By Kim Velsey 11/29/12 6:30pm

Housing Developments

Overcharged.

Stuyvesant Town Tenants Settle Rent Degregulation Lawsuit, Winning $68.7 M.

The tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village have finally settled their class action suit, winning $68.7 million in damages that will be awarded to tenants who were overcharged on their rent between January 2003 and December 2011 as a result of illegal rent deregulation.

The settlement means an end to the lengthy Roberts v. Tishman Speyer legal battle. Tishman Speyer defaulted on its loans in 2010 and the property is now owned by CW Capital Asset Management LLC. The damages, to be paid by CWCapital (on behalf of the
bondholders’ trust) and former owner MetLife Inc, will be divided among 21,250 tenants in 4,300 units. Read More

By Patrick Clark 10/29/12 12:29pm

Hurricane $andy

extreme weather

Extreme Weather Investing Author Has a Tip on How to Trade the Frankenstorm

Larry Oxley was scheduled to appear this afternoon on Bloomberg Television to discuss his recent book, Extreme Weather and Financial Markets. As late as Friday, when The Observer spoke to the author, it seemed like perfect timing. The eyes of the nation were turned to Hurricane Sandy, and Mr. Oxley was slated to tell investors how to profit.

But events have consequences, as Mr. Oxley would be the first to aver, and as the storm developed, one consequence was that local governments closed roads and public transportation. When The Observer spoke to him this morning, he was stuck at home in Monmouth County, N.J., emailing television producers about whether to phone in today’s interview, or just reschedule.

“It’s almost hilarious,” Mr. Oxley told us today. “But the beauty of extreme weather investing is that you don’t necessarily have to be in ahead of the event. You can play the opportunity as it unfolds.” Read More

By Dan Geiger 12/13/11 10:04am

power broker

444 Madison Avenue.

Too Small? Too Big? Just Right.

It may have been the kind of problem every tenant wishes it had, but for Wasserman Media Group it was a problem nonetheless.

Only a few months had elapsed since the firm had signed on at the start of the year to take roughly 7,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the midtown office tower 444 Madison Avenue, and already it was clear to Wasserman’s executives that they had significantly miscalculated the company’s needs. Read More

By William Alden 7/08/10 5:16pm

‘Summer Breeze’ at CBRE Office Market Breakfast

These days, when he goes shopping, Matt Van Buren hunts for discounts. The executive managing director of CB Richard Ellis’ New York brokerage, Mr. Van Buren likes price cuts of at least 35 percent.

“Say I’m buying a hammock for my backyard,” he said Thursday morning on the 18th floor of the MetLife building, minutes Read More

By Eliot Brown 9/22/09 9:11pm

O Stuy Town!

Three years ago this month, Stuyvesant Town was a bees’ nest of tenant activism. Rallies with bullhorns, press conferences and elected officials littered the 80-acre brick city on the East Side. The reason? MetLife was selling the longtime middle-class enclave that was Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village, and the tenants, terrified of the pressure Read More

By Chris Shott 2/19/07 12:00am

Stuy Town Paper to Landlord:Read This!

At first glance, people often assume that the weekly Town & Village comes directly from the ownership of Stuyvesant Town and Cooper Village, Tishman Speyer, or from the complex’s management, Rose Associates Inc. Both firms are owned by well-known New York real-estate clans that could easily afford a weekly rag.

But then people get to Read More

By Staff 12/28/06 2:29pm

Done: MetLife in 1095 Avenue of the Americas

Well, some good news for 1095 A of A: The MetLife deal is done. They’ll take 12 floors and 410,000 square feet from landlord Equity Office Properties in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The release says that MetLife will keep a “substantial ongoing presence” in super-spurned Long Island City. Whatever. It’s all further evidence that Read More