Victor Homes recently acquired the debt on a four-story commercial building at 241 Fifth Avenue that had been planned to be developed as a 100-room hotel and it plans to develop a 20-story residential condominium on the site with about 48 apartments, according to an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal by Joseph De Avila.
The article said that Victor Homes, which is based in New Jersey and is a unit of Israeli-based real estate company Eclogue Management, expects to obtain title to the property at a foreclosure auction tomorrow.
The building's current owners, 241 Fifth Ave. Hotel LLC, of which Daniel Shavolian, Al Cohen and Jack Hazen are principals, bought the property in 2007 for $26.5 million. The planned a hotel but never began construction and defaulted on a $22.75 million loan from Inland Mortgage Capital Corp., which began foreclosure proceedings in 2009. The article said that according to court documents as of September 2010 the investors owned the lender $31.94 million.
Victor Homes bought that debt for $20 million according to Ran Korolik of Victor Homes who said his company plans to begin work on the condo project in July, the article said.
The developers of the hotel project, which is located between 27th and 28th Streets, had bought the property in 2005 from Avraham Sibony for $10.8 million and Mr. Hazan retained the original plans for Mr. Sibony by Eran Chen of Perkins Eastman Architects that had been approved by the Landmarks Perservation Commission as the property lies within the Madison Avenue North Historic District.
Chen's design had been described by many of the landmarks commission's members as a "intriguing" and "interesting" and it employed four materials: a "rainscreen" terracotta system, an opaque baked and painted glass, clear glass and silver-colored metal panel coping. The planned building would have had a symmetrical facade on the avenue but an asymmetrical facade on its south "party" wall, which has considerable exposure. In addition, it "floats" its setback upper floors in a form that a couple of commissioners described by "Cubist."
Mr. Chen of Perkins Eastman said that the design attempts to make a meaningful transition between a higher building just to its north and the 7-story building just to its south and the 5-story Museum of Sex on the northeast corner at 27th Street.
Commissioner Richard Olcott said at the commission's hearing that he found the design "quite intriguing" and "lively" and that "it seems like the building wishes it was not standing at mid-block." Commissioner Stephen Brynes added that he found the "vaporization" of windows on the south facade "provocative."
Mr. Sibony's concern obtained approval last year from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to erect a 19-story, 76-unit, residential condominium building on the site of the present building that was erected in 1968.
The article said that Victor Homes, which is based in New Jersey and is a unit of Israeli-based real estate company Eclogue Management, expects to obtain title to the property at a foreclosure auction tomorrow.
The building's current owners, 241 Fifth Ave. Hotel LLC, of which Daniel Shavolian, Al Cohen and Jack Hazen are principals, bought the property in 2007 for $26.5 million. The planned a hotel but never began construction and defaulted on a $22.75 million loan from Inland Mortgage Capital Corp., which began foreclosure proceedings in 2009. The article said that according to court documents as of September 2010 the investors owned the lender $31.94 million.
Victor Homes bought that debt for $20 million according to Ran Korolik of Victor Homes who said his company plans to begin work on the condo project in July, the article said.
The developers of the hotel project, which is located between 27th and 28th Streets, had bought the property in 2005 from Avraham Sibony for $10.8 million and Mr. Hazan retained the original plans for Mr. Sibony by Eran Chen of Perkins Eastman Architects that had been approved by the Landmarks Perservation Commission as the property lies within the Madison Avenue North Historic District.
Chen's design had been described by many of the landmarks commission's members as a "intriguing" and "interesting" and it employed four materials: a "rainscreen" terracotta system, an opaque baked and painted glass, clear glass and silver-colored metal panel coping. The planned building would have had a symmetrical facade on the avenue but an asymmetrical facade on its south "party" wall, which has considerable exposure. In addition, it "floats" its setback upper floors in a form that a couple of commissioners described by "Cubist."
Mr. Chen of Perkins Eastman said that the design attempts to make a meaningful transition between a higher building just to its north and the 7-story building just to its south and the 5-story Museum of Sex on the northeast corner at 27th Street.
Commissioner Richard Olcott said at the commission's hearing that he found the design "quite intriguing" and "lively" and that "it seems like the building wishes it was not standing at mid-block." Commissioner Stephen Brynes added that he found the "vaporization" of windows on the south facade "provocative."
Mr. Sibony's concern obtained approval last year from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to erect a 19-story, 76-unit, residential condominium building on the site of the present building that was erected in 1968.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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