Foreclosure Ruling in Hand, Stuy Town Heads to Auction Block

reprints


bletwin  3 Foreclosure Ruling in Hand, Stuy Town Heads to Auction BlockFour months after they started the process, the mortgage holders at Stuyvesant Town have received a judgement that permits foreclosure on the 11,200-apartment property.

The judge overseeing the $3 billion foreclosure in federal district court, Alvin Hellerstein, granted the motion to foreclose yesterday.

From Mr. Hellerstein’s ruling:

In their unopposed motion for summary judgment, Plaintiffs have established the existence of an obligation secured by a mortgage and the Borrower Defendants’ default on that obligation. Accordingly, Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment on their motion to foreclose on the Property.

The process is a slow one, but all thing told, the special servicer in charge of the mortgage, CW Capital, is working relatively swiftly.

“They’re moving very quickly on this,” said Harold Shultz, a senior fellow at the Citizens Housing and Planning Council who has been following the foreclosure and distressed residential properties citywide.

Of course, there are a few steps yet before the existing owners, a partnership led by Tishman Speyer, cedes the deed to CW Capital, the special servicer overseeing the foreclosure. The judge ordered an auction of the property, to be sold either as one chunk or two (with Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town sold separately). Should the auction proceed as did a recent foreclosure at Riverton Houses, CW Capital would presumably put in the high bid for the property (as it would simply be paying itself, and can bid more than its likely market value). 

ebrown@observer.com

92