TF Cornerstone leases Clinton site for 99 years

Updated: Residential developer TF Cornerstone signed a long-term lease to take control of four parcels on the West Side where AvalonBay once considered building a luxury rental tower.

Thomas and Fred Elghanayan’s TF Cornerstone closed on the 99-year lease for 602 West 57th Street with property owner Four Plus, a real estate investment company based in Montgomery, Ala., on May 29, documents filed with the city show.

The real estate investment trust AvalonBay in September abandoned plans to put up a 44-story, 700-unit rental tower at the site, which is bound by 56th and 57th streets and 11th and 12th avenues.

The parcels, with the addresses 829-835 11th Avenue, 617 West 56th Street, 622 West 57th Street and 642 West 57th Street, are currently vacant or occupied by two- or four-story buildings.

The Four Plus website states: “Cornerstone intends to rezone the property to allow for the redevelopment of the site into a mixed-use development containing residential rental and commercial components.”

TF Cornerstone would not comment, saying that they do not respond to inquiries about “prospective and closed acquisitions.”  D. Whitten Joyner, president and CEO of Four Plus, confirmed the deal was signed, but declined to provide terms of the lease. No building plans have been filed with the city, a review of city Department of Buildings records shows.

The lease gives TF Cornerstone control of much of the block, but not the entire area. For example, John Catsimatidis owns two buildings on the southeast portion of the block, and a company called Bilgeo Realty owns a five-story building at the northeast corner, data from PropertyShark.com shows.

The roots of Four Plus go back to real estate investor Charles Appleby, who in the 19th century purchased land on the West Side of Manhattan. His descendants still own this parcel and the land under the Durst Organization’s Helena apartment building across 57th Street at 601 West 57th Street.