Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union now owns 49% of 51 Astor Place, which people still think is in Midtown South



The Real Deal has the story about 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star:

The Korean Teachers’ Credit Union recently bought a minority stake in Edward Minskoff’s 51 Astor Place, a deal that values the futuristic-looking Midtown South office property at $600 million. The Seoul-based credit union, which has more than $23 billion in assets under management, paid roughly $113 million to buy a 49-percent stake in the fully leased, 400,000-square-foot building.

Why?

James Yoohoon Jeon of FG Asset Management, which oversees the credit union’s investments in 51 Astor Place, said: "We believe there’s a huge potential for rent increase in Midtown South."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Facebook is moving into the neighborhood; Midtown South expands its boundaries, apparently

Report: Maps show that Midtown South does NOT include the East Village/Astor Place

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Midtown South. Ohhhhh-kay.

Anonymous said...

I can't decide who lies more Fox News or "Asset Management companies"?

Anonymous said...

I wonder what will happen when Mid-town South developers meet NYU's developers?

Anonymous said...

There's no such thing as Midtown South. This building and its businesses make no sense in this neighborhood which is why it took so long to rent. Remember when they thought it would be an extention of SoHo? Nah, you got a big, ugly CVS in the ground floor. Across from the Walgreens and Kmart. Bravo indeed!

Unknown said...

Don't forget the new mega Duane Reade and Starbucks plus a Bank or two!

The wagons are circling midtown Stylee , even though it's not really midtown!

Giovanni said...

This is how several pension funds got burned for almost $1 billion during te last real estate bubble when Tishman Speyer defaulted and their investment in StuyTown went bust. That was only 5 years ago. Greedy people never learn their lesson. via the NY Times:

Wide Fallout in Failed Deal for Stuyvesant Town
Jan 25, 2010

In the beginning, investors and lenders could not get enough of the record-breaking $5.4 billion deal to buy the largest apartment complexes in Manhattan: Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

Now, three years later, they cannot get away from it fast enough.

The partnership that bought the 80-acre property on the East River announced on Monday that it was turning the keys over to its lenders after it defaulted on its loans and the value of the property fell below $2 billion.

Yet in walking away, the partners, Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty, have left tenants in limbo and other investors with far bigger losses.

Many of the other companies, banks, countries and pension funds — including the government of Singapore, the Church of England, the Manhattan real estate concern SL Green, and the Newcastle Investment Corporation — that invested billions of dollars in the 2006 deal stand to lose their entire stake.

“At the time, it looked like a sound investment,” said Clark McKinley, a spokesman for Calpers, the giant California public employees’ pension fund, which bought a $500 million stake in the property. “When the market tanked, we got caught.”

Calpers, he added, has written off its investment. So has Calstrs, a California pension fund that invested $100 million, as has a Florida pension fund that put $250 million into the deal.

evEddie said...

For the 1000th time, Astor Place is NOT Midtown (south or otherwise).

Anonymous said...

> which people still think is in Midtown South

It is really City Hall Park North.

Anonymous said...

I give up. They can call this place whatever the hell they want. This isn't a fight I need to fight.

-resident of Upper East Midtown South

Anonymous said...

West Goanus

Anonymous said...

What scares me about all of this new development, both in the city as a whole, and in the East Village, is the lack of diversity. It's all chain stores, banks, and corporate interests. The second something catastrophic happens like a terror attack or financial collapse, they'll all pull their money out and create a vacuum and leave the city in ruin.

Anonymous said...

@3:01pm: I don't think of it as leaving the city in ruin; I think of it as "maybe we can have mom-and-pop stores again".

I can't wait for this real estate "boom" to go bust. Those who lose will be those who deserve to lose: the chain stores, the greedy developers, etc.

A bust might even rid us of some of the fratty over-imbibers in the process.

11:53am: "City Hall Park North" - or else it's FiDi Very Far North.

Anonymous said...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-07/q3-earnings-bloodbath-continues-terrible-monsanto-results-company-fires-2600-it-boos it's all a house of cards, soon to be homeless shelter.

Anonymous said...

These people sound like fucking morons saying "Midtown South". How can you be in the business of real estate and fuck that up?

Anonymous said...

These people work in Real Estate, how fucking embarrassing to completely screw up their geography.

Unknown said...

If they bought 49% of the Death Star for $113 million, then how do they figure they whole thing is worth $600 million? Is the other all five times better?

Anonymous said...

Its all a big house of cards and when it tumbles, the banks that take it over aren't going to welcome back mom&pops any more than StuyTown now welcomes back its old renters. No, the city is now a financial pawn, a fiscal plaything, in games played in boardrooms and trading floors outside our reach and oligarchs global. We, poor people, just live in it.

Anonymous said...

MeltDown South