The New York Observer » Stuyvesant Town

The East Village Now Stretches to 20th Street and Avenue C

Neighborhoods in New York have always been fungible. Names change or are invented out of thin air, acronyms, and nearby landmarks. Borders shift like tectonic plates—slowly, imperceptibly, then, in a city-shaking tremor, all at once. We all pretend to hate it, but we live with it, quietly profiting off it all. This is a town singularly obsessed with real estate, after all. So who can really blame Rose Associates for pushing the boundaries of the East Village? Read More

The Greatest Story Ever Built: Times‘ Bagli to Chronicle Stuy Town Debacle

Charles Bagli has been covering the epic real estate battles of New York City for nearly a quarter of a century. From his perch at The Times, and before that The Observer, Bagli has written about everything from the demise of the Helmsley Empire to the rise of Riverside South, from the Read More

Stuy Town Foreclosure Called Off Following Deal with Wily Bill

The Stuy Town mystery continues!

CW Capital just released a statement saying it had reached a settlement with Pershing Square and Winthrop Realty to buy the firms' mezzanine debt from the massive housing complex. While the rogue investors, led by Pershing's Bill Ackman, were unable to foreclose on the property themselves and seize control, CW Read More

Never Underestimate Wily Bill Ackman

Last week, the Observer was prepared to count Bill Ackman out at Stuyvesant Town. The brash investor had lost an appeals court decision that meant he could not seize control of the massive East Side housing complex and force it into foreclosure, wiping out his and Winthrop Realty's $45 million investment. CW Capital, which Read More

ACK! Can Pershing Get Its Money Back on Stuy Town Gambit?

No sooner did Bill Ackman storm Stuyvesant Town than he has been swept away, like a tree in a Brooklyn tornado.

Yesterday, the appellate division of the State Supreme Court ruled that Ackman's Stuy Town gamble--buy up $45 million worth of mezzanine dept and then try and foreclose on the property ahead of the senior bondholders--had Read More

Ackman Plants Seed of Nation’s Biggest Co-op Conversion

Two investors vying to purchase Stuyvesant Town have released a proposal that's sure to give the powerful tenants' association pause.

Bill Ackman and partner "have proposed a partnership with the 25,000 tenants there that would create an affordable housing co-op and allow the investors to reap a profit," reports The New York Times.

The tenants' association wouldn't have Read More

Stuy Town Creditors Now Battling About Grammar

Looks like things have gotten so bad in the fight between Stuyvesant Town creditors CW Capital and Pershing Square/Winthrop Realty Trust (PSW), that they're now fighting over punctuation.

From the latest brief in the ongoing fight, filed yesterday by CW Capital:

Without any explanation, PSW injects the doctrine of last antecedent to convince this Court that Read More

Stuy Town Financing, Made Lucid

For those who find themselves confused by the mess that the fight over Stuyvesant Town has become, with different layers of creditors warring in court, someone's taken the time to make it crystal clear in a chart:

From Work

Still confused?

While perhaps not the intended effect, the tangle that is the chart illustrates just why Stuy Read More

Ackman/Winthrop on Stuy Town Foreclosure: Yes We Can

The activist investor team of Bill Ackman and Winthrop Realty Trust has fired back in the ongoing creditor fight over the control of Stuyvesant Town. The team, which is trying to wrest control of the 80-acre East Side property amid a legal challenge by the holders of a first mortgage, filed papers in court Read More

Ackman Cries ‘Ludicrous!’ The Stuy Town War Translated

A few of the court documents in the legal battle that's erupted over the ownership of Stuyvesant Town have popped up online, and, while a lot of the records are sealed from view (at least on the Web site), there's a couple interesting tidbits.

First a bit of background:

— Early last week, activist investor Bill Ackman Read More

Ackman’s Stuy Town Foreclosure Halted—For Now

A judge has halted the attempt by hedge funder Bill Ackman and Winthrop Realty Trust to seize control of Stuyvesant Town, putting the brakes on the foreclosure the two investors had scheduled for Aug. 25.

Now, the two parties are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 2.

The special servicer in control of the $3 Read More

Stuy Town Legal War Opens With Suit Against Ackman, Winthrop

The holders of the first mortgage at Stuyvesant Town do not appear to be impressed by Bill Ackman and Winthrop Realty Trust's play to take control of the 11,200-apartment mini-city.

The special servicer on the loan, CW Capital, has taken court action against Winthrop and Mr. Ackman, the activist investor and hedge fund manager, who Read More

Enter Ackman

In mid-July, Bill Ackman was relaxing on Nantucket when he got a call on his cell phone. On the other end was Michael Ashner, the CEO of Boston-based Winthrop Realty Trust, who had a plan to grab control of the 11,200-apartment property that occupies a healthy 80-acre chunk of Manhattan's East Side.

"They Read More

Ackman Enters Stuy Town Fray; Seeks Control, Supports Co-ops

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is making a play for Stuyvesant Town.

Mr. Ackman's Pershing Capital Management and Winthrop Realty Trust today put out an announcement that the two firms had bought up $300 million worth of mezzanine debt on the 11,200-apartment property and are seeking to foreclose on the owners, a partnership controlled by Read More

Tenants Win, Again, in Stuy Town Rent Case

In case there was any doubt, it's going to be a mess to legally untangle rent issues at Stuyvesant Town.

Today, a judge handed a victory to market-rate tenants at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village by ruling against prior property owner MetLife. The ruling—part of the same ongoing lawsuit that last year forced the re-regulation Read More