The high-profile location for 3 Sutton Place at 428-432 E. 58th St. that can be developed into a 900-foot-tall condominium tower is now in play as US Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane signed an order Tuesday approving a plan to hire the brokers and sell the site.
The marketing for the 262,000-square-foot project will be conducted by the JLL team led by Scott Latham, Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen and Jon Caplan along with David Schechtman of Meridian Investment Sales.
The winning bidder would own the mid-block East Side location by Sutton Place as well as plans drawn up by Sir Norman Foster, the British architect with Foster + Partners, who was hired to design a project that would appeal to global buyers but who may be owed money.
The site is not without the drama typically spawned when the city real estate market starts foundering.
Developer Joseph Beninati of the Bauhouse Group put the site together over several years. After he could not refinance earlier loans totaling $130 million made by entities controlled by N. Richard Kalikow, Beninati defaulted on a mezzanine loan and put the planned project into bankruptcy last spring.
With interest tolling at over $2.7 million per month, the amount has grown to about $185 million. Sources said the lending entities do have the right to make a “credit bid,” which counts the loan within their bid.
Meanwhile, another local investor, Philip Pilevsky of Philips International, and his sons started to provide funds and legal services through the law firm of one of the sons. It is unclear if that group will also bid, or take any profits and move on.
Last week, Kalikow’s lending entity, Gamma, sued Philip, Michael and Scott Pilevsky for interfering in the deal with the funds and legal work, The Real Deal reported. In July, TRD said Beninati also sued Gamma for conspiring with his own lawyer on the project, Richard R. Kalikow, who is N. Richard Kalikow’s cousin.
It is a miracle the parties agreed on the brokers.
If the site sells for $800 per square foot, it could bring in $210 million. But that would still be below Manhattan condo land sales that had escalated to over $1,000 per square foot before nervous Nellies stalled high-ticket condo sales and dried up construction lending. Nevertheless, the prime valuable site could still set a land sale record.
None of the parties has returned numerous requests for comment.
H&M has signed a 35,000-square-foot lease at the 150,000-square-foot retail redevelopment of the soon-to-be-interconnected 160-08, 160-16 and 161-02 Jamaica Ave. in Queens.
H&M will have part of the first floor and the second floor in the four-story project where Burlington Coat Factory has signed a lease for 70,000 square feet on the two upper floors.
“The announcement of this lease with H&M, one of the most exciting, transformative retailers today, validates the retail power of Jamaica Avenue,” said Albert Laboz, principal of United American Land.
H&M was represented by Bob Gibson of JLL while UAL was represented by Ralph Chera of Chera Realty Group. The deal had an asking rent of $100 per square foot, and the stores will open in the spring of 2018.
Willie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty,” Elvis Duran and Paul Teutul of “American Chopper,” who brought a bunch of his bikes, were among those at Monday’s Eric Trump Foundation golf outing.
Golfers played the Trump Ferry Links course in The Bronx along with Trump National in Briarcliff, which hosted the evening’s dinner.
The outing raised almost $2 million, and the foundation will contribute $5 million to St. Jude’s Hospital this year.