Via Crain's New York
Fabled developer finds itself on losing end in several of era's biggest deals
Last week, lenders signaled that they would push Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village into foreclosure unless the Tishman Speyer-led partnership that bought the massive apartment complex for $5.4 billion comes up with an overdue mortgage payment. The threat marks a new low for the deeply troubled deal. It's also a major embarrassment for Tishman Speyer, one of the city's most successful and prolific developers, which is led by billionaire art collector and power broker Jerry Speyer and his son Rob.
This is not an isolated setback for the firm, which at the peak of the boom from 2005 to 2008 was the nation's third-largest buyer of real estate, according to Green Street Advisors Inc. In fact, Stuy Town is one of five huge Tishman Speyer deals--including two of the largest residential transactions in American history--that have soured during the real estate collapse.
Another of the disappointments is Archstone-Smith, a nationwide operator of apartment buildings that Tishman Speyer and partner Lehman Brothers purchased in 2007 for $22 billion. The overleveraged deal needed a $500 million cash infusion within about 18 months. More recently, Tishman defaulted on loans tied to its record-shattering $1.72 billion purchase of six office buildings in Chicago, a $2.8 billion purchase of 28 buildings in Washington, D.C., and a $200 million land purchase in Los Angeles. Lenders in the land deal have sued to foreclose.
"We feel terrible about the performance on some of these deals, but we've gotten fantastic support from the people who matter most: our investors," says the senior Mr. Speyer, who also chairs the board of the Museum of Modern Art and formerly headed that of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well. "You can't judge anyone by looking at their deals in the middle of an up or down cycle."
Continue reading Tishman Speyer Under Fire at Crain's New York
Fabled developer finds itself on losing end in several of era's biggest dealsLast week, lenders signaled that they would push Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village into foreclosure unless the Tishman Speyer-led partnership that bought the massive apartment complex for $5.4 billion comes up with an overdue mortgage payment. The threat marks a new low for the deeply troubled deal. It's also a major embarrassment for Tishman Speyer, one of the city's most successful and prolific developers, which is led by billionaire art collector and power broker Jerry Speyer and his son Rob.
This is not an isolated setback for the firm, which at the peak of the boom from 2005 to 2008 was the nation's third-largest buyer of real estate, according to Green Street Advisors Inc. In fact, Stuy Town is one of five huge Tishman Speyer deals--including two of the largest residential transactions in American history--that have soured during the real estate collapse.
Another of the disappointments is Archstone-Smith, a nationwide operator of apartment buildings that Tishman Speyer and partner Lehman Brothers purchased in 2007 for $22 billion. The overleveraged deal needed a $500 million cash infusion within about 18 months. More recently, Tishman defaulted on loans tied to its record-shattering $1.72 billion purchase of six office buildings in Chicago, a $2.8 billion purchase of 28 buildings in Washington, D.C., and a $200 million land purchase in Los Angeles. Lenders in the land deal have sued to foreclose.
"We feel terrible about the performance on some of these deals, but we've gotten fantastic support from the people who matter most: our investors," says the senior Mr. Speyer, who also chairs the board of the Museum of Modern Art and formerly headed that of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as well. "You can't judge anyone by looking at their deals in the middle of an up or down cycle."
Continue reading Tishman Speyer Under Fire at Crain's New York
I JUST GOT MY LEASE RENEWAL!!!
Letter I got in December said my rent was $2498.48 for a 1 bed. in ST.
My previous rent was $3000.
My lease is up 2/28/10. THE RENUAL is saying $2,893.50!!!!!!
What's going on????
I got mine too. The Lease Renewal is confusing. Bottom line is that the cover letter and the lease itself should (and I believe they do) say that you will pay the lower of "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" and "Market Rent" for 12 Months or 24 Months (depending on what you choose).
For me, the confusing part was that my Lease Renewal states amounts for "Market Rent" that I have no idea how they were determined (they're less than the rents stated in my original market rate Lease even if I factor in the free rent I received). For purposes of the Lease Renewal, I don't care because my "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" is lower than this "Market Rent", and will be the amount I will be paying under the Lease Renewal.
Also, the amounts stated in your Lease Renewal for "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" should be equal to that $2498.48 plus a 3% increase for a 1 year renewal and a 6% increase for a 2 year renewal.
Thank you for responding. Yes, I found it very confusing. My cover letter said the same thing about paying the lower of "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" and "Market Rent" for 12 Months...."" But me question is this. The cover letter says $2,558.85 for stab rent and $2,893.50 for Market rate. NO WHERE on the lease itself does it say $2,558.85... My point it. I DO NOT want to sign a lease saying my monthly rent is $2,893 - but there is a cover letter that states "lower of 2 rents" . Also the interim letter said $2,498 and I would pay this for the next 6 months. I am scanning this in and sending to our lawyers, I don't like the way they worded it or clearly marked in the lease itself what may rent per month is. The lease just gives the market rate and not the stabilized rate.
Sorry for misspelling's and poor grammar, I was fuming when I opened this.
Sorry for misspelling's and poor grammar, I was fuming when I opened this.
