeyerDuring the quiet month of December in an off-election year, a political lobbying group led by REBNY President Steve Spinola and Tishman Speyer President Rob Speyer has spent $2.8 million praising Governor Andrew Cuomo in television ads, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The ads, approved by the three-person executive team of the Committee to Save New York (the third member is Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City), claim that despite challenges Cuomo is “getting things done,” including creating a solid jobs plan and lowering taxes. [more]

Top: Protesters at the REBNY event; bottom, from left: Mary Ann Tighe, Douglas Durst and Rob Speyer

The Real Estate Board of New York’s annual banquet — the most high-profile event of the year for the industry — last night was marred by the shouts of protesters.

A group of about 30 people inside the New York Hilton, where the glitzy event was being held, chanted: “Hey you millionaires, pay your fair share!”

Before being escorted off the property by hotel staff, the protesters handed out fliers stating their opposition to the Committee to Save New York, a group of business leaders formed in support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to oppose tax increases, reduce the size of government and reform Medicaid and pensions for public employees. Donors to the committee include a number of prominent real estate figures, including Tishman Speyer Properties and the Durst Organization. Tishman Speyer’s Rob Speyer is the co-chair of the committee’s board of directors, which also includes REBNY President Steven Spinola and REBNY Chairman Mary Ann Tighe. Tighe, Spinola, Rob Speyer and Douglas Durst all attended the banquet. [more]

Some of the top 100, from left: Stephen Ross, Marc Holliday, Andrew Mathias, Mort Zuckerman, Dolly Lenz

The New York Observer has released its list of the 100 most powerful people in New York City real estate, with Stephen Ross, chairman of Related Companies, ousting last year’s number one ranked player, President Barack Obama from the top spot. The list is populated with many long-time real estate bigwigs. SL Green honchos Marc Holliday and Andrew Mathias jointly took the second place title, up from last year’s showing at number seven, while Boston Properties CEO Mort Zuckerman stayed in the third place position. [more]

Gramercy Capital, a Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village creditor, is pushing to remove Tishman Speyer Properties from its position as manager of the 80-acre property, which it bought with BlackRock Realty in 2006. Tishman and BlackRock had missed a $16.1 million debt payment earlier this month, which may have spurred Gramercy Capital to push for the replacement. The removal of Tishman as property manager would need to first be approved by CW Capital, special servicer for the senior portion of the debt. City Council member Daniel Garodnick said that any decision to change managers should take the comfort of the residents into account first. “If there is a change in management, we will want it to be seamless, without any disruption to tenants or reduction in service,” Garodnick said.

Tishman Speyer and BlackRock, the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, will not make today’s scheduled $16 million mortgage payment to senior lenders for the East Side apartment complex, the companies have confirmed in a statement.

Reports surfaced this morning that a technical default on the loan was imminent, though the news was hardly surprising to the city’s real estate community, which has been closely watching the beleaguered property in recent months. In November, Tishman Speyer and BlackRock entered negotiations with special servicer CWCapital to restructure $3 billion in debt for Stuyvesant Town, and speculation abounded that its reserves could be depleted before the close of 2009.

The partners purchased the 110-building complex in 2006 for $5.4 billion; the most recent appraisal valued it at just $1.9 billion.

“Today’s announcement has no immediate impact on tenant services or the day-to-day operations of the community,” the companies said in the statement. Furthermore, the statement said, “the debt for Stuyvesant and Peter Cooper Village is secured exclusively by the property and is not cross-collateralized with any others. It does not impact, nor is it impacted by, any other properties in which Tishman Speyer or BlackRock may be invested.” TRD
[more]

Bernstein Liebhard, the firm that represented tenant plaintiffs in the recent landmark Peter Cooper Village-Stuyvesant Town lawsuit, is pursuing similar complainants in Queens, the New York Daily News reported. Residents of Forest Hills’ condo building Parker Towers have received mailings from the firm, which is reportedly looking to represent tenants who may have had their rent illegally deregulated. “We believe that your landlord may also be overcharging you,” the mailings say. The firm has also targeted other developments, beyond the 1,327-unit Parker Towers complex, although it is not immediately clear which residential developments those may be.

Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, owners of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex, are finding fewer options to avoid defaulting on their $3 billion mortgage and will likely attempt to restructure their debt or sell the collection of apartment buildings, according to Crain’s. While there’s no word yet on when the development’s owners will make a move on their investment, a Tishman spokesperson said that the group has requested that the loan be handed off to a special servicer to help restructure its debt. The owners spent a record $5.4 billion for the properties in 2006, hoping to deregulate the long-time regulated units. But, after tenants won a lawsuit last month to block that initiative, Tishman and BlackRock’s financial woes continued to mount. According to Fitch Rating, the complex doesn’t produce enough revenue for the owners to meet their debt obligations.

Fitch Ratings today downgraded three CMBS deals backed by Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village following the Court of Appeals ruling earlier this month that the owners illegally converted rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate units and must refund more than $200 million to current and former tenants. In a landmark 4-2 decision, the court upheld a lower court ruling that rent-stabilized tenants could not be forced to pay market rates in buildings receiving so-called J-51 tax incentives from the city. Tishman and its investment partner, BlackRock Realty, were dependent on that additional income to finance their massive $5.4 billion acquisition of Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village in 2006. The property had already been in serious financial trouble due to the commercial credit crisis and national recession, and this ruling could deliver a major blow to the sponsors. [more]

Commercial real estate lender SL Green Realty Corporation said yesterday that it

expects to play a role in restructuring debt on Stuyvesant
Town and Peter Cooper Village. Although New York State’s highest court found

last week that developer Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty Advisors were illegally
converting rent-stabilized apartments into substantially more expensive
market-rate units, the debt on the properties still needs restructuring.
Even before the court’s ruling, Rob Speyer, president of Tishman Speyer,
said BlackRock and his company would have to look into restructuring the

mounting debt. So far, SL Green and Gramercy Capital have invested $200
million in the $1.4 billion mezzanine debt and will “actively monitor the
situation very closely [as] the potential exists to be a part of some form of
restructuring or resolution of this investment,” according to SL Green CEO
Marc Holliday.