Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-17/bank-of-america-sues-to-force-stuyvesant-town-foreclosure-sale.html

Bank of America Sues to Force Stuyvesant Town Foreclosure, Sale
By David Glovin and Oshrat Carmiel

Feb. 17, 2010 (Bloomberg)—Trustees including Bank of America Corp., acting on behalf of senior creditors holding $3 billion in debt on Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartments, asked for court approval to foreclose on the 80-acre property and have it sold.

Bank of America and U.S. Bank National Association filed the complaint yesterday in federal court in New York against an affiliate of property owner Tishman Speyer Properties LP.

Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc. bought the development, Manhattan’s largest residential enclave, for $5.4 billion in 2006 near the height of the U.S. real estate boom. The companies said Jan. 25 that they planned to hand over the complex to creditors after missing a $16.1 million debt payment. The plan was delayed in part because of questions over who would pay about $90 million in real estate transfer taxes.

“The borrowers have failed to make any payments of the outstanding principal,” the trustees said in the complaint.

Any New York property transfer requires payment of city and state taxes, said Rafael Cestero, New York City’s commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, in an interview last week. Tishman Speyer was negotiating with CWCapital, the special servicer representing senior debt holders, over who must pay the taxes, Cestero said.

The foreclosure lawsuit asks for the property, which runs from 14th Street to 23rd Street on Manhattan’s east side, to be sold and the proceeds to go to the plaintiffs to cover the mortgage, late charges, exit fees and expenses including legal costs.

Foreclosure Timetable

A foreclosure will likely take 12 to 18 months, Fitch Ratings Senior Director Adam Fox said yesterday in an e-mail.

David Iannarone, president of CW Capital Asset Management, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment. Beth Orcutt, a CWCapital spokeswoman, said in an outgoing voice-mail message that she wasn’t in the office yesterday and that the company doesn’t comment on properties in its special servicing portfolio.

Bud Perrone, an outside spokesman for Tishman Speyer and BlackRock, declined to comment.

The case is Bank of America N.A. v. PCV ST Owner LP, 10-01178, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).