"Over the past two years, the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have beautified the development, planting thousands of trees and shrubs, and adding a gym, a lounge and other amenities.
Though the sprawling residential complex's appearance has improved dramatically, its finances have turned downright ugly. Expenses running above expectations and lagging revenues have combined to drain cash reserves to the degree that Moody's and Standard & Poor's have downgraded some of the complexes' debt in recent weeks.
The downgrades mark a rare public setback for real estate mogul Jerry Speyer, the chief executive of Tishman Speyer and consummate New York power-player behind the $5.4 billion acquisition of the property in 2006. The agencies' moves come at a time when another of his deals--last year's $22 billion purchase of Archstone Smith--is also in trouble.
The deal for the apartment building owner, one of the largest residential transactions ever, was lauded at the time. But since then, Mr. Speyer has had to write down the value of his investment in Archstone by 25%. What's worse, he now finds himself saddled with a bankrupt partner--Lehman Brothers Holdings--as his firm seeks new capital for the deal.
Mr. Speyer's timing for both deals couldn't have been worse. Best-known for his firm's ownership of such commercial properties as Rockefeller Center and the Met Life Building, Mr. Speyer decided to make a major residential move when the market was hitting its peak.
"Some people will question whether [the Speyers] have enough expertise in the residential market," says Craig Leupold, president of Green Street Advisors Inc., a trading and research firm specializing in real estate businesses."
Tishman Speyer up against residential rout [Crain's]
Though the sprawling residential complex's appearance has improved dramatically, its finances have turned downright ugly. Expenses running above expectations and lagging revenues have combined to drain cash reserves to the degree that Moody's and Standard & Poor's have downgraded some of the complexes' debt in recent weeks.
The downgrades mark a rare public setback for real estate mogul Jerry Speyer, the chief executive of Tishman Speyer and consummate New York power-player behind the $5.4 billion acquisition of the property in 2006. The agencies' moves come at a time when another of his deals--last year's $22 billion purchase of Archstone Smith--is also in trouble.
The deal for the apartment building owner, one of the largest residential transactions ever, was lauded at the time. But since then, Mr. Speyer has had to write down the value of his investment in Archstone by 25%. What's worse, he now finds himself saddled with a bankrupt partner--Lehman Brothers Holdings--as his firm seeks new capital for the deal.Mr. Speyer's timing for both deals couldn't have been worse. Best-known for his firm's ownership of such commercial properties as Rockefeller Center and the Met Life Building, Mr. Speyer decided to make a major residential move when the market was hitting its peak.
"Some people will question whether [the Speyers] have enough expertise in the residential market," says Craig Leupold, president of Green Street Advisors Inc., a trading and research firm specializing in real estate businesses."
Tishman Speyer up against residential rout [Crain's]
Beautified? Are they kidding me?
Tishman Speyer have proven themselves to be totally incompetent, shortsighted and inept at managing residential property. They have earned nothing but scorn and derision from the tenants of PCVST because of their bad decisions, sheer stupidity and the way have they have reduced a once pleasant middle class housing complex to a shambles that is a cross between a construction site and an overgrown junkyard. The buildings have been neglected and are dirty and in need of maintenance and tenants are treated like shit by management. There is absolutely no good will between management and residents and tenants just mutual contempt and that is maybe the most outstanding indicator of what total and utter failure Tishman Speyer is as a residential landlord. We, the tenants, would turn the hoses on the Speyers if we saw them drowning. That is the level of bad will that they have brought upon themselves.
You Betcha !!
Right on, Anony!!!!!!
Doesn't TS want all the rent stabilized tenants under the age of 80 to get fed up and leave? I always thought it was part of the TS "Master Plan" to empty the place of ALL tenants so they can do something more profitable with the land. TS is in the commercial side of the business and they probably think they the property will be worth more once they get rid of the pesky tenants and build condos and office towers on the site.
Just remember how our friend Michael Bloomberg sold us down the river. Never forget!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why lose their own money when they can lose everyone else's? Next thing, Tish Spy will be asking for a bailout from the $700 billion!
We will never forget our "friend" Michael Scumberg. What he has done will come back and haunt him and bite his skeavy little ass!
What's even more frightening is the fact they did not tap the residential talent pool from Archstone-Smith to run PCVST.
The tenants association says it welcomes the new amenities, even though it wasn't consulted about putting them in. Still, it has some reservations. "The term 'amenities' for us means something that comes with the complex—washing machines, playgrounds and things of that nature," Ms. Steinberg said. "We hope the tenants enjoy it, but they sure would enjoy it more if it were not going to cost them."
Any residential landlord with experience would not have named premium services an "amenity".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archstone-Smith_Trust
Speyer and Speyerer,
Read this Wikipedia article and think again about your comment.
"Over the past two years, the owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have beautified the development, planting thousands of trees and shrubs...." Whadya kiddin' me? Like Cheney is to the constitution, Tish-Spey is like napalm to the jungle!
Interesting article on Wikipedia. I think that Tishman Speyer, Archstone, et al. are greedy, grasping, opportunistic parasites. The cooties of humanity. Yuk!!
With apologies to Meredith Willson…
Greed, oh we got greed,
Right here in Tish-Spy City!
With a capital "G"
That rhymes with "E"
And that stands for Evil,
That stands for Evil.
We've surely got trouble!
Right here in Tish-Spy City,
Right here!
Gotta figger out a way
To keep the money coming in
Despite the bursting of the bubble!
Greed, greed, greed, greed, greed....