[Updated 1:15 p.m., April 15, 2011 from a previous version of the story] Trump Soho hotel-condo recently entered discussions with a number of brokers, including Prudential Douglas Elliman, on a potential deal to replace Prodigy International, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Developers and lenders have been in furious discussion about how to revive sales at the luxury tower, located at 246 Spring Street, following a 2010 deal with Los Angeles-based CIM Group to recapitalize more than $295 million in debt.

When asked about this last week, Elliman declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Trump Soho denied the move. “There has been no change in the sales and marketing team,” the spokesperson said.
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Trump Soho and Prodigy Network’s Rodrigo Nino, who is heading up sales at the building

The developers of the Trump Soho hotel-condominium at 246 Spring Street are relaunching sales at the controversy-prone property, with units listed at an average of 21 percent below their original asking prices, according to Crain’s. Having recently reached a deal to restructure their $275 million loan at the project, Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization are hoping that bargain buyers will emerge from the sidelines to take advantage of their new pricing schedule. As of last week, 279 of Trump Soho’s 391 units were still unsold. Since the project launched in 2007, only 45 units have closed for a total of around $55 million, while another 67 are in contract. [more]

Rodrigo Nino of Prodigy International and the William Beaver House

William Beaver House, the André Balazs-designed Financial District condominium that was just bailed out by the Los Angeles-based CIM Group, is going partially rental under its new ownership.

The 333-unit tower, which had been facing a foreclosure lawsuit prior to the takeover, was part of a three-piece deal in which CIM agreed to buy the debt on two troubled Sapir Organization buildings (Trump Soho and Beaver House) and take an equity stake in another (11 Madison Avenue), sources said. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier today, CIM purchased the loan on over 200 unsold condos at the Beaver House and subsequently took ownership through a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
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Donald Trump, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

The developers of the embattled Trump Soho condominium-hotel are offering to refund buyers as much as half of their deposits if they agree not to join a lawsuit that accuses them of “fraudulent misrepresentations and deceptive sales practices” at the 46-story Spring Street building, according to the Wall Street Journal. Only those buyers who haven’t yet closed would be eligible for the refund, though it is unclear how many have been offered. “They must think the fraud lawsuit has legitimacy and that they will
have to settle for more than 50 percent,” said attorney Pierre Debbas,
whose former client was offered a refund at the building. Or, he said,
the refunds could mean that the developers could be planning to convert
the entire project to a hotel. [more]

 

Less than a week after Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Bracha Group ousted Prodigy Network as the sales team at Cassa NY Hotel and Residences, the

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From the September issue: “Sold” means “sold” — except when it doesn’t. That’s the argument behind a new lawsuit involving the Trump Soho. The condo-hotel development, which has endured fickle buyers, community backlash and an unforgiving sales market, now faces a lawsuit that brings one central question to light: What does “sold” really mean? The suit, filed Aug. 2 in U.S. District Court, pits 15 buyers against Trump Soho developers and marketers, both past and present. The plaintiffs claim that the Trump Soho team misled them in the press — and in person — by reporting inflated sales figures, which they say lowered the value of their investments. The plaintiffs are backing up their claims by pointing to an amendment to declare the condo-hotel development’s offering plan effective, filed with the attorney general’s office this spring. The amendment was filed with 15 percent of the building’s 391 units in contract. So, if there were 50 percent or more units “sold” (as the buyers say was reported in the press), the plaintiffs ask: “Why weren’t they included in the amendment?”

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Trump Soho

In the wake of yesterday’s lawsuit filing alleging a misrepresentation of sales figures, the head of marketing at the Trump Soho condo-hotel has co [more]

The developers of slow-selling condo-hotel Trump Soho are now offering direct financing to buyers, an uncommon move that they hope will spark renewed interest
in the 46-story Spring Street project, the Wall Street Journal
reported. Just 20 of the 391 units at the project by the Sapir
Organization and the Bayrock Group have sold since closings began
at the end of May, almost all of which went in all-cash transactions,
said Prodigy International’s Rodrigo Nino, who is heading up the
marketing effort. “This additional source of financing shows the
commitment of the sellers and the lender to this project,” he said.
Trump Soho’s hotel portion, which offers around 300 of the property’s
rooms for short-term guests, has been producing revenue roughly 30
percent above internal forecasts since it opened in April, according to
hotel general manager David Chase. But there’s been markedly less
interest in buying those same rooms. For prices that begin at $1.2
million for a studio, condo owners are only allowed to stay in the
units for 120 days per year, at a maximum. During the remaining days,
the rooms are used as part of the hotel. [WSJ]

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Trump Soho and Rodrigo Nino, president of the building’s exclusive brokerage, Prodigy International

Trump Soho may be less than 16 percent sold — despite previous claims — but city records show that the 46-story condo-hotel has succeeded in closing on its first two units, Curbed reported. One buyer, Yunhee Chung of Great Neck, N.Y., bought unit #2003 for $1.283 million. Another, Uxona Iberica Sociedad Limitada, paid $1.207 million for unit #2908, for which the contract was signed in October 2007. While the original listing is not available, asking prices would indicate that the closed units were studios around 420 square feet. Though the property’s developers claimed to have sold more than half of Trump Soho’s total inventory nearly two years ago, The Real Deal first reported the discrepancy in sales numbers based on documents from the state attorney general’s office earlier this month: just 62 of the building’s 391 units are under contract. [Curbed]

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Tamir Sapir and the William Beaver House

Billionaire developer Tamir Sapir is facing a $130 million lawsuit from a fund controlled by the Blackstone Group, alleging he defaulted on a multi-million-dollar loan used to develop the William Beaver House condominium in the Financial District.

GSO Re Onshore, the fund managed by Blackstone subsidiary GSO Capital Partners, filed suit Monday against Sapir individually in New York State Supreme Court, seeking a judgment on the $66 million loan that he guaranteed and then failed to repay by the November 2009 maturity date.

“GSO RE would not have made the loan to SDS William Street absent Sapir’s personal and unconditional promise to repay the loan set forth in the guarantee,” wrote Kobre & Kim attorney Elizabeth Wolstein, who is representing the fund.

The lawsuit alleges that as of November 2009 Sapir owed $48.7 million in interest, on top of the $66 million in principal. Another $15.7 million in new interest is now due, resulting in the $130 million claim for summary judgment. [more]