Dune Real Estate Partners has purchased the loan for a portfolio of 36 apartment houses on the Upper West Side for close to $105.1 million — a 45 percent discount — Crain’s reported. According to numbers provided by real estate analytics firm Trepp, the loan is valued at $192.1 million. The buildings concerned, which house a total of 1,083 units, were bought by controversial landlord the Pinnacle Group with the Praedium Group during the real estate boom. Pinnacle alone was thought to have purchased $1 billion in distressed buildings in Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx between 2004 and 2006, coming under extensive criticism for attempts to hike rents after fudging capital improvements. [more]

Andre Balazs and the Cooper Square HotelHotelier Andre Balazs has officially taken over the Cooper Square Hotel, EV Grieve reported, citing community board documents that show the nightlife magnate is applying for a liquor license transfer.

Balazs, who owns the Standard hotel in the Meatpacking District, was rumored to be taking over the hotel last month — just eight months after it changed hands for $70.9 million. But buyers, Westport Capital Partners, put the 21-story East Village hotel, off of Cooper Square between East 5th and 6th streets, on the market with Eastdil Secured brokers Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies. [more]

Reade57From the April issue: In a city defined by soaring skyscrapers, a 20-story condominium is hardly considered a towering giant. But in Tribeca, a neighborhood marked by low-rise buildings and sprawling lofts, the New Modernist, glass-construction Reade57, a high-rise with smaller-scale apartments, will stand apart as a residential alternative in the area. At least that’s what its developers, the John Buck Company, are hoping. The Chicago-based firm, the builders behind the swanky Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District, plans to launch sales at the 84-unit condo in the middle of next month, with Brown Harris Stevens Select serving as the exclusive marketing agent. [more]

From left: 399 Park Avenue, the Standard Hotel, and the Time Warner Center (source: PropertyShark)

The owners of valuable Manhattan properties, including 399 Park Avenue, the Standard Hotel and the Time Warner Center got huge breaks in their property-tax assessments, according to the New York Post.

In 2009 and 2010, Boston Properties, which owns 399 Park Avenue, home to Citigroup, lowered the building’s assessment by $94 million and earned a $4.7 million tax break. Meanwhile, the Standard Hotel on Washington Street cut $12.5 million off its assessment value and the Time Warner Center’s assessment declined by $40.2 million. [Post] [more]

Andre Balazs and the former Trans World Airlines Flight Center

Hotelier Andre Balazs is one of several developers scoping out Eero Saarinen’s vacant terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport after the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey offered up the opportunity to build a new boutique hotel there earlier this month. According to the Wall Street Journal, Balazs’ firm — as well as Hoboken W Hotel builder Ironstate Development and WQB Architecture, which was responsible for the Lambs Club building hotel conversion on West 44th Street — appeared on a list of attendees at a recent site visit. [more]

Hotelier Andre Balazs is taking his years of star-studded experience in the hospitality industry to the small screen, in a scripted series that will go behind the scenes at a high-end hotel, sources told the Post. Balazs, whose New York properties include the Mercer in Soho and the Standard in the Meatpacking District, reportedly met with producers while in Hollywood for the Oscars last weekend. Alek Keshishian, who directed Madonna’s documentary, “Truth or Dare,” is one likely collaborator on the project. [Post]

Andre Balazs and the Raleigh Hotel

From the South Florida Web site: Brilla Group, the Miami-based real estate private equity firm, and Chicago-based real estate investment company AJ Captial Partners have joined forces to acquire Andre Balazs’ Raleigh Hotel, the South Beach landmark, in an all-cash transaction estimated at $30 million. The New York hotelier had previously announced plans to sell the property, which was designed by Murray Dixon and remodeled in 2004, explaining that he wanted to focus on his Standard chain, which has branches in New York and Los Angeles. Raleigh’s new owners plan to keep the hotel fully operational throughout the transition and to explore repositioning the property in the long-term. TRD [more]

From left: Robert Isabell, 837 Washington Street, 410 West 13th Street

Heads turned when the late florist-turned developer Robert Isabell paid nearly $900 per buildable foot, for a two-story commercial building in the Meatpacking District, last year. The sought-after event planner and designer of eye-catching floral arrangements wanted to create a five-story office and retail structure in the trendy neighborhood, to be constructed upon the existing 1938 Meatpacking building at 837 Washington Street at 13th Street, across from the hip Standard Hotel. But Isabell died in July 2009 at the age of 57, before securing approval for his design from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. Now an affiliate of investment firm Square Mile Capital Management, which lent Isabell and a minority partner that a source identified as James Ortenzio a total of $48 million, is suing to foreclose on a portion of its loan. [more]

The High Line, 450 West 17th Street, and the Standard Hotel

The Parks Department plans to ask the City Council’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee for permission to negotiate concession agreements with two developers, giving their residential buildings direct access to the High Line. One of the buildings, the Caledonia at 450 West 17th Street, would build a staircase, elevator and public restrooms in exchange. The access to the High Line at 333 Tenth Avenue would also be open to the public. Andre Balazs’ Standard Hotel has also requested High Line access. [more]