The New York State Attorney General's office has approved an amended offering plan for the Sheffield 57 residential condominium building at 322 West 57th Street and an article by David Jones at therealdeal.com today maintained that that action "could lead to a resumption of sales for the first time since May."

The article quoted Adam Rose, co-president of Rose Associates, which was recently named the building's management firm, as stating that "The Sheffield is moving steadily towards resolution and ultimately being a success."

Several months ago, Kent Swig defaulted on mortgage loans on the building and did not provide an updated offering plan. Fortress Investment Group then acquired the building for $20 million and the assumption of its debt in an auction. According to the article, Fortress is working to complete renovations at the building, "still owes $34.7 million on a senior mortgage loan that has a maturity date of April, 2010," and canceled an agreement for Swig to participate in sharing revenue on the project.

When the sales office closed, the existing offering plan called for the 845-unit rental building to be converted to about 597 condominium apartments. The article said that "about half remain unsold."

Fortress is raising common charges by 11.9 percent, according to the amendment, and said it will fund any shortfall remaining from the prior ownership, the article said, adding that Fortress has hired a new design consultant to redesign the 57th and 58th floors, which the amendment says did not conform to requirements from the original offering plan.

Erected in 1978 by Rose Associates and designed by Emery Roth & Sons, the 50-story, brown-brick building is directly to the west of the Hearst Building, a new skyscraper designed by Sir Norman Foster with criss-cross stainless-steel bracing and jagged corners.

The Sheffield 57 is just to the east of the handsome Park Vendome mid-rise apartment complex that has a large garden courtyard between 57th and 56th Streets. In recent years, this area has improved substantially with the conversion of the Hudson Hotel to the west and the construction of the Time-Warner Center one block to the north.

The building had been sold by Rose Associates to Swig Burris Equities, YL Real Estate Developers and S & H Equities for $418 million. The tower has about 109,000 square feet of office space, a through-block driveway, a plaza, a double-height lobby, a health club, a 345-car garage, and a rooftop paddle-tennis court, which apparently has not been kept in the conversion.

In May, 2009, Yair Levy pleaded guilty to harassing Mr. Swig with an ice bucket and was sentenced to two days of community service. The next month, Mr. Levy and Serge Hoyda, who had been partners with Mr. Swig in the purchase of the building, filed a lawsuit against Mr. Swig for alleged misuse of construction funds. In a June 10, 2009 article in The New York Times, Charles V. Bagli wrote that the building is "well on its way to being one of the most disastrous condominium conversions in city history," adding that "After almost two years of marketing, only 40 percent of 597 apartments have been sold. Condominium owners are suing the partners, as are the market-rate tenants and the rent-regulated tenants. Unpaid contractors have placed liens against the units. And last month, the state attorney general halted sales altogether."