The really sickening thing though is that it was a beautiful building. Rosen is a schlong. I hope he does not raze the beautiful building on 5th and 43rd.
it's really so sad. I walk by it everyday and remember watching them tear that down and although I was sad to see it go the anticipation of what would rise made it less painful...
and today we have a gravel pit with possible parking lot on the site.
We can only hope that "someday" something worthy of that prominent site will rise.
I hope they're proud of themselves.
I wonder if the foreclosure actually occurred or if he managed to retain the site somehow. Alternatively, maybe a new entity owns the site and retained Rosen as the developer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/re...ref=realestate
Square Feet | The 30-Minute Interview
Aby J. RosenBy VIVIAN MARINO
Published: December 9, 2010
...
Q What’s going on with 610 Lexington, proposed site for the Shangri-La Hotel, which got caught in the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the original lender?
A We’re still building a hotel there. We own the building next door, Seagrams. When the Lehman dust settles, this will settle....
^Am I allowed to say that I think the hue/saturation levels in that photo are hideously jacked up. Ends up looking strange, not in a good way IMO.
I really hope this project comes back alive. They left a gaping hole in our streetscape in this neighborhood and it looks horrible.
Mr Bone?
RFR buying $144M note at 610 Lexington at discount: sources
January 13, 2012 06:00PM
By Adam Pincus
Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding is in contract to buy back the debt for far less than the $144.2 million face value at the Midtown development site at 610 Lexington Avenue, a source familiar with the deal said.
Although the vacant property, where Rosen sought to build the Shangri-La Hotel, New York, is in contract to RFR Holding, it was not clear when the sale would close, the source said. The site is adjacent to Rosen’s iconic Seagram Building, at 375 Park Avenue.
In 2007, RFR borrowed $144.2 million from Lehman Brothers Holdings for the development of the 64-story hotel at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 53rd Street. However, the project stalled during the credit crisis. First, Lehman transferred the loans to ING Real Estate Finance in November 2008, city property records show. Then in April 2009 it was reported that Shangri-La had withdrawn from the project. Two months later, ING filed to foreclose on the loan.
Rosen’s company is expected to buy the note for about $75 million, but he had competition from various investors including Roy Stillman’s Stillman Development International, which signed a contract for $80 million, but did not close, according to another source.
The site has rights for just over 200,000 square feet of development, information from PropertyShark.com shows.
RFR did not respond to a request for comment, and Stillman Development and ING declined to comment.
Even as some of Rosen’s projects have been delayed by the downturn, hotel assets have strengthened in value over the past year in Manhattan.
Last Updated: 1:01 AM, March 14, 2012
Posted: 11:49 PM, March 13, 2012
In what we hope will be a first step towards a new, classy skyscraper, Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs have recapitalized their major 610 Lexington Ave. stalled development site and modified a loan with RCG Longview.
Documents show RCG Longview, a nimble funding group founded by Peter Cohen, Jeffrey J. Feil, Jay Anderson, Jonathan Estreich, Michael Boxer and Mort Olshan, took over what was a $66,395,143 loan from ING.
Before it went belly-up, the original lender, Lehman Bros., had grown several loans to $145 million prior to ING taking over. RCG further reconstituted a mezzanine loan, leaving RFR owing a mere $64,735,264.
RFR also transferred the property to another entity with a value of $78,041,438.
After Lehman and the markets tanked, a deal with Shangri-La hotels to anchor a towering new luxury condominium project faded into the vacant lot.
In an e-mail, an RFR spokeswoman said the company bought back the 610 Lexington Ave. note and is starting to redevelop the site as a hotel and residential condominium development, as previously planned.“Currently we are going to market to source an appropriate hotel operator,” she said.
This site is too Prime to just sit there.
It would be nice if they ditched Foster's design.
Something bold and tall clad in light colored concrete or stone would cast a nice contrast here among all the steel and glass boxes. However, we'll probably get just that, a glass box.
I'll take the Foster tower though, it is high quality.
Other than 2 WTC, a lot of Foster's recent work is nothing special. His new lowrise for the Legal & General site stinks.
Couldn't agree more. Along with Renzo Piano, I think that generation of starchitects has run its course.Originally Posted by londonlawyer
704' Shangra-La out for bid.
Are they keeping the same design?
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