Extell again.....

Well then, maybe we demolish all buildings that send long dark shadows into anybody's living room. Fair is fair, shadow-wise.

GOTTA HATE THE NIMBYs.... ya wanna view, pay for it you little fuctktards!!!!

thxs aboutready for increasing my vocabulary... my sutton place english teacher would be proud!

surprised the coalition for a livable west side wasn't involved..

Extell RULES!!!!!!

Rushmore, anyone? Anyone?

"the crowd, half of whom were residents at 10 West End Ave."

I guess the residents of 10 would rather look at the razor wire and old cars...? I mean, maybe if the Riverside Center gets built, 10's little Truffle Shoppe will finally open.

For me it's going to Rushmore!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hQel3noQeI

Looks like things are not going so smoothly for extell's w57th st project either. if i were a rushmore buyer, i would be concerned that extell might be overtended. they were filing for new condo buildings in april. april!! does this diamond dealer really know what he is doing and are you willing to risk your net worth - or a major chunk of it-- on his decisions. Ha. ask the brickell buyers in miami i
http://www.observer.com/2009/real-estate/plot-twist

apt23, i think extell paid something like $600mm for the west side land. so far they've closed about $100mm worth of units at the Rushmore.

AR: So do those numbers give you confidence in the project? Barnett probably did well with the Ariel buildings and the Orion. But the Lucida and Avery? -- not so much. And given that he has millions of sq feet in the pipeline, how much does anyone know about him? He got into the RE business in 1995 with the single purchase of an apt building. Now he is running a major chunk of Manhattan. The Bloomberg administration better have a handle on this guy. If he implodes, he could take half of Manhattan down with him. Only the Observer seems to be keeping track of him ( due to owner's RE roots, no doubt). But shouldn't some alarm bells be going off? He is investing huge amounts in the worst market in history. He is either a true genius or a fool. If this one developer goes down -- and for all I know, he is 100% solid, I just wonder if our local govt is sure about it -- it will make Madoff look like a piker. If Cuomo sides with him in the Rushmore dispute and there is any kind of financial hanky panky revealed later he will have to kiss his higher office g'bye. But that is just me being skeptical about our govt's ability at oversight. The guy made his zillions in blood diamonds - probably completely trustworthy.

A tidbit from the July Observer:
What will be done: Quite a lot, something all the more striking given the anemic real estate financing market; the skittishness of Mr. Barnett’s peers; and the nature of some of Extell’s developments in the pipeline – office towers, hotels – which clearly fall outside Mr. Barnett’s residential comfort zone.

These include industry-specific giants like the $750 million, 750,000-square-foot Gem Tower at 50 West 47th Street; and the 1.5 million-square-foot World Product Centre at 555 West 33rd Street, the site of the old Copacabana.

Also, in the four months leading up to the city’s new building code, instituted on July 1, Mr. Barnett filed plans for no fewer than six projects totaling 1.45 million square feet, including an 830,000-square-foot, Costas Kondylis-designed tower for 157 West 57th Street; a 13-story, 54-unit residential building at 147 West 21st Street; an 18-story, 58-unit building at 225 West 85th Street; a 29-story hotel at 112 West 25th Street, the site of the Antiques Garage flea market; a 24-story, 175-unit hotel at 30 West 46th Street; and a 35-story hotel at 68 Charlton Street, between Hudson and Varick.

“We’re not going ahead with every single project yet,” Mr. Barnett said Monday. “But we think hotels are going to come back first when the cycle starts again, because New York is still New York.”

All I can say is, You better hope so Mr. Barnett.

This is all google-able, so here is what I know about Mr. Barnett. Born-and-bred New Yorker. He used to go by a different name (can't remember what exactly, but google-able). He married into a diamond-trading family based in Belgium (Muellers). His wife died from breast cancer in the 90s in her 30s, leaving at least 4 young children. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and moved into real estate.

Speculation: I don't think he comes from a $$$ family background, so he had/has backers. Who they are: unknown to me.

He's backed by Carlyle Group(Washington/Middle Eastern money)

carlyle group? i hope they lose every f'ng cent. probably won't happen, but i'll still hope.

To go "all in" in real estate can be a sort-of-bright move. After all, if you owe the banks billions and billions they almost have to help you renegotiate because your failure would hit their balance sheets too hard. The old addage still holds... Owe the bank $1 million and they own you, owe them $1 billion (or 10) and you own them.

didn't a carlyle group sub blow up last year? or am i dreaming this?

