The Real Deal’s seventh annual forum, “The Debate,” at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. Starting at 6:30 p.m., developer Billy Macklowe will debate Gristedes magnate John Catsimatidis. Then Curbed founder Lockhart Steele will face off against Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty Partnership. Finally, attorneys Stuart Saft of Dewey & LeBouef and Adam Leitman Bailey of his eponymous firm will go head-to-head. CNBC anchor Bill Griffeth will be moderating the event. It’s the big event of the year. If you move fast, you can still make it! Please tweet about the event and send questions using hashtag #trddebate. Comments

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From the November issue: We won’t be bringing you a crowd that’s going to boo a soldier, cheer executions or applaud the death of an uninsured man, like we’ve seen at this year’s Republican presidential debates. But this month at Lincoln Center, The Real Deal‘s first debate — in which real estate bigwigs will square off against one another — promises to be a heated discussion of some of the key issues facing the industry today.
As far as we know, it will be the first real estate debate of its kind in New York City. The format is a departure from our usual annual panel discussion.
We have a bunch of prominent debaters lined up, and the issues that will be on the table on Nov. 16 are central to the livelihoods of those who work in real estate here in the city. [more]

The developers of the Upper West Side’s Apthorp condominium are planning to withdraw their lawsuit against Anglo Irish Bank, according to documents filed in New York state Supreme Court this past Friday, and will allow the lender to sell the property’s troubled $385 million building loan to Dallas-based Loan Star Funds.

Anglo, the senior mortgage lender at the troubled condo, at 2211 Broadway, blasted the developers, led by Africa Israel USA and Broadwall Management, in a proposed order submitted to Judge Jeffrey Oing, detailing what it considers numerous attempts by the building sponsors to squirm out of their crumbling lawsuit, which sought to block the bank from selling the senior mortgage.

“Plaintiff’s current effort to dismiss this case in its entirety suggests that Anglo’s contention that this is a strike suit may well be correct,” Anglo Irish lawyers wrote in the proposed order. [more]

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has shut down the sales office at the Apthorp, fined the developers $190,000 and ordered rescission for all contracted buyers following an investigation into misleading statements made to the AG months before they filed suit to block Anglo Irish Bank from selling their $385 million mortgage loan.
The Apthorp developers, led by Africa Israel USA and Broadwall Management, filed suit against the troubled bank Sept. 12, alleging the sale of the $385 million Apthorp loan would “adversely impact sales” and potentially “threaten the conversion project itself.”
[more]

From left: Stuart Saft and the W Downtown Hotel

A U.S. District Court judge ruled against Joseph Moinian’s Moinian Group in a closely watched escrow dispute with buyers at the W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences, a decision that lawyers say further establishes the applicability of the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act in New York condominium sales.

Judge Robert Patterson rejected a motion to dismiss the case by the Moinian Group, which developed the 217-unit hotel and condo at 123 Washington Street, and argued that the federal ILSA law does not apply to condos, but was designed to protect consumers against fraudulent land sales. [more]

From left: Harry Macklowe, 737 Park Avenue and 150 East 72nd StreetDeveloper Harry Macklowe’s firm Macklowe Properties filed plans with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office to convert rental buildings at 737 Park Avenue and 150 East 72nd Street into condominiums, Bloomberg News reported. If the offering plan is approved by July 2012, closings could begin at the Upper East Side properties by late 2012 or 2013.
“The expectation is that we probably will be out of the recession by then and the economy will be booming and it will just be the right time to start selling apartments,” said Stuart Saft, head of the real estate group at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, who drafted the plans for Macklowe. [more]

Despite many a co-op board’s penchant for one-on-one interviews, tech savvy Skype users may be slowly edging into the arena, according to New York Magazine. The online interview trend is slowly gaining steam among co-ops — where face time prior to a move-in was once mandatory — due in part to a growing need to work with candidates from outside the city, according to Leslie Lalehzar, a broker with Warburg Realty. “It allows for amazing flexibility, especially in a tough market like this,” Lalehzar said. But not everyone is ready to jump online. [more]

Stuart Saft, a partner at law firm Dewey & LeBeouf, was tapped in January to lead the firm’s global real estate practice. Saft represents some of the city’s highest-profile owners in complex cases involving residential properties such as conversions at Manhattan House and the Apthorp. He also works on deals at commercial properties, for example working recently on the development of Mt. Sinai’s new Center for Science and Medicine in East Harlem. In addition, Saft has written 15 books.

Has there been more activity in the residential market?
We have seen an increase in activity in preliminary offering plans [filed with the attorney general's office] to convert [rental] buildings [to condominiums]. We probably have started on three just in the last month and we are getting a great many inquiries from landlords. [more]

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce within days whether his office will approve the controversial
condominium conversion of the landmark Apthorp on Manhattan’s Upper West
Side. Cuomo’s office has investigated the property since
September 2009, when investor Lev
Leviev’s Africa Israel and the Feil Organization submitted a list
of 36 contracted buyers who critics allege are largely inside business
associates or relatives of the developers. Legal sources told The Real Deal that Cuomo’s office
has previously conducted extensive reviews of these buyers, including
sworn interviews, to determine whether these buyers were procured
through a transparent process or signed sham contracts to help pump up
sales figures for the developer. [more]

New details about the financing behind the massive condominium conversion at the Manhattan House are raising questions among critics and some public officials about the long-term viability of the Upper East Side project. Documents filed with the state attorney general’s office show that in 2009, HSH Nordbank, which holds a $750 million loan on the building at 200 East 66th Street, established a special fund to help the developer, O’Connor Capital Partners, meet its monthly expenses at the property. “My concern about Manhattan House is that one day the sponsor says that they have no money and that basic repairs and maintenance cannot be maintained,” said City Council member Dan Garodnick, who, along with state Assembly member Jonathan Bing, has held discussions with the developer over the financial condition of the building. Developer O’Connor Capital Partners has insisted the conversion is in good shape, Garodnick said. [more]