20 Pine Street - Condo - by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White / Renov: Gruzen Samton

[Domoarigato]

Any news about the much awaited 20 Pine: The Collection?

[bigkdc]

I had heard sales have been weak but have not seen much.

[Peteynyc1]

With Shvo handling the sales, you can be sure they will turn them over.

[Peakrate212]

If you ask any of the brokers at 20 Pine, they say its 50% sold, but is that true?

How can you really know?

They may be trying to create the feeling that you have to "act now, or loose out"

Thoughts?

[bigkdc]

You never know what that 50% means. It could be as a % of the units they have released for sale, not of the entire building.

[Domoarigato]

It seems that there has been a lot of chat about the "Armani" interior design of lobby and common areas (including terrace and basement spa). For the residential apartments, they say that the LG washer/dryer units are not the vented type. Modular kitchen design looks sleek and stylish. Looks like a wall unit that converts to a kitchen (Italian moda style). Are they going to have centralized A/C heating? And if you look at the windows, some floors have smaller windows than others. Are they going to remedy that?

[Peteynyc1]

Same developer at Downtown by Starck right? I think they went for the same approach of bringing in big names. The modular kitchen designs are very similar, although way different with browns vs mostly white in starck. Change the windows so they are uniform? I bet they wont, costly. The pool and deck area look amazing in that rendering! Like a Vegas boutique hotel kinda look. Whats the average price / sq ft? I recall kind of high compared to what was released even more recently at the Starck building. If its as high as 1000.00 per foot than it just sucks when most got into the Starck in the 600's. Downtown is great and all but is it worth 1000, 1100, 1200 per foot? Oh, and if you buy you you better love the color brown. Its everywhere ;)

[Domoarigato]

Peternyc1. Yeah.. they are selling between 900 to 1200/ft on the lower floors. Upper "concierge" floors sell for more.

The design is great. I am with you on the pool and deck area. You should also see the Turkish hammam, golf simulator, billard hall and spa lounge... to die for. The Armani furniture and motif itself is a lot of money. Buyers are going to think about getting really good furniture for their apartments in order not to be outdone by the common areas.

If not for the different size windows and non-vented dryers, I am in the edge of getting one studio for myself. I will have to count my cash again... $1.. $2... $3....

[Domoarigato]

Just one more comment. The Shvo sales office really shines. The interior feels like a couture boutique in Milan. Plasma screens everywhere with avant-garde euro music in the background. The entire Italian motif from the wood kitchen paneling, black Brazilian wood flooring, stone quartz, and rain shower on bathrooms were designed in a very streamlined and minimalist fashion. I think key to the whole setup is the selective and focused lighting.

I have to hand it to the Shvo sales people; they are very courteous and professional.

[newamsterdam]

I recently purchased at the Orion, however I'm know people who work for the developer at 20 Pine...
i will not recommand them, they use non union workers to build and are very very slow to turn over apartment to move in. Has anyone heard from the Broad street project, if you remember that construction started there over 3 years ago, any renovation job taking that long I will be worried about.

I also hear the elevators at Broad street we renovated however they kept the OLD rails, the elevators shake going up and down...

[bigkdc]

I recently purchased at the Orion, however I'm know people who work for the developer at 20 Pine...
i will not recommand them, they use non union workers to build and are very very slow to turn over apartment to move in. Has anyone heard from the Broad street project, if you remember that construction started there over 3 years ago, any renovation job taking that long I will be worried about.

I also hear the elevators at Broad street we renovated however they kept the OLD rails, the elevators shake going up and down...

If the developer is no good, STAY AWAY!!! Too many other places to spend your money...

[Domoarigato]

Abandoning the Paper Trail

Is it possible to buy a New York apartment without consuming an entire forest?


