1800 Park Avenue, Manhattan, NY

Rosenberg & Estis, P.C. (“R&E”) served as legal counsel to the Durst Organization in connection with various transactions relating to the East Harlem development site at 1800 Park Avenue (located between 124th and 125th Streets).

Earlier this year, R&E began its work on this transaction when it introduced Durst to Garrison Investment Group, the holder of ~$100M in defaulted senior and mezzanine debt on the property. Durst acquired the debt from Garrison in January 2016 and commenced proceedings to foreclose on the mezzanine loans by public sale. R&E, on behalf of Durst, then negotiated a deal directly with owner Bruce Eichner’s Continuum Company to purchase fee title to the development site in exchange for discontinuing the foreclosure proceedings. Durst has since closed on the purchase of the real estate for just under $91M and the R&E team advised on the purchase as well, initially a $65M loan from M&T Bank secured by the Eichner notes, and then converted to a Senior Mortgage. As part of this transaction, R&E also advised Durst on the assumption of a Brownfield Cleanup Agreement affecting the site which program makes New York State income tax credits available for the cleanup and redevelopment of a qualified Brownfield site.

(Closed: January 2016)
(Rosenberg & Estis, P.C. Team: Michael E. Lefkowitz , Larry R. Mergentime, Dennis I. Hellman and David A. Fries.