NEW YORK CITY-The 232 unsold units at the troubled Rector Square condominium conversion in Battery Park City found a buyer at an auction Wednesday, but that buyer was also the seller. Anglo Irish Bank, the senior lender on the 304-unit project, put in the only bid, $82.7 million, for the unsold units as well as its parking garage and commercial space. Bloomberg reports that the lender had sought to recoup much of the $135 million it is owed.
Chris Sullivan, an attorney for Herrick, Feinstein representing the lender, tells GlobeSt.com, “The plaintiff—Anglo Irish or its designee or assignee—was the successful bidder at a foreclosure auction of the unsold units at 225 Rector today for $82.75 million. Anglo Irish views this as a good result given the circumstances and economic landscape. The plaintiff has the option of selling its successful bid, or closing on the bid and taking title to the units.”
Sullivan adds that the plaintiff has “the further option of seeking a monetary judgment against the sponsor-borrower and guarantor for some or all of the deficiency resulting from the sale.”
The project, which was developed by YL Rector Street LLC and principal Yair Levy, is facing more than the foreclosure action on a $165-million mortgage by Ango Irish, originally filed in February 2009. According to published reports, there are also pending legal actions by a group of unit owners and by the state attorney general, the latter announced this past June. Calls to attorneys for YL Rector Street and to the attorney general’s office were not returned by deadline.
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