By S.Jhoanna Robledo (http://newyorkmetro.com/nymag/author_robledo)http://newyorkmetro.com/realestate/realestatecolumn/realestate060220_560.jpg
(Photo: Jeremy Liebman)


Michael Shvo has no use for clipboards. At 20 Pine Street, a prewar conversion in the financial district, Shvo—among the city’s most prominent condo marketers—has done away with familiar real-estate paraphernalia like folders, sell sheets, and, yes, the agent’s ubiquitous clipboard. Instead, layouts are displayed on a plasma TV, and client preferences are downloaded to PDAs. Buying a condo is as easy as pressing a button. “My grandparents had clipboards; God gave me the Palm pilot,” he says. “Whoever’s not innovative is going to fall behind.”


Leave it to Shvo—dubbed “the real-estate assassin” by ABC News—to throw down the paperless gauntlet. But many other proponents say it would be a boon in a city where buying and selling real estate can leave one swamped in legal-size photocopies. “In a typical transaction, you have to sign your name 63 times,” says Mike Edelhart, CEO of Inman News, a real-estate media entity that promotes the “paperless initiative.” “This cuts out unnecessary steps and saves time.” At 20 Pine, clients use swipe cards to register; inventory is constantly updated so they know right away if a unit is still available, and if they like it, it’s taken off the market immediately, triggering a contract to be printed within minutes. (Clients still have to sign on the dotted line, says Shvo, but at least they don’t have to endure weeks of paperwork ping-pong to go into contract. Down payments can be wired to a developer’s escrow account, further streamlining the process.)


For now, change is happening slowly. Few transactions are this high-tech because many of the necessary documents (like titles) aren’t available electronically. Most attorneys, building managers, and especially co-op boards are a long way from being ready to accommodate a paperless workflow. Besides, the law requires attorneys and mortgage representatives to be present for closings. But Owen Brunette, who bought an Upper East Side co-op last year through Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy’s Nancy Brennan, says it’s the way to go. “I travel a lot, and it’s a nuisance for me to deal with tons of paper,” says Brunette, a management consultant. His formal offer was submitted by e-mail using Coldwell Banker’s electronic template, and his board packet was assembled entirely by e-mail as well. “It was the smoothest, most uneventful deal I’d ever done,” says Brennan, with evident relief.

-- New York Magazine (Real Estate) --

[Domoarigato]

http://www.africa-israel.com/eng/inner.asp?id=1310&newsId=50&pageNum=2

[Peakrate212]

do we believe it? how do confirm...

[Peteynyc1]

I also hear the elevators at Broad street we renovated however they kept the OLD rails, the elevators shake going up and down...

I went to visit a friend who is moving into the Starck building this week. You are totally correct, those elevators shake bigtime! The cars may even be the original cars but with updated paneling. Pretty weak.

[precision80]

i was in the starck building yesterday and they are the old cars. the buttons in the elevators have tape over them and are re-numbered because there is a 13th floor on the old template.

[Domoarigato]

http://www.nypost.com/img/head/nyp_oe.gif (http://www.nypost.com/)

http://www.nypost.com/img/gossip/p6156x200.jpg


Article taken from Page Six Section of the New York Post Online:

Date: June 16, 2006

By: Richard Johnson with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson

KELLER SHELTER
PER Se owner/chef Thomas Keller now has a place in New York to hang his toque. California-based Keller just plunked down $1.5 million in the Armani Casa-designed building 20 Pine St. downtown. He's now neighbors with Nancy and Sid Ganis, head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who paid $2.1 million for a two-bedroom apartment and half that for a one-bedroom in the same building (for guests). Meanwhile, radio psychiatrist Joy Browne paid a whopping $4.5 million for the penthouse.

[bigkdc]

http://www.nypost.com/img/head/nyp_oe.gif (http://www.nypost.com/)

http://www.nypost.com/img/gossip/p6156x200.jpg


Article taken from Page Six Section of the New York Post Online:

Date: June 16, 2006

By: Richard Johnson with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson

KELLER SHELTER
PER Se owner/chef Thomas Keller now has a place in New York to hang his toque. California-based Keller just plunked down $1.5 million in the Armani Casa-designed building 20 Pine St. downtown. He's now neighbors with Nancy and Sid Ganis, head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who paid $2.1 million for a two-bedroom apartment and half that for a one-bedroom in the same building (for guests). Meanwhile, radio psychiatrist Joy Browne paid a whopping $4.5 million for the penthouse.


celebs? that is a real stretch...

