According to this Wall Street Journal article from today, a major Manhattan apartment complex called Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town is in danger of defaulting. It’s market value in 2009 is now only half of the purchase price of $5.4 billion in 2006. The article warns that if this complex fails, it can create a major roadblock for America’s economic recovery. But why is it failing? Part of the answer is “a lawsuit that has hindered the owner’s ability to convert rent-controlled units to market rentals, and the debt load.” Evidently, the judicial branch of the government has instituted a policy that is preventing the apartment complex from doing business.
Currently, the investors of the apartment complex are trying to make deals for restructuring it’s debt. One of the major players for the restructuring talks is actually Singapore’s GIC. This shows once again how much influence foreign investors can have in America’s real estate market. Manhattan needs Singapore to stop its real estate from defaulting.
