Stuyvesant Town and Robert Scaglion, a senior managing director with property manager Rose Associates

Rents on nearly 600 vacant units at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are set to climb an average of $2,100 or more in the coming months, according to property manager Rose Associates, following the completion of an average renovation of $84,210 to each unit.

The project, set to cost roughly $48 million, according to special servicer CWCapital, which took control of the property early last year, includes the renovation of the 570 apartments in a similarly modern style to former owner Tishman Speyer, which renovated many of the units when it bought the 110-building complex for $5.4 billion in 2006, according to Robert Scaglion, a senior managing director with Rose Associates.

Scaglion said that despite the increases, which would bring rents roughly up to the market value of similar apartments, the units will remain rent-stabilized. Many of the units have rents of $900 a month, he noted, which would mean those rents would go up to roughly $3,000 a month. [more]

Financial rating firm Fitch Ratings said today the special servicer at Stuyvesant Town plans to begin the renovation of 570 vacant units at the sprawling complex on Manhattan’s East Side. (Click here to see story posted Jan. 25 for more details.) CWCapital, the special servicer at the 11,227-apartment complex located on 80 acres, formally took control of the property in October. That same month it designated property manager Rose Associates as operator of the buildings, which are 95 percent leased. (note: clarification made) TRD [more]

Rose Associates, a developer and manager of both residential and commercial real estate, has been tapped to serve as property manager for Mount Sinai Medical Center’s residential real estate holdings. The properties — including more than 1,700 apartments in various buildings across the Upper East Side — are used mostly as staff housing. The 2 million-square-foot portfolio is spread across 25 different buildings. [more]

For New York City real estate, 2010 in many ways marked a return to normalcy after the tumultuous aftermath of the financial crisis. As the ubiquitous real estate appraiser and Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller put it: “it was a year of a sense of relief.” City home prices stopped their freefall and sales activity improved considerably from the post-Lehman doldrums. Stalled condominium projects like the Sheffield and 1 Rector Park re-started sales. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim bought Tamir Sapir’s Fifth Avenue townhouse, the Duke Semans mansion, for $44 million. As the unspoken taboo on ostentatious spending faded, a number of high-end residential properties changed hands at the end of the year, including Brooke Astor’s 14-room duplex at 778 Park Avenue, which finally sold after two years on the market (albeit for a significant discount from its original asking price). Japanese retailer Uniqlo snagged 89,000 square feet at 666 Fifth Avenue’s former Brooks Brothers space for a record $300 million, demonstrating that retail is still thriving along the posh shopping corridor.
But the economic downturn continued to make its presence felt. The office market remained uneven and troubled lender iStar Financial fought to stave off bankruptcy amid lingering fears of a double-dip recession.
Here are The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2010, in alphabetical order. [more]

Stuyvesant Town and City Council member Dan Garodnick

Tenants at the 11,000-unit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village housing complex could see a rent adjustment in the coming weeks, according to Crain’s, as new owner CW Capital attempts to determine the value of the rents and how much in back rent current residents are due. With an interim agreement on rents set to expire tomorrow, figuring out rates is a top priority, according to City Council member Dan Garodnick, who has worked with CW Capital and has been a chief advocate for Stuy Town tenants. “For CW, determining the rent roll is critical to determine the value of the property,” Garodnick said. [more]

It’s no wonder hedge fund bigwig Bill Ackman put up such a fight for control of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village: he thought he could squeeze a “$2 billion potential profit opportunity” out of a co-op conversion at the massive complex, he told attendees of the Bloomberg Link Hedge Funds 2010 Conference yesterday. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management and joint venture partner Winthrop Realty put $45 million into their purchase of $300 million worth of defaulted junior debt on the property earlier this year and had attempted to foreclose. [more]

Delinquency uptick driven by Pinnacle-Praedium default on Upper West Side

The volume of seriously impaired CMBS loans in New York City grew by 3.8 percent last month after a portfolio of 1,083 Upper West Side apartments co-owned by Pinnacle Group and private equity partner the Praedium Group slipped further into delinquency, according to October data from Trepp compiled for The Real Deal. The data includes CMBS loans backed by New York City properties whose payments are more than 60 days overdue. The Pinnacle-Praedium delinquency — the fourth-largest of 49 such loans in the city — was solely responsible for the increase, which put the city’s total volume of loans more than 60 days delinquent at $4.9 billion (see the full list of seriously delinquent New York City CMBS loans after the jump).

[more]

Junior creditors Pershing Square Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Trust lost their bid to stop the planned foreclosure sale of the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment complex, Crain’s reported. The New York State appeals court declined a request by Pershing and Winthrop to delay the Oct. 4 foreclosure planned by senior debt holders, according to court papers. William Ackman, who runs Pershing, said he will appeal. Pershing and Winthrop asked to stop the lender foreclosure last week. A lower court judge issued a preliminary injunction Sept. 16 blocking their foreclosure of the property unless they first pay senior creditors the $3.67 billion that they are owed under the first mortgage. CWCapital Asset Management, the special servicer for the senior mortgage, sued Pershing and Winthrop to stop their foreclosure plan, arguing that an agreement between the two groups of creditors prohibits Pershing and Winthrop from taking control of the property without paying the senior lenders. Pershing and Winthrop disagree and believe they have the right to foreclose on their collateral, which is separate from the lenders’ collateral. [Crain's]

[more]

Pershing Square Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Trust filed a request today with a state appeals court in Manhattan to stop the Oct. 4 foreclosure planned by senior debt holders at the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village residential complex, Edward Weisfelner, a lawyer for Pershing and Winthrop, told Bloomberg News. Pershing, a hedge fund run by William Ackman, and Winthrop, both junior debt holders, lost a bid last week to pursue their own foreclosure sale for the property. A lower court judge issued a preliminary injunction saying they may only proceed if they first pay senior creditors the $3.67 billion that they are owed under the first mortgage. If the court grants a stay, Pershing and Winthrop will still have to argue the merits of their appeal. Senior lenders will respond to the appeal Sept. 24 and the appeals court will decide by Sept. 29 whether to stay the planned foreclosure. Meanwhile, CW Capital Asset Management, the special servicer for the senior mortgage, is seeking to move forward with its foreclosure after Stuyvesant Town owner Tishman Speyer Properties defaulted on a $3 billion senior loan and $1.4 billion of junior debt. CW Capital’s foreclosure would wipe out the investment by junior lenders, according to the filing. [Bloomberg via Crain's]

[more]

Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management

Pershing Square Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Services, the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village junior debt holders whose attempt to gain control of the massive residential complex through foreclosure was stymied yesterday by a New York State Supreme Court judge, aren’t walking away without a fight. The joint venture officially announced plans last night to appeal the decision, which allowed the complex’s senior lenders to proceed with their planned foreclosure auction early next month. In a statement, the venture said it “strongly disagrees with the trial court’s ruling and will appeal the decision to the New York appellate court and will seek to stay the mortgage lender’s planned property foreclosure. If [Pershing Square and Winthrop are] unsuccessful on appeal, or if the mortgage lender is permitted to foreclosure prior to a successful appeal, the value of [the partners'] investment in the mezzanine loans may be lost.” Pershing Square has invested roughly $36 million in the loans, while Winthrop has put in around $10.5 million, the companies said. TRD

[more]