[jeffpark]

Leviev buys building at 111 FULTON without Boymelgreen

from todays NY Times.

"A Partnership Evolves
THE Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev and the Brooklyn (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/brooklyn/?inline=nyt-geo)-based developer Shaya Boymelgreen have teamed up for some high-profile residential projects since they first became partners in 2002.
Now, acting through his holding company, Africa Israel, Mr. Leviev has made his first significant move here without Mr. Boymelgreen, buying 111 Fulton Street, a commercial building at the corner of William Street in Lower Manhattan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo), which he plans to convert to condominiums.
But Mr. Leviev said the venture did not indicate differences with Mr. Boymelgreen. "Our relationship is very good with Mr. Boymelgreen," Mr. Leviev said last month during a visit to 20 Pine Street, one of the financial district buildings that he and Mr. Boymelgreen are converting to condos.
The partners have also worked together on the conversion of 15 Broad Street and 60 Spring Street, as well as in the construction of new condo buildings in TriBeCa, downtown Brooklyn and Dumbo. They also have ambitious projects under way in Miami and Las Vegas.
Mr. Leviev said he had other partners in the Fulton Street project but would not say who they were. Records filed with the Department of Buildings, however, give the names of two partners: Joseph Klaynberg, a developer, and Ricky Cohen, whose family owns the Conway Stores chain.
Those documents, filed on June 6 by the architect Karl Fischer, call for nine stories to be added to the existing eight-story building. But Dan Avidan, the head of finance for Africa Israel, said on Wednesday that plans had been scaled back and now only two stories would be added.
A deed filed with the city says the sale price of 111 Fulton Street was $21.8 million. But Mr. Avidan said the company had paid $59 million for the building and he was not sure why the deed showed a lower price.
Mr. Boymelgreen said he and Mr. Leviev had been working under a five-year agreement that required him to offer any new projects exclusively to Africa Israel. That expires next year. "The relationship is a beautiful relationship, but we're not married for life; we're married for five years," he said. He said they would continue to work together for several years on a number of projects, like a planned condo complex on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.
He also sounded a note of caution on the New York market, saying he had been reluctant to start more new condo projects here. "I didn't buy for a while, maybe more than a year and a half, anything in condos in New York because it's a little bit overbuilt."
Instead he has begun to focus on markets he considers undervalued, like Israel, where he is completing the $500 million acquisition of Azorim, a company that develops condos and houses."

[Domoarigato]

Taken from Urbandigs.com
June 19, 2006 Better Act Fast in the Financial District!
Posted by Toes at 08:56 AM (http://www.urbandigs.com/2006/06/better_act_fast.html) | Comments (0) (http://www.urbandigs.com/2006/06/better_act_fast.html#comments) | TrackBack (0) (http://www.urbandigs.com/2006/06/better_act_fast.html#trackbacks)
The Financial District has become increasingly popular for recent graduates moving to NYC to work on Wall street. They know they will be putting in insane hours as first year analysts at companies such as Deutche Bank, so they want to live as close to work as possible. Most of the new luxury rentals in the Financial District are also paying the broker's fee, which allows recent grads to use their relocation bonuses towards the already high costs of moving to Manhattan.

