Multihousing ka-boom
In what may be the loudest sound of footsteps walking away from a deal, the group led by Tishman Speyer Properties has now left the 110 red brick buildings to creditors. After paying a record $5.4 billion for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village at the market's height in 2006, the property is now worth less that $2 billion.
Buzz on the deal abounds. Richard LeFrak, whose family built LeFrak City, a 5,000-unit affordable housing complex in Queens, has already expressed interest in managing the properties.
Tishman and its partner BlackRock Realty -- which defaulted on the $4.4 billion debt used to finance the deal and had spent several weeks trying to restructure it -- said that transferring control of the property to the lenders was the "only viable alternative to bankruptcy."
Tishman's decision to walk away left unanswered questions about rents and services in the 11,227 apartments.
City Councilman and Peter Cooper resident Dan Garodnick said the mega-deal carried implications for tenants citywide.
"People will be looking to us for a solution that respects the needs of the tenants and the city's affordable housing policy goals," he said.
Freddie Mac may consider providing financing to the buyer of the Manhattan apartment complex. U.S. government-owned Freddie Mac is one of the creditors of the complex.
Among all the questions looming: Who will negotiate with the tenants on rental concessions
New York's highest court ruled in October that the owners of the Manhattan community improperly raised rents on thousands of units. The
