October 21, 2007
By Josh Barbanel, Big Deal, New York Times
What comes to mind when you think of the Manhattan House, the first and perhaps the grandest postwar white-brick apartment house in Manhattan? The magic of Grace Kelly, maybe? Or a brutish battle over a condominium conversion, with tenants warring with the sponsors and the sponsors fighting with each other?
But now the dispute between the building owners has been settled; the project has been refinanced; and prices on many apartments, especially those of existing tenants, have been cut. A new marketing campaign is trying to shift attention to glamour and to Grace Kelly, who lived there in the early 1950s.
Manhattan House, built in 1950, fills a full city block at 66th Street and Third Avenue, with five 20-story towers, 584 units and large gardens. It also has several hundred tenants, some of whom have been fighting the conversion in state court and others complaining that elderly market-rate tenants were being forced out.
The project, which would be the largest Manhattan condo conversion ever, valued at more than $1.1 billion if completed, faced extensive delays, expiring financing and a dispute between two partners: Jeremiah W. O’Connor Jr., who provided most of the capital, and N. Richard Kalikow, who managed the project.
But two weeks ago, Mr. O’Connor settled the lawsuit, obtained full control of the project and signed up for new financing, an amendment to the offering plan said. Court records did not indicate the terms of the settlement, and neither Mr. O’Connor nor Mr. Kalikow would discuss them.
Under the conditions set in his financing, Mr. O’Connor promised to find buyers for 15 percent, or about 88, of the 584 apartments, and obtain the approval of the attorney general to put the plan into effect by next June 1.
Within days of taking control, Mr. O’Connor held a party in a newly renovated rooftop library and club space; several hundred tenants attended. He announced that the insider discount for tenants had been doubled, to 15 percent, for those who buy within 30 days. Prices were cut by 6.6 percent over all, according to the amendment. But Brett Buehrer, a vice president at O’Connor Capital Partners, said that the decreases were aimed mainly at occupied apartments.
Grace Kelly, who become Princess Grace of Monaco, lived at the Manhattan House while pursuing an acting career. She also lived at the Barbizon Hotel, which was recently converted into a condominium, Barbizon/63, with a marking campaign that also mentioned her, along with other notable actresses who lived there.
At the Manhattan House, the developers are a sponsor of an ongoing exhibit of Grace Kelly memorabilia. It was timed to the 25th anniversary of her death, on Sept. 14, 1982, and an auction of a gown and a dress suit worn by Ms. Kelly will be held to raise money for the Princess Grace Foundation.
Dolly Lenz, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman who is heading marketing at the project, said that four designers had been commissioned to create apartments “inspired by Princess Grace.” They are Alexa Hampton, Jamie Drake, Campion Platt and Maureen Footer.
Asking prices on one-bedrooms with terraces start just over $1 million. A tenant lawsuit seeking to stop the conversion is still pending, but the court allowed the sponsor to continue its sales program.
2 comments:
Why has nobody discussed serious structural issues such as sewage leaks (directly over the concierge desk), other leaks from heating pipes and exterior walls which were not repointed at the time facades were cleaned, compactor chutes which have not been repaired, lack of security as all sorts of workers and delivery people wander around the halls, etc.?
Why have tenants not asked rent stabilization board to freeze or roll back rents?
Why should sponsor think that a 15% "discount" is adequate for unimproved apartments, many of which have asbestos which would need removal before the apartment could be sold?
Renovations and marketing are all style and do not address dundamentals!
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