LMAO.."Owe the bank $1 million and they own you, owe them $1 billion (or 10) and you own them" and let me add... if the bank lends $1 trillion based on golden unicorns, well we all get to own the banks.

w67thstreet
about 17 hours ago
GOTTA HATE THE NIMBYs.... ya wanna view, pay for it you little fuctktards!!!!

thxs aboutready for increasing my vocabulary... my sutton place english teacher would be proud!

Fucktard is aboutready's word (must have been fun growing up in her family). Make it your own, call it fucktartz. Teach your son.

i will teach my son all that I know, in due time.

Just the other day... he used Goddamnit!!! in the most appropriate way. Wife was pissed, I thought what "perfect" usage for a 3yo.

i'm pretty sure i got fucktard from barry ritholtz, on the big picture. his new book, bailout nation, has been getting a lot of awards. always like to give proper attribution, so if it was another prominent economist i "borrowed" the term from, i'll make sure to clarify.

asshat, that's one i KNOW mr. ritholtz provided. i'm grateful.

Are you getting that Snickers bar in a diaper ready for him for his next birthday?

with the 998 TT yep... and maybe even an Oyster Lightwave... a classic yacht for a classic boy.... ya gotta see all the 4yos girlz hanging on him like he's the cutest thing..... literally his Lauren was out sick last week and wouldn't you know it, Cassidy filled in. She was literally waiting in the wings to get a chance to play with my BOY.

He gotz all my wife's looks... he's a lady killer with an odd fascination for boobs. He has literally grabbed all my nannies boobs at one time or another... he did it in a interview with the nanny about 1 1/2 yr ago.... when she didn't flinch my wife offered her the job....

I beg of you to find colonelklink's password... and please this time, please dont' accuse me of child molestation, would ya?

I didn't accuse you of child molestation.
I merely questioned why you tell us you are naked around your children, or similar actions. Why you type on your iphone with your penis. etc.
You interpreted that as an accusation of child molestation. I can only wonder why you quickly jumped to that conclusion.

OMG. The Carlyle Group is backing him? Riversider are you sure? Because that should calm everyone's fears who lives in an Extell building. Didn't the Carlyle Group pretty much put the frosting on the subprime mortgage crisis? And for the rest of us, it sure is nice to know that they have such a huge chunk of Manhattan -- which of course means that the George Bushes and the govt of Abu Dhabi has a piece of just about everyone living in Manhattan. And Andrew Cuomo took them on once for a pension kickback scandal. Wonder if that will affect Cuomos decision on Rushmore.

What would be the regulatory agency to determine that Extell is solvent and cannot adversely affect NY RE? Right now they are almost in the "too big to fail" category for NYC RE.

From the snout of the pig:
http://christinequinn.com/content/quinn-gets-7500-developer-extell

Extell isn't that big a player, is it? 12ish buildings makes one a big player?

They have many more than 12 buildings. They control millions of sq. ft. in existing or projected projects. 2.25 million sq ft between Gem Tower and World Product Center alone. Then there in Riverside center - that is five buildings, right?. And they own dozens of buildings and lots all over Manhattan. My point is only that I wonder if there is govt oversight of a private firm like that because if they bail on a large residential building here as they did in miami, it would certainly have ripple effects in the RE market,

riversider: didn't realize that carlyle group backed riverside center. do you know if they are involved in all extell projects?

Extell casts a surprisingly wide net ... they own everything on one side (at least) of 137th between Broadway and Riverside.

OMG. The Carlyle Group is backing him? Riversider are you sure? Because that should calm everyone's fears who lives in an Extell building

Not clear. They do not exercise limitless patience...

alanhart: isn't that where columbia owns most of their real estate?

Carlyle is definintely a co-investor with many if not most of the Extell projects, including this one (and Rushmore). An affiliate was at the center of the sub-prime problems, but its issues have little financial effect on the group, which is alive and well. On the positive side, it owns Baskin Robbins and Hertz, so there should be a lot of synergies in its amenity laden properties.

doesn't blackrock own applebees? we could use one in the oval here.

where america goes to celebrate.

celebrate what? that capitalism just trounced the sanctity and security of your home and luckily applebees won't suffer because blackrock off-loaded all the losses on a bunch of feeble pensioners that probably can no longer afford to eat at applebees? yeah. party on.

i think nyc sport was thinking of something more beautifully synergistic-- like dunkin donuts served in the lush gym at the rushmore. what could be a more perfect example of streamlined capitalism.

