Tishman to Hand Over Stuyvesant Town to Its Lenders.
Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock Inc. plan to cede control of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to lenders after the value of New York’s largest apartment complex fell and they were prevented from raising rents.
Tishman, which bought the property with BlackRock Realty Inc. in 2006 for $5.4 billion, missed a $16.1 million debt payment on Jan. 8. A group of creditors holding senior mezzanine debt led by Winthrop Realty Trust said earlier this month it may pursue a foreclosure, while Gramercy Capital Corp., a junior debt holder, asked to have Tishman removed as manager of the buildings, three people familiar with the matter said last week.
“We make this decision as we feel a battle over the property or a contested bankruptcy proceeding is not in the long-term interest of the property, its residents, our partnership or the city,” Tishman and BlackRock said in an e- mailed statement today.
The New York-based investors bought the 80-acre developments from insurer MetLife Inc. near the top of the market with plans to remodel and raise the cost of rent- regulated units to market rates. On Oct. 22, the New York Court of Appeals in Albany ruled that increases on about 4,350 apartments were illegal. That month, Fitch Ratings valued the property at $1.8 billion.
Businessweek.com
