Clockwise from left, Steven Talles, CEO of Onex, City Council Peter Koo, Michael Dana, president of Onex, tennis star Michael Chang, Assemblymember Grace Meng, Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, and Peter Tu of Flushing Business Association; Dana, Chang and Talles; Chang in a model apartment and coaching kids on the courts

The unveiling of a new spa, tennis and basketball courts at Downtown Flushing condominium Sky View Parc this past Sunday, featuring US Open tennis champion Michael Chang, drew various real estate pros and city officials, including Michael Dana, president and CEO of Onex Real Estate Partners, which developed Sky View, New York City Council member Peter Koo, Assemblywoman Grace Meng and Senator Toby Ann Stavisky.

Chang coached elementary and high school kids from the area in a hitting clinic as well as the kids currently living at Sky View Parc. Guests also toured the homes on offer at the complex. – Katherine Clarke [more]

A settlement will give buyers who backed out of contracts on $50 million worth of luxury apartments in Flushing’s $1 billion Sky View Parc complex a 75 percent refund on their $5 million down payments, the New York Post reported. The arrangement will recoup $3.69 million plus interest for 118 buyers. Adam Leitman Bailey, the lawyer who represented the buyers, called the decision “the largest [Interstate Land Sales Act] settlement on record in New York.”

The buyers filed suit last year, making use of a 1968 federal law known as the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, which requires condo sponsors to register their project with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and provide full disclosure to protect buyers from corruption. [more]

A rendering of Sky View Parc, attorney Adam Leitman Bailey

Dozens of buyers at Queens’ Sky View Parc, the massive new condominium and shopping center in Flushing, filed a lawsuit yesterday in an attempt to renege on their contracts and get their deposits back from the developers, the Wall Street Journal reported. The complaint, filed by attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, makes use of a 1968 federal law known as the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, which requires developers of large buildings to provide full disclosure to protect buyers from corruption. In the wake of the real estate crash, a surge in condo buyers’ remorse has put Bailey at the forefront of a number of similar efforts to try to help buyers get out of their obligations, but the complaint at Sky View Parc is the largest of its kind thus far.
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The developer of Flushing’s massive Sky View Parc mixed-use complex is shopping for nearly $150 million in financing to complete the first phase of its delayed condo and retail project, which is already over budget, according to the Post. Onex Real Estate Partners, the general partner for the 1,000-unit, 15-acre development, wants a three-year extension on its $519.3 million construction loan, plus an additional $144.6 million. The deal is likely to be reached within weeks, sources said. Other sources said that Onex and the Related Companies, which was brought in a few months ago to replace Muss Development in its sales and leasing roles, have also offered to buy out the project’s debt at a 50 percent discount, in a deal that would require Related to put in some of its own equity. [Post]

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Bob’s Discount Furniture is the newest retailer to come to the Sky View Center

Sky View Center, the 800,000-square foot shopping center at Sky View Parc, located at College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens, has welcomed its newest retailer, Bob’s Discount Furniture. The new store marks the chain’s 38th location. Named the 2008 Furniture Retailer of the Year, Bob’s joins other retailers at Sky View Center, including
already opened BJ’s Wholesale Club and Best Buy, as well as soon-to-open Target, Marshall’s, Applebee’s, Old Navy, Chuck E. Cheese, Sky View Foods Supermarket, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Sky View Center is more than 70 percent leased and will open in phases with the entire Center expected to be open in early 2011. TRD

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Toronto-based private equity firm Onex has quietly taken the reins from Muss Development in their new 3.3. million-square-foot Sky View Parc complex in Flushing Queens, reportedly “calling the shots” while Muss takes a back seat in planning, according to the Post. Onex has been said to be anxious about slow sales in the buildings, prompting a recent move to bring in the Related Companies as a sales and leasing consultant for the six planned residential towers, set atop a three-story, 800,000-square-foot shopping center. The first apartments at the complex had originally been slated for occupancy last summer, but still none of the buildings are complete. While Muss has said 40 percent of the 448 apartments in the first three “Phase I” towers are sold, none have closed. Crain’s had reported last week that both Muss and Onex had approached Related about the deal, in which the developer would have no equity, but sources said Onex actually did so of its own accord. [Post]

Toby Klein of Muss Development in front of a model of Sky View Parc, a massive mixed-use development in Flushing.

From the January issue: In the incredibly dense neighborhood of Flushing in northeast Queens, a new crop of luxury condos has quietly sprouted.
Unlike other parts of the city, where developments conceived during
the boom have been converted to rentals, these new condos remain sales
developments. And they seem to be holding up better than other parts of
the borough, thanks, in part, to demand from a vibrant local Asian
community and recession-friendly prices. Although upscale condos still remain a fraction of Flushing’s
housing stock, new developments such as Sky View Parc, Residence 8, and
the Sequoia are slowly starting to reshape the neighborhood, the last
stop on the number 7 subway line.

A number of regional, national and international retailers are set to open first outposts in New York City. Last week, Costco, the largest membership warehouse club in the world, opened its first location in Manhattan in the 500,000-square-foot East River Plaza. Target will open its first Manhattan store in the same plaza next year. Best Buy, Marshalls and New York City’s first Bob’s Discount Furniture will join them. Bob’s has 35 stores throughout New York, New Jersey and New England. In the fall it opened its newest location in Carle Place, LI. [more]