Two New York developers are suing state-owned Anglo Irish Bank for $1 billion in a dispute over funding for three luxury hotels in Manhattan, according to a January 1, 2011 article at irishtimes.com by Barry O'Halloran.
"Developers Simon Elias, Izak Senbahar and a number of their companies, are suing Anglo for $1 billion plus interest and costs for breach of a series of agreements relating to $500 million worth of loans that the bank made to the men and their companies to redevelop three Manhattan hotels, the Mark, Alex and Flatotel, the article said.
The article said that the bank would not comment "but sources close to it said it intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously and believes that the plaintiffs' case has no merit."
"According to documents lodged with the New York courts," the article continued, "the case centers on 14 loans totaling more than $500 million that the bank gave to Mr Elias, Mr Senbahar and a number of their companies, which are part of their Alexico group. Close to $270 million of the total relates to the Mark Hotel, a prestige property on Manhattan's upper east side. Anglo has reportedly been trying to sell on this debt for as little as $200 million."
"Anglo sold the debts relating to these properties in July," the article said, "to a group of companies registered in Delaware, known as RPAP. Mr Elias and Mr Senbahar claim this is in breach of their agreements with Anglo, as they say that RPAP's backers are the Procaccianti group, a hotel management firm, Atlas Securities and Rock Point, all of which are competitors of the plaintiffs. They claim the Irish bank secretly entered talks with these companies earlier this year to sell the loans to them. Mr Elias and Mr Senbahar also argue that Anglo's attempts to sell the Mark Hotel debt are in breach of its agreement with the bank."
"The plaintiffs say Anglo's original agreement was that it would treat the three hotels as a single business," the article said, "and allow them time to redevelop the Mark Hotel and sell a series of refurbished suites in the property before seeking repayment of the loans."
"The RPAP companies are now seeking repayment of the debts due on the Alex and Flatotel, and are threatening the owners with foreclosure. This is the subject of a separate legal action," the article added.
The beige-brick Mark Hotel was erected in 1927 and designed by Schwartz & Gross. It has one of the city's most distinctive roofs, a copper-clad sloped pyramid cut off at the tope. The building is directly north of the Carlyle Galleries Building at 980 Madison Avenue where Aby Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building and Lever House, was unable to get a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a design he commissioned from Sir Norman Foster for a silvery glass cylindrical tower roof addition placed at the northern end of the building right across from the entrance to The Mark.
Most of the apartments and the building will have a 24-hour concierge and doorman, a fitness center, a business center, multilingual secretarial support, valet parking, limousine service. In addition, Frederic Fekkai will operate a Salon Mark and residents will have signing privileges at Salon Mark and Bar Mark in the building and Sant Ambroeus, an Italian restaurant a few doors up from the building on Madison Avenue revered for its cappuccino.
Alexico acquired the leasehold interest in the building for about $150 million from Mandarin Oriental Management. The hotel, which then had 119 rooms and 57 suites, is cattycorner to the Carlyle Hotel and until recently Issey Miyake occupied its Madison Avenue corner store at 77th Street.
The building has a three-story, rusticated limestone base, a large entrance marquee on 77th Street, balconies on the 14th floor and arched windows on the 15th floor.
"Developers Simon Elias, Izak Senbahar and a number of their companies, are suing Anglo for $1 billion plus interest and costs for breach of a series of agreements relating to $500 million worth of loans that the bank made to the men and their companies to redevelop three Manhattan hotels, the Mark, Alex and Flatotel, the article said.
The article said that the bank would not comment "but sources close to it said it intends to defend the lawsuit vigorously and believes that the plaintiffs' case has no merit."
"According to documents lodged with the New York courts," the article continued, "the case centers on 14 loans totaling more than $500 million that the bank gave to Mr Elias, Mr Senbahar and a number of their companies, which are part of their Alexico group. Close to $270 million of the total relates to the Mark Hotel, a prestige property on Manhattan's upper east side. Anglo has reportedly been trying to sell on this debt for as little as $200 million."
"Anglo sold the debts relating to these properties in July," the article said, "to a group of companies registered in Delaware, known as RPAP. Mr Elias and Mr Senbahar claim this is in breach of their agreements with Anglo, as they say that RPAP's backers are the Procaccianti group, a hotel management firm, Atlas Securities and Rock Point, all of which are competitors of the plaintiffs. They claim the Irish bank secretly entered talks with these companies earlier this year to sell the loans to them. Mr Elias and Mr Senbahar also argue that Anglo's attempts to sell the Mark Hotel debt are in breach of its agreement with the bank."
"The plaintiffs say Anglo's original agreement was that it would treat the three hotels as a single business," the article said, "and allow them time to redevelop the Mark Hotel and sell a series of refurbished suites in the property before seeking repayment of the loans."
"The RPAP companies are now seeking repayment of the debts due on the Alex and Flatotel, and are threatening the owners with foreclosure. This is the subject of a separate legal action," the article added.
The beige-brick Mark Hotel was erected in 1927 and designed by Schwartz & Gross. It has one of the city's most distinctive roofs, a copper-clad sloped pyramid cut off at the tope. The building is directly north of the Carlyle Galleries Building at 980 Madison Avenue where Aby Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building and Lever House, was unable to get a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a design he commissioned from Sir Norman Foster for a silvery glass cylindrical tower roof addition placed at the northern end of the building right across from the entrance to The Mark.
Most of the apartments and the building will have a 24-hour concierge and doorman, a fitness center, a business center, multilingual secretarial support, valet parking, limousine service. In addition, Frederic Fekkai will operate a Salon Mark and residents will have signing privileges at Salon Mark and Bar Mark in the building and Sant Ambroeus, an Italian restaurant a few doors up from the building on Madison Avenue revered for its cappuccino.
Alexico acquired the leasehold interest in the building for about $150 million from Mandarin Oriental Management. The hotel, which then had 119 rooms and 57 suites, is cattycorner to the Carlyle Hotel and until recently Issey Miyake occupied its Madison Avenue corner store at 77th Street.
The building has a three-story, rusticated limestone base, a large entrance marquee on 77th Street, balconies on the 14th floor and arched windows on the 15th floor.
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.
6sqft delivers the latest on real estate, architecture, and design, straight from New York City.