http://www.urbandigs.com/crest-nyc.jpg (http://www.crestnyc.com/default.aspx)
Matt, a 2006 college graduate, came into town last Tuesday to find a studio under $2,000 in the financial district for a July 1st move-in. 100 Maiden Lane (http://100maidenlane.com/) had 6 studios available on Friday, but on Tuesday, they were all gone. Cheapest studio? $2,225. Monday afternoon, 45 Wall St (http://45wall.com/)had 3 studios available but Tuesday morning they called me to cancel our appointment. Between 10am and 12 noon, all 3 studios were rented.
A John Street building and a Gold street building had studios for $1750 - $2000, but lacked any amenities, and weren't paying the broker fee. Despite the appealing rent, the buildings just weren't as nice as the luxury "fee-paying" buildings. When you amortized the fee into the rent, you could live in a much nicer and newer building for the same price.
63 Wall (http://crestnyc.com/), "The Crest," had one $2,025 studio for July 1 that Matt liked. We headed to 90 West and found a possibility there. An hour later, we went back to take the studio at 63 Wall Street, but it had just been rented. We went to 90 West Street (http://90weststreet.com/) to take Matt's second favorite apartment, but it had JUST been rented also! Matt put in an application in the nick of time for his third choice, an apartment for $2,005 at The Crest. With nothing left for July 1st, Matt had to take an apartment for August 1st, and will be sleeping on a friend's couch for his first 5 weeks as an analyst in NYC.
As a broker, I know that the vacancy rates in the Financial District have gone back to what they were before 9/11. But even I wasn't prepared that the 12 options available to Matt on Monday afternoon would be gone Tuesday afternoon. Studios were literally disappearing before our eyes.
The financial district is considered one of the last few places in Manhattan where you can get a "good deal." But if apartments in this area keep flying off of the shelf the way they are right now, you won't see buildings paying the broker's fee for much longer.
The new condo buildings and condo conversions going up in the neighborhood, (20 Pine (http://www.20pine.com/), The Cipriani Residences (http://www.ciprianiresidences.com/), Five Nine John Lofts (http://fiveninejohnlofts.com/), the Downtown Club (http://www.trophycondo.com/stix.html), and Cocoa Exchange (http://www.cocoany.com/), just to name a few) will bring thousands of new residents to the area, as well as new stores, bars, and restaurants. Anyone who wants to take advantage of one of the last few "good deals" on the island of Manhattan - luxury rental buildings that pay the broker's fee - better get in soon, before all of the "deals" are gone!
For additional information about the financial district's rebirth, check out:
The Real Deal (http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/NOVEMBER_2005/1130893480.php)
Miller Samuel (http://www.millersamuel.com/articles/gallery-view.php?ViewNode=1121006424cbmzv&Record=6&Offset=6)

[Domoarigato]

