Uptown Partners strikes deal with lender, resumes sales at Lenox

Uptown Partners, the developer behind the Lenox, one of Harlem’s first market-rate condominium projects, has emerged from bankruptcy protection and is resuming sales at the development, at 380 Lenox Avenue on the corner of 129th Street in Harlem, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Uptown has sold around half of the 68 units in the 12-story building by the time tenants began moving in in 2007, but the development was hit hard by the downturn, with the majority of the remaining units being pulled from the market.

“We continued to sell quite well until things slowed down for the whole world,” said Lewis Futterman of Uptown Partners.

As previously reported, Uptown filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009. According to the filing, the developer owed about $1.1 million to Jay Furman, Capital One Bank and Commerce Bank.

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But the developer has recently struck a deal with its lender, allowing it to bring one of its subsidiaries out of bankruptcy proceedings.

When the Lenox first launched, the units sold for between $550 to $725 a square foot, Futterman said. Uptown is seeking between $475 to $630 a square foot, or about a 15 percent markdown.

“We are discounting like everyone else is above 96th Street,” Futterman said. [WSJ]