HIGHLAND PARK: "Better Shelter-esque in Highland Park," writes a reader, sending in this listing at Avenue 47 and York. BS or a spawn? Who can tell anymore? Listing here. [Redfin]
DOWNTOWN: Following a key court hearing today, developer Sonny Astani is now facing a deadline of February 17th if he wants to find a buyer for his Concerto project. Chop, chop. As covered before, Astani's latest bankruptcy plan is to sell the whole site, now valued at $160 million-$180 million to pay off the remaining debt on his $163 million loan to CCV aka Starwood. At a hearing in a downtown courthouse, Judge Vincent P. Zurzolo set February 17th as the date to consider both Astani's bankruptcy plan and CCV's competing bankruptcy plan, which sees the Starwood-related group seize the site.
Before the February hearing, creditors will vote on each plan and since CCV has been paying off the creditors, CCV essentially has more votes, meaning their plan would be picked. So Astani will likely lose his project if he doesn't find a buyer by that February date.
Following today's hearing, Astani tells us he will aggressively market the site after the holidays, specifically targeting wealthy buyers in Asia. Additionally, he believes some of those would-be Asian buyers may keep Concerto condo, rather than turn it rental, as proposed. "They may just lock it up," he says, of a new buyer. Returning a rental to a condo project “is a little messy,” he says, given that tenants have to be moved out and the units are no longer new. (What say you to that theory, Hancock Lofts?)
If and when he does find a buyer, he'll submit a motion to the court to sell, at which point the bankruptcy judge would have to approve the sale. As a comparison, in-Chapter-11 Meruelo Maddux was in similar situation when they sold their 9th Street tower, which was turned into a rental by the new owner. [Curbed Staff]
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