Clockwise: Durst Fetner Residential’s Hal Fetner, 855 Sixth Avenue, Baruch Singer, Yitzhak Tessler of Tessler Development and Douglas Durst of Durst Organization

From the August issue: For the owners of distressed properties, it’s a harrowing ride to stabilization. Note sale, foreclosure, bankruptcy or recapitalization, there is no easy path from financial trouble to stable footing. And while some savvy investors have seized control of valuable New York City properties, many owners and lenders have lost billions of dollars through distressed real estate sales and restructurings since the financial crisis began. This month The Real Deal examines five deals and how they unfolded. In the third part of the series, we look at 855 Sixth Avenue, a development site just a few blocks south of Herald Square where Durst Fetner Residential stepped in and is preparing to erect a 500,000-square-foot building — 300,000 of which will be devoted to 350 rental units (80 percent market rate and 20 percent “affordable”). There will also be a 325-key, 130,000-square-foot hotel, and 90,000 square feet of retail. Click here to read the story. [more]

A high-profile Tribeca retail condominium, designed by famed architect Richard Meier and currently leased to celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, has hit the market for $9 million, according to Crain’s.

The 23,800-square-foot space at 66 Leonard Street, owned by Yitzchak Tessler of Tessler Developments, is comprised of an 8,000-square-foot ground floor restaurant space and two equally-sized floors beneath. While currently empty, it is being considered for a new restaurant concept by Vongerichten, whose lease expires in 2019. It previously housed Japanese eatery Matsugen.
The space can be delivered empty, Eastern Consolidated, which is marketing the condo, said, or with the option of keeping Vongerichten as a tenant. [more]

Condo board managers at 260 Park Avenue South are suing their building’s landlord, Tessler Development, for carving a hole between the structure’s first floor and its basement. The plaintiffs allege that Tessler was not authorized to construct this hole which, reportedly, was meant to serve as the start of a staircase between the two floors in the building, which sits on the corner of 21st Street. Perhaps this indiscretion was merely a straw on the camel’s back, because the plaintiffs’ attorney, Aaron Shmulewitz, said that the conflict between the condo board and the landlord is ongoing. “There are issues with regard to the roof. There are issues with regard to waterproofing. There are issues with regard to the budget,” Shmulewitz said. “There are all sorts of issues.”