BPCA says Kiss My Grits to The Visionaire, The Riverhouse and 225 Rector: No Ground Rent Relief for You!

We weren't that surprised today when the Battery Park City Broadsheet reported that tony Battery Park buildings The Riverhouse and The Visionaire we can smell the money from here won't be getting any of their requested relief from Battery Park's famously high ground rents. We were a touch surprised however that 225 Rector, the bankrupt, unfinished Yair Levy development that somehow got a TCO and actually has residents, is also not being granted ground rent relief, which is a major bummer for the 50 or so condo owners that are still saddled with basically unsellable apartments PLUS large monthly carrying costs.

Although the ground rent thing is the headline from the story, there are also some other interesting bits of information, including the following:

- The Riverhouse is only 66% sold, which is a touch less than the 75% that we had heard previously. Once they hit 70%, a "participation payment" will kick in which we can only assume will raise monthlies.
- The Visionaire is only 50% sold.
- Millstein was "seriously considering moth-balling" North Battery Park development Liberty Luxe (really? we thought that was just a goofy rumor) but the project is now back on track and even looking to open a Sales Office. Perhaps the allure of Goldman Sachs, which had strong Q2 results and will be moving right next door to ol' Liberty Luxe sometime next year, is providing the figurative kick in the pants to Millstein.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want even more Downtowny? Let us update you! Join our Daily Distribution List!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Are you looking to buy an apartment in Lower Manhattan? Check out our reviews of specific condo and co-op downtown apartments.

What Happens if a Condo Can't Sell All of it's Units?

With all of the new construction info on this blog, we are periodically asked about the risks to buyers if a condo can't sell all of it's units (we can already see your little ears perking up 20 Pine and William Beaver House).

Although we wish we wrote this article, we have to hand it to the New York Times for writing a great piece on the repercussions of buying in a development that later becomes troubled. This article is about 1-2 months old and for some reason infuriatingly difficult to find online via a search engine, so we thought we'd post it here.

For a real life example of a building going through almost all of the hassles described in that article, check out our coverage of BPC disaster 225 Rector.

We're shocked that 225 Rector falsified documents. Shocked.

Although it's a mere footnote to the longer rant about court-appointed receiver Michael Miller (probably his real name) potentially suing the 50 exhausted owners of individual units in 225 Rector Square, we were totally not surprised to learn interested to read that developer Yair Levy may have falsified documents from a contractor indicating that payment had been made.

Anglo-Irish should really just step in here, buy the darn units, and convert the whole thing to rentals already.

[225 Rector]

225 Rector is Why We Are All Afraid to Buy in <50% Sold Developments

Have you watched this video? This is quite a sad story of a cute couple that are still living in Rector Square despite "dangerous" conditions in hopes of getting back their $50k+ deposit on a studio. We're still not exactly sure why they continue to live there (it seems as though they are renting a unit) but whatever the reason is, the nightmare conditions of that building (think exposed wires) are clearly documented.

And to add serious insult to injury, we note with at least some level of amazement that today, Michael Miller the oxymoronic "trust" attorney is being "forced" to sue more than 40 unit owners for non-payment of common charges. This is AFTER the developer allegedly ran off with prior paid common charges plus contributions to the PILOT tax. What an f'ing nightmare!

This whole situation just makes us think twice about buying in any undersold development.

Andrew Cuomo Stops Bothering AIG Long Enough to Bother 225 Rector

We weren't all that surprised to learn today that Andrew Cuomo is investigating 225 Rector Square for all sorts of fraud after ice bucket wielding developer Yair Levy and management company Cooper Square Realty allegedly ran off with common charges and PILOT payments right before Levy defaulted on the construction loan from Anglo Irish bank.

After reading yet another article about how pissed the people who actually bought in this bankrupt building are, we found ourselves wondering, exactly how many units sold in this building and when? Well, it turns out (based on data provided by Streeteasy) that approximately 65 units out of a total of 305 were sold, or about 20% of the building. The last unit to sell was #3G (which we believe to be a 574 sq ft studio) on November 25, 2008 for $570,000. We still think that's a whopping price given that the building would file for bankruptcy only 3 months later.