The BroadsheetDAILY – 5/12/22 – Pair of Downtown Marquee Properties Seized by Lenders

The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

Dispossessed Edifices

A Pair of Downtown Marquee Properties Seized by Lenders

Above: A rendering for the super-tall tower once proposed for 80 South Street, a property that is now in foreclosure on its $175-million mortgage. Below: The tallest Holiday Inn in the world, located at 99 Washington Street, has been seized by a lender that is owed $187 million.

Two Lower Manhattan trophy properties have fallen into foreclosure and have been seized by creditors. In a story first published by the property industry newsletter, The Real Deal, China Oceanwide Holdings, the owner of the development lot at 80 South Street (in the South Street Seaport) has lost control of the parcel, which it purchased from the Howard Hughes Corporation for $390 million in 2016. Oceanwide lapsed into arrears earlier this year, when it skipped a $1.3 million payment on its mortgage. This spurred New York-based lender DW Partners to declare the entire $175-million note on the property in default, and to demand immediate payment of the full amount. Faced with this ultimatum, Oceanside was able to remit only $10 million. DW Partners then moved to seize possession of the property, according to documents filed last week with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where Oceanwide shares are traded.

As the date for the payment approached, China Oceanwide had scrambled to sell the property for $200 million. But there were no takers, even at the asking price of 48 percent lower than the original purchase.

This marks a dramatic reversal for China Oceanwide’s grand plans for 80 South Street (located between John Street and Maiden Lane), which once included a tower more than 1,400 feet tall, and was slated to include offices, apartments, a hotel, and retail space. Ground was never broken on that project, and China Oceanwide’s only significant activity related to the site appears to have consisted of taking out the loan (now in default) against the property shortly after purchasing it.

In a separate development, the world’s tallest Holiday Inn hotel, located at 99 Washington Street (on the corner of Rector Street) also defaulted on multiple notes since last August. Chinese developer Jubao Xie subsequently missed several payments on $87 million in debt secured by the property, which he was trying to sell for $187 million. This price also represented a steep discount from the $300 million asking price at which he tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the hotel in 2017. The missed payments led bank Wilmington Trust to foreclose in March on a $137 million loan, which was secured by the 50-story structure.

Matthew Fenton

Are you a fan of the Battery Park City Library? Let Mayor Adams and the New York City Council know with a letter of support by May 13, the date of the City’s budget hearing at which library funding will be debated.

Click here or on the image above to sign a pre-written letter of support. The Library is hoping for 25,000 signatures by May 13.

Alluvion Alarm

Federal Report Foresees Rising Water in Lower Manhattan

A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal scientific agency responsible for study of oceans, major waterways, and the atmosphere, predicts that Lower Manhattan will face increasingly frequent flooding in the decades to come.

‘A General Feeling of Neglect And Disrespect From the City’

Niou Allocates $20 Million for Asian Communities, Argues Against Proliferation of Shelters in Chinatown

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou, who represents Lower Manhattan in Albany, has secured $20 million in State funding for what she calls an Asian-American, Pacific Island Equity budget. Half of this allocation is earmarked specifically for confronting hate crimes, with the other half divided among a broad range of community organizations.

Amending the Authority

Niou and CB1 Push Longer Leases, Caps on Cost Hikes, and a Voice for Residents

State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou has introduced a pair of bills in the Albany legislature that closely track recent resolutions by Community Board 1 (CB1), and address a trio of issues that have long vexed local leaders.

CALENDAR

Thursday, May 12

1pm

History Battery Park

Tour of the urban vegetable farm and perennial forest farm, led by park staff. RSVP is required. Please note: this tour is intended for ages 13+. Free.

3pm

History Battery Park

Take a kid-friendly tour of The Battery Urban Farm to learn about how we grow produce in the heart of downtown New York City. Free.

6pm

Livestreamed

Agenda

6:30pm

6 River Terrace

In preparation for Giulietta e Romeo in June, all are welcome to brush up on your opera knowledge in a fun and interactive workshop led by Teatro Grattacielo. Familiarize yourself with the dramatic and musical aspects of the upcoming performance including the original story, musical style, stagecraft and characters. Free.

7pm

McNally Jackson, 4 Fulton Street

Book reading. In 15 masterful stories, Frederic Tuten entertains questions of existential magnitude, pervasive yearning, and the creative impulse.

8pm

Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers Street

Jack Kleinsinger’s “Highlights in Jazz” is New York City’s longest running jazz concert series. Tonight: Peter & Will Anderson (clarinet, sax), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Victor Lewis (drums), Ted Rosenthal (piano), James Chirillo (guitar), Brian Lynch (trumpet), plus surprise special guest! $50.

