Sapir Org. CEO Alex Sapir and Trump Soho

The Sapir Organization, the developer of Manhattan’s Trump Soho, is planning to put the hotel and its unsold condominium units on the auction block, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which developed the property with Bayrock Group at Varick and Spring streets, has hired brokerages Eastdil Secured and Jones Lang LaSalle to market the properties.

Prospective buyers will receive necessary information about the auction today, said Alex Sapir, president of the Sapir Organization; the auction will likely take place later in the spring. [more]

From left: Adam Leitman Bailey, Julius Schwarz, executive vice president of the Bayrock Group, Sapir Organization CEO Alex Sapir and the Trump Soho

Ten Trump Soho buyers are getting a 90 percent refund on their deposits
after filing a suit against the Bayrock Group and the Sapir Organization
alleging they misrepresented sales figures (note: corrections appended). The New York Post reported that a federal lawsuit filed by the buyers against the building’s sponsors was settled yesterday, and they will get 90 percent of the $3.16 million in deposits they combined to have put down on $16.914 million worth of apartments. The buyers claim to have been told as many as 60 percent of the units were sold, when at the time just 16 percent of the hotel-condo units in the building, at 246 Spring Street, were actually sold. Adam Leitman Bailey represented the buyers. [more]

From left: Elliman’s Fredrik Eklund and Raphael De Niro, Prodigy Network’s Rodrigo Nino and Trump Soho

After months of speculation, Prudential Douglas Elliman officially got in on the marketing act at Trump Soho, according to Real Estate Weekly. The Real Deal previously reported the hotel-condominium’s developers and lenders were considering replacing the current Prodigy Network-led team with Elliman brokers. According to Real Estate Weekly, Elliman’s Raphael De Niro and Fredrik Eklund will “spearhead” the domestic sales effort for the unaccounted for apartments in the 346-unit tower, while keeping Prodigy in tow. According to Prodigy President Rodrigo Nino, 21 units have entered contract and 19 units have closed since the team unveiled lower prices in the Sapir Organization and Bayrock Group-developed building in late February. [more]

About 100 real estate professionals filed in to the Trump Soho’s lone duplex penthouse last week, to preview the building’s 11 new-to-the-market, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom penthouses, which range from $2.5 million to $8.7 million (see photo gallery above). Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were provided by the Quattro Gastronomia Italiana, a restaurant located inside Trump Soho. The 46-story building at 246 Spring Street, which was developed by the Sapir Organization and Bayrock Group, has 391 hotel-condo units. TRD [more]

From left: David Rockwell, Julius Schwarz, Alex Sapir and Trump Soho at 246 Spring Street

The developers of Trump Soho have entered a legal imbroglio against the
Rockwell Group, alleging in a new lawsuit that the interior design firm failed
to meet building codes and cost the property more than $1.5 million in
damages for delays and replacement costs to complete their work.

The complaint, filed this past Friday in New York state Supreme Court,
came just two days after Rockwell sued the Bayrock Group and Sapir
Organization, alleging the Trump Soho developers failed to pay for $1.5
million in interior design work at the building.

Bayrock/Sapir, which developed the 391-unit hotel-condominium at 246
Spring Street, contends the design firm placed furnishings too close to
light fixtures and provided interior construction documents that were out of
compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. [more]

When the developers of Trump Soho built the 46-story hotel-condo in Hudson Square, they were allowed to build 20 percent bigger than zoning would typically allow by vowing to build an 8,161-square-foot plaza. According to the Villager, one year after the building opened, the developers now want to take back some of that space for outdoor seating for the Quatro restaurant on the hotel’s ground floor. Trump Soho representatives presented the plan before Community Board 2, which plays an advisory role in the City Planning Commission’s decision, arguing that the plaza attracts little public use and the cafe would invite people into the public space. Comments

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It’s still unclear whether rumors about 100 Church Street’s big deal with Sirius XM Radio are true, but in the meantime, the Anne Frank Center USA has definitely signed on to lease space in what was once known as New York City’s emptiest office building. According to the Wall Street Journal, the non-profit organization has taken 2,500 square feet of ground-floor space at the building, and will open in time for the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks this year. The Anne Frank Center, which describes itself as “a community center
that promotes tolerance and human rights,” is currently located on
Crosby Street but is looking forward to bringing that message closer to
Ground Zero, said co-chair Deborah Chapin. The space is also around the
corner from the site of the controversial proposed Islamic community
center known as Park51. [more]

[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.
[more]

Sirius XM Radio is setting its sights on SL Green’s 100 Church Street, potentially making it the latest in a string of Midtown media companies decamping to Lower Manhattan (see also: Conde Nast, the Daily News, National Enquirer parent company American Media). According to the Observer, Sirius is looking to take more than 250,000 square feet of office space at the building, or 180,000 square feet of contiguous space, though it’s not a done deal just yet. A major new tenant like Sirius would be a boon for SL Green, which purchased 100 Church Street, once derided as the emptiest building in Manhattan, from the Sapir Organization last January. [more]

Paula Del Nunzio and the Duke Semans Mansion

A commission dispute over the most expensive single residential purchase of 2010 has been settled, and Brown Harris Stevens brokers Paula Del Nunzio and Shirley Miller are now getting an undisclosed amount for their role in the $44 million sale of Tampir Sapir’s Duke Semans Mansion on Fifth Avenue, according to the Post. Sapir sold the 19,500-square-foot property to billionaire Carlos Slim earlier this year — two days after Del Nunzio and Miller’s exclusive listing agreement expired. [more]