Wealthy Residents and Retailers
Head Downtown to Wall Street

By Ryan Chittum
From The Wall Street Journal Online (http://www.wsj.com/wsjgate?source=homesite&URI=/)
Is Wall Street becoming the new Fifth Avenue?
Drawn by some of the country's wealthiest households, a daytime work force that is doing even better, a bevy of swank condominium projects and relatively low commercial rents, blue-chip retailers are for the first time beginning to covet the street synonymous with money. Last week venerable jeweler Tiffany & Co. said it is bringing its trademark blue boxes to the neighborhood of the New York Stock Exchange. That followed Paris fashion house Hermès's disclosure earlier this year that it would open a store across from the Big Board.
For now, the upscale retailers are focused in the immediate vicinity of the stock exchange at 11 Wall St. But retailers and developers who have watched a surge of luxury condos open in Lower Manhattan over the past three years believe the announcements could be the beginning of a broader transformation as high-dollar retailers follow their high-rolling customers downtown.
Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and sales at Prudential Douglas Elliman, says she has a dozen luxury-retail clients that have begun looking in the financial district in the past six months, including a "very big Italian shoe company and a French perfumery that are in negotiations now. They haven't put their toes in the water; they've put their arms and legs."
"Luxury is going to own the financial district by the end of this year," she adds.
The south side of Wall Street from the exchange to the East River is almost all residential now or being converted to it. The fusty former headquarters of J.P. Morgan is being converted into Downtown by Philippe Starck, where condo units go for a minimum of $1.2 million. The new Hermès is moving into the first floor. Tiffany will set up shop next door at 37 Wall Street at the base of the former Trust Co. of America building, now being turned into luxury apartments.
Down the street model Naomi Campbell, actor Bruce Willis and movie producer Harvey Weinstein are moving into the former 55 Wall Street, which once housed the stock exchange, last was a luxury hotel and now is being souped up as the pricey Cipriani Club Residences. Last week real-estate broker Dolly Lenz flew to London to host a lunch for the Duchess of York and 80 of her closest friends -- to promote the Duchess's coming book and to help sell luxury condos at 55 Wall Street. By the end of a seven-hour event that also included breakfast, tea and cocktails, Ms. Lenz sold two luxury apartments at the building to friends of the Duchess.
Even without royal friends, Lower Manhattan has among the best demographics in the country: A residential population with median household income of $87,000 -- roughly twice the New York City average -- and more of that income to spend because 81% have no children, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York, a nonprofit group representing business and property owners. Defying expectations after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the population of Lower Manhattan, south of Chambers Street, has swelled to more than 36,000 from 20,000 before terrorists brought down the Twin Towers.
"It's an ideal place for high-end retailers," says Carl Weisbrod, president of Trinity Real Estate and a former head of the Downtown Alliance.
Add to that the 311,000 workers who spend most of their weekdays in the area, and retailers have an underserved market. About 212,000 of the workers downtown are private-sector office workers who make $136,500 on average. Just yesterday BearingPoint Inc. announced that it will locate 633 workers in the World Financial Center, a major downtown office complex owned by Brookfield Properties Corp., in exchange for up to $3.1 million in state and city subsidies.
Those well-paid workers already have fueled strong starts for BMW AG and Hickey Freeman, an upscale men's wear store, which both opened stores near the stock exchange last year. "Since we opened in September of last year, we have been building our client base faster than anticipated with repeat customers, and exceeding our planned sales goals," says Paulette Garafalo, group president of Hickey Freeman and Bobby Jones.
That doesn't surprise Alan Napack, director of retail services at New York-based commercial real-estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield Inc. "A guy just made that $2 billion deal, why not head down to BMW and pick up a couple of 745s?" he asks.
Luxury retailers also are attracted by the much lower rents downtown. Fifth Avenue rents have reached $1,400 a square foot, compared with $38 for space in the average American mall and $60 to $225 in Lower Manhattan.
Still, the question remains: Is this enough to make the financial district the next frontier for Manhattan luxury retail? SoHo once seemed like the likely successor to Fifth Avenue, but luxury retailers have had mixed success there, says Ms. Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman.
For all its riches, Wall Street has never been a retail center, says John Steele Gordon, a historian and author of "The Great Game," a history of Wall Street. Once a fashionable place to live -- when George Washington gave the first Inaugural Address there in 1789, Wall Street was lined with the houses of the rich and famous -- the street became a financial hub within decades.
Today, while Fifth Avenue has Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Bergdorf Goodman, Wall Street has small personal-service outlets including a tanning salon, a shoe-repair shop and a fitness center.
Since Sept. 11, Wall Street has been mostly blocked off to cars and pedestrians must negotiate a maze of security precautions. It will need to continue to make itself look less fortress-like if the city wants to draw shoppers to the area.
Perhaps the biggest unknown downtown is the redevelopment of the World Trade Center retail space, which had been located under the Twin Towers. At least 500,000 square feet -- about half the size of an average shopping mall -- of retail space is planned for the three new WTC buildings and a train station on Church Street.
But much will depend on the configuration of the new space, which still must be negotiated by World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Westfield Group, which controlled the WTC retail space before Sept. 11 and maintains a legal "right of first offer" on any new retail development there. Westfield is likely to exercise that right, says a person familiar with the company. The World Trade Center mall was one of the highest grossing retail spaces in the world, bringing in sales of $900 a square foot, then more than triple the national average.
After the Sept. 11 attacks slowed growth downtown, government subsidies helped lure residents and corporations back downtown in the years following the attacks and the residential population has jumped by 61% since 2001. To serve that rising clientele, Bobby Van's Steakhouse opened last year, and after a three year hiatus, Harry's, a Wall Street institution, just reopened with a cafe and a steakhouse in India House.
"The retail community recognizes the buying power in Lower Manhattan and isn't waiting for some of the larger things to happen," says Eric Deustch, head of the Downtown Alliance.
For Tiffany, it is a homecoming of sorts, and the move tracks the evolution of New York itself, says Mr. Gordon, the historian. Its first store opened on Broadway just around the corner from Wall Street in 1837, but as the city's population exploded and the fashionable neighborhoods gradually moved uptown, Tiffany followed, first to Union Square, then to 37th Street and finally to its current store at 57th and Fifth Avenue in 1940.
Hillary Smith, an assistant at trading-floor firm Bear Wagner Specialists LLC, which has offices in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street, says the new stores will make her job easier. "A lot of times we have to go to Tiffany's, and we get the car service and go all the way uptown" to get personalized gifts for clients, she says. It will also be good for some of her co-workers, Ms. Smith adds. "They always forget their wives' birthdays."
http://www.realestatejournal.com/images/buyingselling/20060629-chittum.gif

