Yesterday, it was announced that Tishman Speyer's $5.4 billion bid for Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village was successful, making it the largest real estate deal in history. But what's interesting is that the second bid from Apollo was $5.33 billion. We wonder if Apollo executives are "What if"-ing right now. The bid organized by tenants to preserve middle-class housing was $4.5-4.9 billion - well behind the other bids - and City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, Peter Cooper resident, who worked on the tenants' bid said, “Eventually, I think what you will see is a market-rate, gated community, which is what MetLife was pitching to all the potential bidders.”
The crazy thing is that MetLife let Tishman Speyer they had won the deal at 6PM. The Sun reports, "A representative of Tishman Speyer showed up with a check, and an army of lawyers and brokers worked through the night to finalize the deal at about 9:15 a.m. yesterday." A check that big should have been on one of those crazy-big lottery checks! Imagine the MetLife executives depositing, oh, a 10% deposit - $540 million. The Sun also notes that retail development may be the key to making the deal worthwhile to Tishman Speyer and their two investment partners, Blackrock and the California State Teacher's Retirement System. A big question is how much of the development will be rent-regulated, though Tishman Speyer implied that rent-stabilized apartments are "completely protected" without further detail. The Post says the MetLife profit will be $3 billion with the $5.4 billion sale. A burning question: Was Lucy Van Pelt involved?
Some tenants blame Mayor Bloomberg for what's happened. Marcelle Wolfe, an 18 year resident, tells Metro, “Mayor Bloomberg is a good businessman except for what he’s done to Stuyvesant Town." However, Metro also spoke to 22 year old David Pintauro who moved in a few months ago: “Morally, I think what happened is horrible. There are a lot of old ladies in the building that I’m concerned about because making rent is hard enough. I’m 22, so if I got booted, it’s no big deal. There’s always Craigslist.” The Sun had a good paragraph explaining the Mayor's stance:
The tenants were seeking about $480 million in city funds to support their bid. The Bloomberg administration performed an analysis of what it would cost to support them and found that for the cost of preserving some of the Stuyvesant Town units, it could build twice as many new affordable units elsewhere, according to a city official. While the tenants have worried about the prospect of losing their apartments, city officials have noted that the tenants will be protected by existing rent stabilization laws after the deal is closed.
For now, all eyes are on Jerry Speyer of Tishman Speyer. The NY Times and Daily News have articles about him, his properties and philanthropies.
