A real estate fund is about to begin construction on a 35-story residential rental tower on Fifth Avenue, Crain’s reported. Multi-Employer Property Trust, which last month bought the site at 309 Fifth Avenue, between 31st and 32nd streets, is the lead investor in the project, which is being developed by Urban Development Partners. The plan calls for a 122,000-square-foot property with 165 rental units and 10,400 square feet of retail. It is slated to open in September 2013.

“Currently, there is a limited pipeline of new projects,” said David Antonelli, vice president at Bentall Kennedy, Multi-Employer Property Trust’s real estate advisor. [more]

The W Hotel

The W Hotel Union Square is facing imminent default, according to a recent monthly report of 30-day-plus delinquencies for all commercial properties by Barclays Capital. The hotel is serving as collateral for a $115 million W New York-Union Square loan, the report shows. The loan has been transferred to a special servicer, being classified for imminent default. Barclays Capital’s report shows that 30-day-plus delinquencies for all commercial properties jumped 5.5 percent in October. The CMBS remittance report shows that the worst performing commercial mortgage category was hotels, which hit a record-high delinquency rate of 10.7 percent among loans that originated in 2007.