AR I think you are right about applebees. We may be on to something here. The Riese Organization also owns a large real estate portfolio (maybe all commercial?), and every bad franchised eatery under the sun. You can get breakfast from Tim Hortons and dinner from KFC, all in the building lounge.

celebrate the collapse of your foolish and rapacious landlord via a venue owned by a co-investor? i see some synergies, albeit probably not such positive ones. it was also a bit of an attempt at irony, because it has long been believed that TS wanted to develop the oval.

actually, it's a line from taladega nights. i find it supremely amusing. my husband prefers i'm kind of a big deal.

nyc_sport, at a discount even!! i think workers everywhere would choose employment (assuming, of course the choice exists) in a company housed in a Riese building. there might even be a riot if the company were to attempt to relocate.

"the crowd, half of whom were residents at 10 West End Ave."

CAN'T HAVE SYMPATHY FOR 10 WEA. It was clear to anyone that the area was to be developed..

apt43, i'm not trying to minimize the pain of the equity investors' clients who are seeing their pension funds diminish. but really, wtf was calpers doing investing here? they're an enormous investing machine. foolish, but foolish all around.

the pension issue is a time bomb that will explode soon. both private and public. buffett's been talking this issue for years.

rs, all caps to emphasize your lack of sympathy? redundant, methinks.

lol A.R. you are all to obvious.

i think you meant "too". but i make mistakes all the time myself.

Yes you do :)

i'll have to concede that one.

form/function.

AR: pls. I am well aware of your politics and your irony. i enjoy both. and i really don't hold you accountable for your landlords actions. and btw, i believe calpers made a bundle with carlyle so we don't have to feel too bad for them. perhaps they have now learned that when you dance with the devil........

but i do love the applebees idea. i really think they are not too far from it. when extell sells all the multi million dollar apts, i could well imagine that they would sell the carlyle's dunkin donut franchise product in the lobby. just like at 110 central park north that got stuck with the stinky french fry smell when the developer leased the commercial space to mc donalds. lol. how do you think the sale of that multi million dollar penthouse sale is going at 110. as a buyer, you want to know what the sq. footage is but all you can think about is extra cheese.

apt23, have you taken a look-see at gramercy starck? it of famous mcd's and cvs in the commercial space fame (although cvs could be useful). but what is even worse than mcd's in a gramercy location is the art they selected for the lobby. it is a MUST see.

believe me, i feel like venting regularly about the situation here. and now i may have to decide whether or not to buy a very inexpensive coop, under not-so-stable conditions. curbed had a piece today on rumors that the tenants are discussing another go at it, as 10023 and i conjectured yesterday.

AR: Sorry about your tough decision. The good news is that you are incredibly well informed and will know the right decision. The bad news is that your decision will be tainted by all the others around you that are wallowing in ignorance. I am a bit bitter. I found an apt my husband and I really liked and we were debating an offer but it was scooped up on the second day with an offer that had to be close to ask -- which was more than the 2007 comp in the building. aarg.

But thanks for the heads up on gramercy starck. it is now on my top destination list.

apt23, that's a setback to be sure. but how long have you been looking. and how long have you been seeing things in your price range. and have you been seeing movement. because i've NEVER found the process here to be easy, even back in the days of lower prices.

i suspect that apartment sold so quickly and so well because there was something more to the story. maybe not, but the fact that you, a savvy purchaser, narrowed in on it. well.

the tough decision i mayneed to make is whether or not a building or complex will remain viable. which, if not, is extremely painful to the owners, regardless of the prices paid.

AR: It is a very difficult time and clearly we have not seen the end of the surprises. The one thing about owning in Miami is that you know the unthinkable not only can happen..... it can happen on a regular basis. Every single condo owner is wondering how long their project is viable. That is what has made me so conservative in NY. Hubby and I discussed whether we would be more unhappy missing out on a great NY apt that would go up in price and we could sit in the cozy living room and congratulate ourselves on our savvy. Or would we be more upset knowing that we absolutely knew what could/might go wrong and we ignored it at our peril and suffered huge losses. We finally decided that with money in the bank we would be happy to congratulate ourselves in a cozy spot anywhere in the world. Rented villa in tuscany? Fancy hotel in Majorca? I think the miss on this apt was kismet. I think I will join the ranks of happy renters.

Btw, i sold about the time you did. Last months of 2004 and have been waiting for the market to come down ever since. Have been actively looking 5 - 6 months between business trips

Looks like seven units closed in the last seven reporting days(ACRIS).