[Domoarigato]

Construction Update: 09/07/06

[Domoarigato]

More Construction Pics

[bigkdc]

What's the update? I don't really see anything of note in these pics

[Peteynyc1]

There is nothing to see, its a CONVERSION :D

[Domoarigato]

Looks like the east side of 20 Pine is getting a few new windows. I've counted about 50. Looks like construction is humming along nicely. Anybody with updates?

[Peakrate212]

Have sales slowed to a crawl?

[Domoarigato]

All Benefits are not created equal:

It's time to shindig at 20 Pine. LMCC Benefit:"Games People Play" Nov. 8, 2006 at 6pm.

http://www.lmcc.net/us/benefits/benefit2006.11.8/index.html

This looks like another Grand Party sponsored by the LMCC. Please be generous.

[pinnacle123]

Dropped by last week to take a look at the apts. There are about 160 apts occupied. Some of the lofts are going for less $750 per sf and the 2+ bedrooms are around $1,000 per sf.. That's cheap? I've also noticed a greater amount of apts on sale at 15 Broad... Are the re-sellers getting worried? Fire sale??

[Front_Porch]

15 Broad has 326 apartments, and it looks like about 40 are for sale, not an unusual percentage for new construction where there may have been some speculative interest.

In my experience, those sellers are pretty sophisticated, and if they're not getting their price on a sale, they'll just rent and hold -- especially downtown, where the bet is the neighborhood improves as the Freedom Tower goes up, a new elementary school goes in, etc.

So if you want a "fire sale deal" on that building, you're probably more likely to get it by negotiating a favorable term for a two-year lease than for a purchase.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[Domoarigato]

Article from Multi-Housing News: www.multi-housingnews.com (http://www.multi-housingnews.com)

Apollo Real Estate Advisors Provides $90M Loan for Luxury Condo Community

By Kelly Sheehan, Online News Editor

NOVEMBER 16, 2006 -- New York -- Apollo Real Estate Advisors’ debt investment fund, Apollo Real Estate Finance Corp. (AREFIN), has provided $90 million in mezzanine financing for 20 Pine, a 38-story building located in Manhattan’s financial district that is being converted into luxury condominiums. The building, built in 1928 and designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Architects, was the former headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank.

AREFIN’s loan was part of the planned second-stage financing of the project and will repay existing acquisition mezzanine financing and a portion of the renovation costs. AREFIN structured and underwrote the $90-million financing, syndicating a $45-million senior participation interest and retaining the $45-million subordinate portion of the loan.

The New York-based Leviev Boymelgreen Developers and Gruzen Samton LLP, a local architecture firm, began the renovation in July of 2005. Armani/Casa has provided the interior design of the building. Upon completion in the summer of 2007, 20 Pine will consist of 408 units. More than 60 percent of the residences are currently sold.

