Top left: Ziel Feldman; Bottom left: Steve Ross; Right: One Madison Park

The new holders of the senior debt at One Madison Park issued subpoenas yesterday to force investor Green Bridge Capital to disclose its relationship with Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital and why the firm is refusing a June 30 offer to accept a new plan backed by Related Cos.
The new proposal, by an entity called One Madison FM, is designed to bring in new bidders through an open auction and substantially raise the value of the property. Sources say the new entity is backed by Related Cos. Chairman Steve Ross, who is pursuing a plan to become the new sponsor of One Madison Park.
Related, one of the largest and most respected real estate developers in the city, is working with Amalgamated Bank on a financial plan to help pay off creditors of the bankrupt condominium at 23 East 22nd Street, and complete construction.

“He wants to develop it,” according to a source familiar with Ross’ plans for the property. [more]

Ziel Feldman and One Madison Park

Amalgamated Bank has acquired the senior piece of the One Madison Park condominium mortgage loan from iStar Financial, according to federal bankruptcy records obtained by The Real Deal, jeopardizing a rescue plan submitted earlier this month by HFZ Capital.

Manhattan-based Amalgamated already held the $78.5 million junior piece of the mortgage loan, and a New York state Supreme Court judge refused to block the deal despite a $75 million lawsuit from HFZ, a distressed real estate firm led by investor Ziel Feldman.

HFZ asked the judge to block the deal on the grounds that Amalgamated, after initially promising to sell the junior piece to HFZ in November 2010, reneged on that deal and swooped in on the senior note after HFZ filed a rescue plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. [more]

Steve Ross is the latest developer angling for a piece of One Madison Park, the skinny glass condo at 23 East 22nd Street that’s been mired in lawsuits since its owners ran out of cash in 2009. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ross’ Related Companies is working on a bid with Amalgamated Bank, one of the project’s junior lenders, to wrest control of the property through a buyout of senior lender iStar Financial’s debt. The Amalgamated plan was revealed in yet another lawsuit filed yesterday by Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital, which is expected to submit an official rescue plan for One Madison to federal bankruptcy court in Delaware within days. [more]

The Park Avenue co-op so elite that it has its own, 576-page history book has a rare opening. Courtney Sale Ross, the philanthropist and widow of former Time Warner CEO Steve Ross, is putting her 12th- and 13th-floor duplex apartments at 740 Park Avenue on the market for $60 million. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two units are not fully combined but have access to each other, and are also being offered separately for $35 million and $25 million. It’s not the first time Ross has tested the waters on the pair of trophy apartments; she had quietly put them up for sale in 2008, but a formal listing never surfaced. Now Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s International Realty is making the listing official. [more]

Time Warner is in talks with the creator of its Columbus Circle namesake for another new headquarters on Manhattan’s Far West Side. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Related Companies is pitching Time Warner on a piece of its $15 billion Hudson Yards development project, less than 10 years after the company moved into its Time Warner Center headquarters. Related, which built the Time Warner Center, is now said to be offering Time Warner the chance to save money and consolidate operations with a move to Hudson Yards, where the developer is planning 12.9 million square feet of office, retail and residential space and has been on the hunt for corporate anchor tenants in order to begin construction. Comments

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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has released the terms of its $1 billion West Side rail yards development deal with the Related Companies, which is up for approval by the agency’s board tomorrow and has not yet been signed by the developer (see the full agreement after the jump). According to the Observer, Related doesn’t have to start paying rent on its 99-year lease until the deal closes, which won’t happen until certain market conditions are met. [more]