The year 2009 was a trying time to be a real estate broker, developer or investor, but it never lacked for news. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the industry watched in awe — and sometimes horror — as residential sales ground to a virtual halt, condo projects stopped in their tracks, office rents shrank and retail stores disappeared. Buyers at buildings like 22 Renwick sued to get out of their contracts, and some were granted the opportunity to back out of their contracts. Meanwhile, an amazing cast of characters — from Kent Swig to Harry Macklowe to Lev Leviev — publicly fought for survival. There were also glimmers of hope, from the opening of the High Line in June to the expansion of Halstead Property into Connecticut to the sale of Former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld’s sale 16-room co-op apartment at 640 Park Avenue for $25.87 million, almost $5 million more than he bought it for two years ago. Click here to see The Real Deal staff’s picks for the stories that most altered the New York City real estate landscape in 2009. [more]

Rolan Shnayder of Home Owners Mortgage, which has been lending in a number of new condo buildings that are less than half sold

From the October issue: New condos — the black sheep of the real estate industry for much of 2009 — are finally beginning to move again as construction progresses and developers find ways to circumvent stiff presale requirements for mortgages. For example, the Tempo condominium in Gramercy, which sat virtually buyerless for months after it went on sale in September 2008, sold 10 units this summer. In Lower Manhattan, District on Fulton Street sold 10 units in August alone. The Fairchild at 55 Vestry Street in Tribeca, which had sold only one unit in April and none in February or March, put five units in contract in August and even saw a bidding war, the developer said. “Deals are getting done at new developments,” said Stephen McArdle, the principal of brokerage Urban Marketing, which is handling sales at District. “We’re seeing activity. Six months ago you weren’t seeing anything. The fact that the bottleneck is open is very encouraging.”

Lev Leviev, the Apthorp

Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s Africa Israel Group is feeling the heat at the controversial Apthorp on the Upper West Side, as rival investors in the project are raising questions about the business plan and what they say is a lack of transparency at the troubled project. Angry investors claim that Africa Israel Group and managing agent the Feil Organization have refused repeated requests for information about sales activity and other relevant data, but made a recent capital call for $2.1 million to fund an interest shortfall.

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With next month marking the one-year anniversary of the fall of Lehman
Brothers, “recession specials” continue to dominate advertisements. And
as in previous bust periods, today’s real estate ads sell value to
entice today’s budget-conscious consumers, not luxury. A collection of ads above illustrates the change in advertising over the
last several years. The first six ads are from the boom times, trying
to use sex and high-end lifestyle to sell units, and the last nine are from the bust period, emphasizing
value. “Now, it’s almost taboo to talk about living the high life; having an ostentatious lifestyle is not advertised like it was in the mid-1990s, during a boom period. Instead, your home is looked at as a smart investment,” said Scott Aaron, a principal at Benchmark Real Estate Partners, whose projects have included Chelsea condominium 100 West 18th Street. [more]

Elliman’s Dolly Lenz has taken over marketing at the Apthorp

Superbroker Dolly Lenz has been tapped to oversee sales at the Apthorp as the project’s deadline to sell 25 units draws near. The project’s owners, Africa Israel Investments and Mann Realty
Associates, must sell roughly eight more apartments at the
163-unit Upper West Side condo conversion by September, the time frame
set in the offering plan, in order for the condo plan to be declared
effective. Seventeen units have gone into contract so far at the building, according to Howard Lorber, the chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman, which is handling sales at the project. To sell the remaining units, the sponsors are “bringing out the big guns,” Lorber said.  More

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