Three Stalled Manhattan Projects Show Signs of Life

After four years of delay, The Charles, a $170 million condominium building at 1355 First Avenue, is on the verge of beginning construction. The luxury tower, between 72nd and 73rd streets, will have 51 designer apartments with asking prices between $2 million and $18 million. The building is scheduled to rise 34 stories upon completion in the spring of 2014. 

According to a press release, Bluerock Real Estate, led by restaurant impresario Ramin Kamfar - who has poured an estimated $53 million of equity into the project - has received a $100 million construction loan from Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Advisors to get things going at the site.

Bluerock has retained development firm Victor Homes and Triton Construction of Garden City, to build the Ismael Leyva-designed luxury tower.

The New Jersey-based developer is also erecting a 20-story building with 48 condo units at 241 Fifth Avenue near Madison Square Park, and preparing to build a 100-unit condominium tower at 532 West 29th Street in Chelsea early next year.

Condos For 241 Fifth Avenue
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The failed Madison Square Park hotel project in Manhattan is getting a second shot as condominiums. New Jersey developer, Victor Homes, acquired the dormant four-story project at 241 Fifth Avenue last year with plans to erect a 20-story building with luxury 48 condominium units. The Victor at Fifth Avenue has been slow rising over the past year, and topped out early this fall.

Victor is one of the many developers capitalizing on New York's real estate recovery by taking control of distressed or stalled projects. This strategy has become increasingly popular as banks become more open to selling under-performing loans.

The former owners had planned to demolish the building at 241 Fifth Ave. and put up a 100-room boutique hotel. It was one of several projects taking place in the area near Madison Square Park during the real-estate boom.

However, the timing wasn't right and construction on the proposed hotel never started. The developer defaulted on a $32 million loan from Inland Mortgage Capital, which began foreclosure proceedings on the hotel project in 2009.

Victor Homes, a unit of Israeli-based real-estate company Eclogue Management, ended up buying that debt at a discounted price of $20 million.

The condominium units will range from one-bedrooms to four-bedrooms. Pricing for the units is still being determined, but the asking price for a one-bedroom apartment will be in the range of $2 million to $2.5 million.

The Victor at West 29
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New Jersey-based developer Victor Homes is set to build a 90- to 100-unit condominium in Chelsea, after buying two 12,500-square-foot buildings at 532 West 29th Street for $12 million. The site presently houses the Peter Blum Chelsea gallery and the Sean Kelly art gallery.

Victor plans to tear down the existing art galleries to build a 100,000-square-foot condominium building, with 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The building is still in the design stage and a construction schedule has not yet been released. This would be the latest acquisition for the New Jersey developer, which is focusing primarily on Manhattan real estate these days.