UNDERWORLD, SEE MY COMMENTS (ALL CAPS):
"Thank you for responding. Yes, I found it very confusing. My cover letter said the same thing about paying the lower of "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" and "M, arket Rent" for 12 Months...."" But me question is this. The cover letter says $2,558.85 for stab rent and $2,893.50 for Market rate. NO WHERE on the lease itself does it say $2,558.85... My point it. I DO NOT want to sign a lease saying my monthly rent is $2,893 - but there is a cover letter that states "lower of 2 rents."
THERE SHOULD BE A "PREFERENTIAL RENT RIDER" AT THE BACK OF YOUR LEASE RENEWAL, WHICH SHOULD STATE THE BOTH THE STABILIZED RENT AMOUNTS AND THE MARKET RENT AMOUNTS, AND THAT YOU WILL BE PAYING THE LOWER OF THE TWO PENDING FINAL SETTLEMENT/RESOLUTION OF THE [ROBERTS] LITIGATION.
"Also the interim letter said $2,498 and I would pay this for the next 6 months."
I BELIEVE THAT WAS (1) PENDING FINAL APPROVAL OF THE INTERIM AGREEMENT AND (2) SUBJECT TO THE EXPIRATION OF YOUR LEASE IF SOONER. THUS, YOUR LEASE EXPIRES FEB 28, UNLESS YOU RENEW IT PURSUANT TO THE LEASE RENEWAL.
"I am scanning this in and sending to our lawyers, I don't like the way they worded it or clearly marked in the lease itself what may rent per month is. The lease just gives the market rate and not the stabilized rate."
I THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA. THE OPERABLE LANGUAGE OF THE LEASE RENEWAL WAS NEGOTIATED BETWEEN THEIR AND OUR ATTORNEYS. IT CERTAINLY DOESN'T HURT IN ANY EVENT TO CONFIRM WITH OUR ATTORNEYS THAT TISHMAN IS USING ALL THE CORRECT LANGUAGE.
OT but what's with the Speyers and their obsession with faux mid-century Ikea-like decor?
I'm watching a program on CNBC (channel 15 on Time Warner) called "The Bubble Decade" and the sale of STPCV to TS is featured. If you missed it, they will probably air it again at some time. Most CNBC specials are repeated a few times.
Thank you Boo, I also got my rent renewal thingy and was really confused -- now I know what it means.
BTW My neighbour also got one, and she says she's going to negotiate for lower rent since we live on infamous Ave C Loop, where the noise from dumpster has been lowering our quality of life. That makes sense, but it will be quite a daunting job. I wonder if she can get a live person to talk to at management office by the time her current lease expires.
Also I received my lease renewal on 1/16/10 in the mail. My lease expires on 2/28/10. They say I have by 2/10/10 to sign and return. That's less than 30 day. Please read this : http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/Rent/FactSheets/orafac4.pdf
Any thoughts?
thanks!!
Maybe the Oval Atrocities, which have all the charm of a dentist office spittoon, weren't an intentional insult after all. Maybe the Speyer's just don't know any better.
My Lease Renewal says exactly the same thing.
These are special circumstances, and I do not know what the attorneys agreed to with respect to lease renewals for us former market rate tenants and the longer renewal notice, offer and acceptance periods that are normally required by law.
I think your question is a good one and I also wonder what our attorneys will say. But personally, I'm OK with the shortened time periods because I knew in December when I received the January rent bill what the "Deemed Rent Stabilized Rent" amounts would be in the Lease Renewal.
BTW, I haven't read the Lease Renewal carefully yet (I'm saving it for the right moment). So take whatever I say with appropriate skepticism.
Apparently, so are most TS real estate disasters...
You may want to contact Dan Garodnick's office regarding your 2/10 signing deadline. Rent Stabilized tenants are required, by law, to have no less than 90 days for notification and 60 days to make a decision, not the less than 30 days you are faced with. Do NOT let them pressure you as you are within your rights to pursue & enjoy that time frame. By the same token, you don't want to jeopardize your lease, or rights, due to their screw-up. Definitely worth a call to Dan's office.
we received our lease renewal letter in the mail yesterday. our current lease is due to expire the end of this month, 1/31 and the deadline to respond is also 1/31. ugh.
WOW, amazing, cupcake!... also thanks Peaches for ur words of wisdom....
Cupcake, I am contacting our lawyers on Tuesday, I will try tomorrow, but it is a Holiday. I will post here what they say about signing the renewal.
Now look at those two faces in the above photograph and ask yourself: "Would they be capable of chizzling and cheating anybody and putting sneaky language in a lease?"
I notice the bastards aren't sending up any heat today in my building. Anybody else got a cold apartment?
http://curbed.com/uploads/Court%2012-14-09.pdf
We are to be treated as rent stabilized apartments so I shall fight this when I speak to someone at the leasing office. Our lawyers will respond asap.
Same here. And I was actually getting heat this year so I noticed.
