Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Florida Loses $250 Million Thanks to Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village



It's just getting worse and worse for investors who went along with Tishman Speyer and Blackrock in acquiring Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMJ6yR9lHQQM

Florida’s pension lost $250 million it invested in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan’s largest rental-apartment complex, the fund’s trustees were told.

“We are carrying that investment at zero because the market softened dramatically,” Ash Williams, executive director of the State Board of Administration, which oversees $121.9 billion of pension and other assets, told a meeting in Tallahassee today.

The SBA bought in 2007 its share of a limited partnership run by Tishman Speyer Properties LP and Blackrock Inc., owners of the property, said Williams, who was hired in October 2008.

Tishman and Blackrock acquired the 80-acre, 11,200-unit Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper complex for $5.4 billion in 2006 at what Williams called “the top of the market.” Their plan to convert 1,600 rent-stabilized units to market rates as residents vacated was stymied by rising unemployment during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

“Rents are not going up like they normally would, landlords are making concessions like free rent and people have not moved out at the rate anticipated,” said Williams, who came to the SBA after nine years as a managing director at Fir Tree Partners, a New York hedge fund.

Manhattan apartment rents fell as much as 10 percent in August from a year earlier, the Real Estate Group of New York said on Aug. 25. Vacancies are growing and tenants aren’t moving as the city’s unemployment rate climbed to a 12-year high of 9.6 percent in July....

“What’s going to happen to the investment?” Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican running for governor in the November 2010 election, asked Williams.

“Is there potential for recovery? Yes,” Williams said. “Is it a strong possibility? No.”

Florida is a junior partner in the Tishman/Blackrock venture, Williams said, with an equity-only investment and none of the mezzanine debt held by senior partners. He said the equity stake “could be wiped out.”

“We’ve had an unfortunate experience, we regret it and we’re taking steps so it doesn’t happen again,” Williams said.


More at the above link.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've had a lot of unfortunate experiences since the sale of Stuy Town!

Anonymous said...

Ash should take the "h" out of his name and substitute an "s" and then the folks affected by his terrible business decision should kick his As[h]s clear across Florida.

Anonymous said...

Hmm....this post looks VERY familiar.....

Stuy Town Reporter said...

Yes, it's taken from Bloomberg.com, and is credited as such. Perhaps you are a reader of that site. Or do you have another point to make?

Anonymous said...

I'm actually thinking of moving to Florida to get away from all the dog barking, outdoor concerts, loud tenants, missing laundry carts and more. Good job Tishman Speyer. Your plan has worked.

Anonymous said...

Ash was not hired until over a year after the investment in STPCV was made

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah! Like you read Bloomberg.com every day! Since you need it spelled out it would seem that the point of Anonymous's post was that you ripped off LL. Again! Duh.

Stuy Town Reporter said...

The "Duh" is on you, I'm afraid. You are always falling down on your face with your snarky comments. It's a wonder you never give up. Oh, well, it’s your pain and embarrassment and time-wasting. I love making you look like a fool, so keep it coming.

Here's the inside story for you. Both Lux and I use Google and its news link to gather the latest info on Stuy Town. Sometimes Lux posts this news before I do, other times I post this info before he does. Now I wonder if you complain to Lux when his report follows mine, as it has done several times in the past weeks? I doubt it, and I doubt you complain to him about his copying/pasting every week from Town & Village? Am I right?

So go curl up your dog’s tail and head back over to the other side of the aisle. Foiled once again!

Anonymous said...

STR, please make liberal use of your administrative powers to ban this idiot commenter. This person is an obvious instigator and judging by his or her failed attempts here, not too bright.

Anonymous said...

Amen to the last poster!

cory said...

I don't think STR has any 'administrative' power here since this isn't his domain and I don't think blogspot will let you block IP's (or will it?)

Not sure. STR, what's the word?

Stuy Town Reporter said...

You're right. Blogspot does not allow me to block IPs. My only administrative power is to approve, or not approve, the comments posted here.