14 | MAJOR INSTALLATION JUNE 29, 2015 | VOL. 51, No. 26
31 | SWEET ARRIVAL
YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS
Luxury returns PAGE 13
Savings & Groan Bank exercises right to sue noisy �ym
BY JOHN GOLDEN jgolden@westfairinc.com
A
Andrew Todd at Greystone-on-Hudson, his luxury-homes development in Tarrytown. Photo by John Golden
westfaironline.com
downtown White Plains landlord has lost two office buildings to a special loan servicer, but not before a corporate tenant sued the owner over noisy, officeand-employee-rattling business disruptions caused by weightlifters and exercise buffs. The disgruntled tenant, Webster Bank NA, wants a judge to order a full refund of its rent payments since a fitness center opened above its Westchester business banking office more than two years ago. And, having relinquished the property this spring, the bank’s former landlord wants its defendant’s role and responsibility in the lawsuit handed over to the new owner of White Plains Plaza. In default on an $80 million mortgage loan, White Plains Plaza Realty LLC, an affiliate of Westport-
based Heyman Properties LLC, last month deeded its 1 N. Broadway and 445 Hamilton Ave. buildings to an entity of C-III Capital Partners in Irving, Texas, and C-III’s special servicer division handling commercial mortgage-backed securities. The Heyman company had owned the Class A office complex since 2005, when it paid $60 million to acquire it from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The recent deal for the two Central Business District buildings, which total approximately 712,000 square feet of space, resolved the special servicer’s foreclosure proceeding against the realty company for its $80 million loan from Deutsche Bank Mortgage Capital in 2006. The loan was sold and bundled in a commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) offering for investors. The White Plains Plaza loan in 2013 attracted the notice of researchers at Trepp, the commercial real » BANK, page 6
Developer dusts off plans for Peekskill convent GINSBURG LOOKS TO BUILD APARTMENTS, REUSE FORMER ABBEY BY COLLEEN WILSON cwilson@westfairinc.com
P
lans for a former convent and Revolutionary War lookout in Peekskill are on the city docket again after a tumultuous history of redevelopment proposals. Known as St. Mary’s Convent, the building dates to the late 19th century and has seen numerous development plans fall through over the last 12 years. But with some urging from Peekskill Mayor Frank Catalina, Martin Ginsburg, president of Ginsburg Development Cos. LLC, has plans to turn the former abbey into a spa, inn
and restaurant. Ginsburg, who bought the property in 2003, also wants to develop 178 apartments in three buildings on the property as well as 20 townhouses on Main Street. The project is estimated to cost about $50 million. Catalina said he called Ginsburg in November 2013 shortly after he was elected mayor and asked him to dust off his plans for the convent. “We had backburnered this because we had our difficulty previously,” Ginsburg said, referring to issues with the Common Council and the Great Recession taking a toll on property developments. “I didn’t necessarily want to revisit,” but, he added, “The current mayor
has definitely been a strong supporter, and we had a meeting with the Common Council and I think we had very unanimous support for this.” Ginsburg Development has submitted a conceptual plan to the city and presented those designs to the council on June 15. One of the early challenges will be the one-way road that leads to the convent property will likely need to be expanded into a two-way road. There is also discussion about changing the name of Spring Street to reflect the name of the project, which will be referred to as Fort Hill. Fort Hill will have 178 luxury apartments » PEEKSKILL, page 6