The Flatiron Building is still up for grabs after auction winner fails to make deposit

2023-03-28T17:20:00-04:00

Ownership of Manhattan’s iconic Flatiron Building is still up in the air after the surprise winning bidder at last week’s auction failed to follow through on a $19 million deposit that would have guaranteed his sole ownership of the building, which has been vacant for years.

Last week, the private equity firm known as Abraham Trust came out on top of a whirlwind auction that was initiated as part of a lawsuit brought against the building’s minority owner, Nathan Silverstein, by his partners to determine who takes over the sole controlling stake and can therefore decide its future.

As reported by the Commercial Observer, the firm subsequently missed the deadline to make its required 10% deposit on the property it bought for $190 million by Friday. This will set off a ripple effect, as the partnership that originally brought the suit and placed second in the auction is apparently declining its option to make the purchase at their final bid of $189.5 million. The result of their decisi...

TIC townhouses are taking over Los Angeles — but who can actually afford them?

2022-03-23T12:45:00-04:00

An L.A. developer has a new approach to the so-called tenancy-in-common, or TIC, model, in which residents share ownership of the property. Instead of converting old, rent-controlled buildings into TIC properties, the developer is replacing single-family homes with new townhomes. Some real estate experts said the model could help the region’s gaping affordable-housing problem, particularly after a new state law opened more areas to similar development.

S.B. 9 allows for up to four units to be built on plots formerly reserved for single-family developments exclusively. Since the bill was enacted, many investors have begun to demolish single-family units in order to construct the newer TIC model of townhouses, which was supposedly pioneered by a developer called B&A Group.

The actual product of the new buildings, and whether or not their typically under-market rate but restrictive $700,0000–$800,000 price tags are in the end going to displace working-class residents living in cheaper rental units in LA neighborhoods like West Adams is a major concern for people like neighborhood council president Steven Meeks.

“Cheaper for who?” he told the LA Times of costs, which would fall under the category of a mansion in many other places. “What person in this neighborhood is going to afford that?”

...

Archinect - News

The Flatiron Building is still up for grabs after auction winner fails to make deposit

TIC townhouses are taking over Los Angeles — but who can actually afford them?