Friday, May 13

11am – 5pm

South Street Seaport Museum

On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, visit the exhibitions and the ships of the South Street Seaport Museum for free. At 12 Fulton Street, see “South Street and the Rise of New York” and “Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914,” and at Pier 16, explore the tall ship Wavertree and lightship Ambrose.

7pm-8:30pm

Wagner Park

Singer/songwriter Terre Roche leads this weekly singing program with the beautiful backdrop of the setting sun in NY Harbor. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned crooner, the singing circle is perfect for mellow melodies and healthy harmonizing.

7pm

6 River Terrace

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, BPCA presents Kikujiro (1999, Takeshi Kitano). Based on The Wizard of Oz, a young, naïve boy sets out alone to find his wayward mother. Soon he finds an unlikely protector in a crotchety man and the two have a series of unexpected adventures along the way. Free popcorn will be served, and a discussion will follow the screenings. This film is rated PG 13.

7:30pm

Concert at Pier 17. With special guest Adam Doleac.

Letter

To the editor,

Probably because my neighbor is a poet, I turned to poetry for the first time to express my feelings when, lately, I’ve faced the view in this photograph.

It is the last bit of sky visible from our home. Many, many floors of finished construction projects hide the rest. I’m sad to lose the sky, but I dwell on the flag that appeared recently. It means something very different for the crane operators than for me, I assume. They choose to suspend it above their work. As a historian of law and justice in this country, I find there has been, since my youth, a big change in my feelings toward the flag.

Thanks for providing a place to express them.

Elizabeth Hovey

To the Crane Controllers,

The red & blue I loved at first,

My hero saw lights in old North Church.

I embraced all states,

 the big birthday.

Soon, its principles eclipsed the lore;

The banner stood for something more.

To be born here was so lucky,

I gladly gave my loyalty.

Slowly, I learned what Langston saw,

A truth that sticks within one’s craw.

What matters most is equity,

The promise of fairness yet to be.

Now, wishing that truth had kept from harm

All those this flag made take up arms,

I weep that it did come to be

A threat to youth across the sea.

I would not leave the people here,

The ones whose dreams have brought them near.

You hoist it high, I see each morn,

Calling dreamers?

Or, to warn?

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Lower Manhattan Greenmarkets

Tribeca Greenmarket

Greenwich Street & Chambers Street

Wednesdays and Saturdays, 8am-3pm (compost program: Saturdays, 8am-1pm)

Bowling Green Greenmarket

Broadway & Whitehall St

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am-5pm (compost program: 8am-11am)

The Outdoor Fulton Stall Market

91 South Street, between Fulton & John Streets

Indoor market: Monday through Saturday,11:30am-5pm

CSA pick-up: Thursday, 4pm-6pm; Friday, 11:30-5pm

Outdoor market: Saturday 11:30am-5pm, May through Thanksgiving

Today in History

May 12

Subway graffit, in a shot from the mid 1970s. On this day in 1989, the last graffit-covered subway car was retired.

1835 – Charles Darwin visits copper mines in North Chile

1908 – Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield

1926 – Umberto Nobile flies airship over North Pole

1928 – Benito Mussolini ends woman’s rights in Italy

1932 – Body of kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell NJ

1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world’s first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1942 – Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River

1950 – The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-onlymembership restriction after 34 years.

1951 – First H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll

1963 – Bob Dylan walks out of the “Ed Sullivan Show”

1965 – Israel and West Germany exchange letters, beginning diplomatic relations

1978 – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.

1980 – First nonstop crossing of US via balloon (Maxie Anderson & son Chris)

1989 – Last graffiti-covered NYC subway car retired

1997 – Russia and Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict

2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming first U.S. President to visit the island since Castro’s

1959 revolution.

Births

1670 – Frederick Augustus I/ August II, the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (reputed to have sired 355 children) (d. 1733)

1812 – Edward Lear, poet, illustrator

1820 – Florence Nightingale, nurse

1889 – Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank

1907 – Katharine Hepburn, actress

1912 – Archibald Cox, U.S. Solicitor General (d. 2004)

1925 – Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, catcher/coach/manager (NY Yankees, Mets)

1936 – Frank Stella, American painter

1937 – George Carlin, Bronx, comedian (7 Dirty Words) (d. 2008)

1948 – Steve Winwood, musician

1968 – Tony Hawk, skateboarder

Deaths

1856 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)

1985 – Jean Debuffet, French painter/sculptor, dies

2008 – Robert Rauschenberg, American artist (b. 1925)

The Broadsheet Inc. eBroadsheet.com editor @ ebroadsheet.com ©2022 All Rights Reserved All photos © Robert Simko 2022 unless otherwise credited