Units will feature 10-ft. ceilings, ebony-stained hardwood floors, high-end wooden cabinetry, stone countertops and oversized windows offering views of the Hudson River. Select residences will have terraces.

Residents will have access to a library, rooftop terrace, pool, spa, yoga studio, golf simulation room by Full Swing Golf, billiards room, club lounge with health bar, fitness facility and concierge services from Quintessentially, an international firm. Subway transportation will be directly accessible from the building.

Neighboring tenants will include Delmonico’s Steak House, Bobby Van’s Steak House, BMW Showroom, Brasserie Les Halles, Bull Run Restaurant, and Tiffany and Co.

Copyright 2005 Multi-Housing News

[Domoarigato]

Article from Yahoo Finance:

Apollo Fund Finances New York Residential Development

Wednesday November 15, 10:06 am ET


NEW YORK, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Apollo Real Estate Advisors' debt investment fund Apollo Real Estate Finance Corporation (AREFIN) has provided $90 million in mezzanine financing for the 20 Pine-The Collection residential development.

AREFIN's financing for 20 Pine was part of the planned second stage financing of the project and will repay existing acquisition mezzanine financing and fund a portion of the cost of renovation. AREFIN structured and underwrote the $90 million financing, syndicating a $45 million senior participation interest while retaining the $45 million subordinate portion of the loan.

"This financing exemplifies the tailored financing solutions and transitional assets that are the focus of AREFIN's lending efforts," said Bradford Wildauer, Apollo partner.

Apollo formed AREFIN in 2006 to expand its lending and debt investment activities. Leveraging Apollo's real estate investment expertise, AREFIN provides customized single-source and subordinate financing solutions for clients with complex needs.

Located in the financial district of Manhattan, 20 Pine is a 38 story building that was formerly the headquarters for Chemical Bank. The building is being converted to 408 luxury residential condominiums by Leviev Boymelgreen Developers. Renovation of the building began in July 2005 while condominium presales commenced in January 2006 and to date sales contracts have been executed for more than 60% of the residential units.
"20 Pine is among the premier residential developments in lower Manhattan. The excellent pace of sales is a testament to the quality of the project and the expertise of Leviev Boymelgreen," added William McCahill, Apollo partner.

[Wispro]

Is the building still scheduled for completion in June 2007? Anyone have the latest sales figures? I read somewhere that it was 70% sold but can't confirm this.

[mumbles]

any update on pricing? do they require 10% and 10%?

[Domoarigato]

Young Brokers: Spend Big, Michael Shvo Advises

By JAY AKASIE (http://www.nysun.com/authors/Jay+Akasie)
Special to the Sun
March 1, 2007

It's difficult to imagine a time in the New York (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=New+York) real estate world when Michael Shvo (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Michael+Shvo) was an outsider who made a living renting small studio apartments for Prudential Douglas Elliman (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Prudential+Douglas+Ellima n+Real+Estate). His first year as a real estate salesman, he rented 300 apartments in 365 days.

These days, Mr. Shvo is a hot commodity. The 35-year-old Israeli immigrant spoke at Esther Muller's Real Estate Academy yesterday to a room filled with power brokers paying to hear how he has redefined the marketing practices of Manhattan (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Manhattan)'s top properties. Two years ago he founded Shvo Marketing, a firm that caters to young, affluent audiences who he claims are changing the face of high-end real estate sales.

Mr. Shvo said that when he would flip through real estate sections in newspapers, he would see an interior photo of a kitchen, a photo of a steel and glass exterior, and — inevitably — a smiling couple. He began to wonder how such a cheesy, cut-and-paste advertising philosophy sold anything, not to mention high-profile luxury properties.

"I don't need somebody telling me an apartment has granite countertops," Mr. Shvo said. "Every luxury apartment has granite countertops. I want to be told that my apartment is about Jade Jagger (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Jade+Jagger) or Giorgio Armani (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=Giorgio+Armani) and the kind of lifestyle that's associated with these designers."

