Amenities work at 20 Pine suspended
February 02, 2009 02:55PM By Adam Pincus
20 Pine
Construction on the amenities portion of the luxury condominium conversion 20 Pine Street in the Financial District will be stopped for one week starting today, to concentrate on completing about 50 residential units, the building's marketing manager Michael Shvo said.
Shvo, president of the building's exclusive agent Shvo Marketing, said Boymelgreen Developers told him it was expecting to close those units in the next four to six weeks and wanted to have them finished first. The move, he said, was not indicative of any financial troubles at the building.
"Instead of completing the other areas they are focusing this week on completing the residential units," he said. There are approximately 30,000 square feet of amenities including a pool and weight room that are approximately 50 percent finished, Shvo said.
An official with the management company Cooper Square Realty sent an e-mail to condo owners Friday saying he had been informed by the developer that construction would be halted until February 9, but did not explain why it was halted or if it might continue beyond next Monday.
"Unfortunately, at this time I have not been provided any further information as to the cause of this stoppage of work," Cooper Square general manager Jeffrey Cohen wrote to owners in the e-mail.
The message continued: "Please note that this will not affect any building services and as always the staff and management team will be onsite. As soon as I have any further information about this I will be communicating such immediately."
There are no stop-work orders on the property, according to the city's Department of Buildings.
The 38-story former Chase Bank Building is being converted by Boymelgreen into 409 residential units, but it has been beset by construction delays. The first closings were in April.
Real estate attorney Eric Zipkowitz, a partner with Wachtel & Masyr, who has no personal knowledge of the situation at 20 Pine, said a one-week halt in work may indicate financial problems or may not.
"This type of thing does happen from time-to-time as priorities shift during completion of a job," he said. "Whether or not it is an indication of further delays in the completion of the amenities for monetary or other reasons, only time will tell."
The developers and Shvo were targeted in a lawsuit last summer by a condo buyer frustrated that construction was taking longer than expected. That case is still pending, according to the plaintiff's attorney Robert Rimberg.
Calls to Boymelgreen and Cooper Square Realty were not immediately returned.
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Comments
Anonymous
No big deal over here, kind of supports what everyone else has been saying for a few months already. Buyers are finally more interested in their units then they are sleek amenity packages.
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
great comment- are you that 1 guy left from their nigh-disbanded sales team?
Comment #2 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
Finally more interested in their units????? What an idiotic statement! When wouldn't they be? If you're the lone remaining agent selling there I guess you would be par for the course for Shvo.
Comment #3 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
I'm still waiting for the punchlist from my closing to be completed. I closed in July. They are not finishing my unit this week.
Comment #4 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
i got my unit in jan 05 and still waiting to close...i wish this were a bad dream.
Comment #5 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
I heard Schmoo, fled the country?
Comment #6 Posted By: Anonymous 02/02/09
Anonymous
You are all uninformed consumers. Someone is buying all of the remaining units and the terms are that the units must be finished. Once the remaining units are closed there will be cash to finish the amenities. Or the buyer will use the proceeds from selling the units purchased to finish the amenities over time.
Comment #7 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
Downtown is one option with prices at $1,100 + psf for new construction. The core neighborhoods like the Upper Eastside will continue to thrive and do well with all their shops, services & amenities that a neighborhood like this have to offer...
Comment #8 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
re: comment #7...be careful of calling people uninformed, especially when you are. The developers have pulled the plug on their consideration to bulk sell the units.
Comment #9 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
Then how does the developer expect to close all of the remaining units within 4 to 6 weeks. Doesn't that sound like purchase terms? The longer the developer waits, the more interest is owed as well.
Comment #10 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
Don't worry about Boymelgreen, he can always go back to his first business, illegally dumping asbestos near the Belt Parkway
Comment #11 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
I'd love to shave boymelgreens beard.
Comment #12 Posted By: Anonymous 02/03/09
Anonymous
RE: comment #10, I beleive those would be units that were pre-sold individiually and are to be closed once they are renovated.
Comment #13 Posted By: Anonymous 02/04/09
Anonymous
One thing that turned me off from 20 Pine is their full-color magazine. Why would you litter the whole magazine with beautiful female models/high class prostitutes? Seems to be targeted to rich men who needed a place for their extramarital affairs.
Comment #14 Posted By: Anonymous 02/20/09
Anonymous
20 Pine will collapse, just like the rest of the American economy. Shvo the Shmoo and Boychick Boymelgreen will be counting your dollars, suckahs. Both men are emblematic of how far off course this country has become. Perhaps we should take it back?
Comment #15 Posted By: Anonymous 02/27/09