I had no heat at all yesterday. The pipes gave a few half-hearted clanks, but the heat never came on. Ordinarily, I'm boiling in my apartment, but I actually had to close the windows. Today (this evening) the heat is back. I didn't mind the cold--it's usually in the 80s in my apartment, even with windows open.
No heat here either. Is it the lower floors who receive none or little?
Between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 PM, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Between the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, if the temperature outside falls below 40 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Tenants who are cold in their apartments should first attempt to notify the building owner, managing agent or superintendent. If heat is not restored, the tenant should call the City's Citizen Service Center at 311. For the hearing impaired, the TTY number is (212) 504-4115. The Center is open 24-hours a day, seven-days a week.
Just noticed the headline--"fabled" developer?!?! The only fables are the ones they tell. But on another topic--a first! Just got my security deposit interest statement from the bank. The interest income was the same amount as the administration fee (actually, probably less), so I netted exactly $0. My only consolation is that the bank didn't get overpaid for doing nothing.
Here is the bad news. You still have to report the interst earned on the account on your tax return. The administrative fee is only deductible as a Miscellaneous Deduction . MDs are only deductible to the extent they exceed 3% of your adjusted gross income. Therefore, most people cannot take the deduction but must report the interest income even though the net amount they received was less than the interest earned (even ,as in your case, if they received nothing).
For several years I asked Tom Duane's office to introduce a bill to remedy this. The bill never made it out of committee.
I always fume when I report the total amount.
Fume no more.
Report the administrative fee as Nominee Interest and it comes right off of your tax return.
It isn't the right way to deduct it but I haven't been called on it in a decade.
Ridiculous to pay tax on that payment to the crooks at Chase!
The amount is so small, it doesn't matter to my taxes, but it rankles to pay taxes on money that's gone into someone else's pocket.
Right. Me too. That's why I write it off the way I do.
My apt. has been freezing for the past few days. Prior to that, I had the windows open because it was so hot. I live on a high floor.
There's also been lots of clanking, which I never experienced in the past.
Hi all! I am a long time fan/viewer of luxies blog, but I only bothered to register today as - like many of you - I have just received our lease renewal. We received it with less than 2 weeks to renewal so like many of you, I am unsure as to what rights they have to actually make you decide in that time. Also, I'm unsure about whether to sign the j-51 waivers etc.
If anyone has sought legal advice on these renewal leases, can you please post your findings here if at all possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, is it worth trying to renegotiate the amount they are asking for? I highly doubt that the rent stabilised amount per month is actually greater than the market rate (which is what they are claiming). I'm loathe to be tied down for another two years if it means we are paying $5-600 more a month than new renters.
Thanks again for any help.
Clanking likely means one or more traps in the heating pipes are malfunctioning. You need to reach someone in heating department. They know how to fix it. Had the same problem several weeks ago.Woke us up on a Saturday morning at 4AM (sounded like a sledgehammer repeatedly hitting metal) . Called service numerous times during the day and , amazingly, around 9pm Sat nite someone from the heating dept. rang my doorbell to let us know they found and fixed a broken trap in the pipe between my building and the adjacent building. Problem solved.
Try contacting the Urban Justice Center at (646) 459-3017 or the office of our Council Member Dan Garodnick at (212) 818-0580.
Thanks, Ziggy. I will call them.
Braveheart, I scanned in and emailed all 16 pages of my lease including the cover page to our lawyers. I just got an email back from Michael Liskow.
Here is his response:
""We have reviewed the lease renewal documents and believe that they will not endanger any of your rights under the Roberts decision. As to the 30 days to decide, we are working with the attorneys for the owners to extend this, although we do not yet know what will occur. If you feel you need more time to decide you should contact the leasing office and see what they can do for you at this point, and if the attorneys for Tishman agree to a longer extension you should be informed by Tishman.""
Lux, can you make a new heading on the top of your site so other residents can see this info when they sign on to your page? I'm sure this will get lost with others who might not have signed on in in the past week or so..... THANKS!!!!
underworld23, thanks a lot for this information. I just came back to make another post and saw yours, I really appreciate the information.
After my initial post, we called the numbers that Roundly Roger had suggested. We spoke to a woman who also said that signing the lease/waivers etc would be ok and there should be no future problems with any of the content. I hope more people can get access to the information we have as it might help put a lot of minds at rest. Thanks again.
Yes Braveheart, you are right, everyone with the same questions we had should know this info. I am also going into the leasing office today to negotiate a lower rent. For a 1 bedroom that's rent subsidized and been here since 2004, the rent seems still high for me. I will post back here with news and also try and brainstorm a way to get the info out. Maybe http://www.stpcvta.org/ will help us...
Braveworld, this is my first and only attempt at a blog...just want this info
to get out to tenants.... http://scj3201-stuytown.blogspot.com/
Great stuff!
Braveworld, I didn't get a chance to get to the leasing office to renegotiate my lease renewal. Have you? Has anyone else tried??
Braveheart, I didn't get a chance to get to the leasing office to renegotiate my lease renewal. Have you? Has anyone else tried??
underworld 23, not yet. i did email them through their portal about it, but i havent heard back. its making me want to reconsider where i live!