"My head of marketing used to be the head of marketing for Brioni suits," he said. "That's why we produce things that don't look like real estate products."

One of his best-known projects is 20 Pine Street, once a drab office building in Lower Manhattan. Over the past few years, this white-brick building has morphed into an Armani-designed showplace. The crowd Mr. Shvo is interested in attracting consists of what he calls "greenbloods": young, hip people with money to burn but without stodgy social hang-ups that might be held by their "blueblood" counterparts.

Spending marketing funds wisely might more important than ever: Of the three million apartments in Manhattan, only a fraction are condos and co-ops, according to Mr. Shvo. " New York is a rental market. There's huge room to expand in the condo market," he said.

"My office on Fifth Avenue overlooks the Louis Vuitton (http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=LVMH+Moet+Hennessy+Louis+ Vuitton+SA) store," he said to the class of brokers and salesmen. "It probably has $5 million in inventory, yet Louis Vuitton likely spent $30 million to create the flagship store. Now when you consider there's a half-billion in inventory at 20 Pine Street, why would the extent of your investment be a small model of the project on a conference table?"

Mr. Shvo said the demand for unique properties would never let up. That's why he said quality buildings and marketing campaigns are crucial for luxury real estate brokers.

"A few years ago, everybody was investing in real estate because it was the trendy thing to do. Now everybody wants to be a developer, which is a dangerous thing. A lot of projects — two I'm thinking of specifically — are going to go bust," he said.

[bigkdc]

"A few years ago, everybody was investing in real estate because it was the trendy thing to do. Now everybody wants to be a developer, which is a dangerous thing. A lot of projects — two I'm thinking of specifically — are going to go bust," he said.


I wonder which two he is talking about? Any stats on how 20 pine is doing?

[Peteynyc1]

^^ Probably the Gramery by Starck hehe

[Front_Porch]

Gotta love Michael -- like many great salespeople, he thinks that selling is fun!

20 Pine appears to be rolling along. Looks like many of the 1-BRs went. There are still some available big, higher-end studios (1,000 square feet for around $900K) and some 1,800 square foot lofts that are listed around $2.5M.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[chan_2001]

Are you kidding? Shvo is the sales/marketing agent for Gramercy Star.. why would he think that it will go bust?

[Peteynyc1]

Yes I was kidding.

[Domoarigato]

Article from the New York Post Online: Page Six TM By. Richard Johnson with Paula Froelich and Bill Hoffmann and Corynne Steindler - Oct. 5, 2007

October 4, 2007 -- JENNIFER Aniston has snatched up an apartment at 20 Pine, The Collection - the Armani/Casa-designed condo building in the Financial District that used to house Chase Manhattan Bank offices. Apartments there are priced as high as $4 million. Aniston's so excited about her purchase, a building insider says she's been bribing workmen to take her up in the construction elevator so she can repeatedly check out her pad.

[Front_Porch]

aargh! I can't believe a celeb bought in FiDi and I wasn't there to expedite it!

Anybody know who the broker was?

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[bigkdc]

Article from the New York Post Online: Page Six TM By. Richard Johnson with Paula Froelich and Bill Hoffmann and Corynne Steindler - Oct. 5, 2007

October 4, 2007 -- JENNIFER Aniston has snatched up an apartment at 20 Pine, The Collection - the Armani/Casa-designed condo building in the Financial District that used to house Chase Manhattan Bank offices. Apartments there are priced as high as $4 million. Aniston's so excited about her purchase, a building insider says she's been bribing workmen to take her up in the construction elevator so she can repeatedly check out her pad.


wow - that is prety amazing. i would think she would get a much bigger place (don't think there is anything there that big)

[Tectonic]

20 Pine, in a Canyon.

12/15/2007

https://community.emporis.com/images/6/2007/12/578488.jpg

https://community.emporis.com/images/6/2007/12/578490.jpg