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Rival Stuyvesant Town Investors End Legal Battle, Clearing Way for Tenants to Buy Apartments

By Patrick Hedlund | October 27, 2010 7:05pm
The Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex covers 80 acres on Manhattan's East Side.
The Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex covers 80 acres on Manhattan's East Side.
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AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

MANHATTAN — The ongoing litigation between rival investors in Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village finally concluded Tuesday, allowing the property's senior lenders to move forward with a much-anticipated takeover of the 11,000-unit complex.

CW Capital, the company representing the complex's senior debt holders, reportedly settled its ongoing legal battle with junior investor Pershing Square Winthrop, which had purchased a key piece of debt in the property before failing to execute its own takeover bid.

CW Capital reportedly agreed to pay back the $45 million Pershing Square Winthrop bought in debt at the complex, clearing the way for an ambitious conversion process that would allow tenants to buy their apartments or stay on as renters.

CW Capital previously stated its intention to work with residents toward a tenant-led buyout of the 56-building complex, which sits on 80 acres along Manhattan's East Side and contains about 25,000 tenants.

An attorney for CW Capital said that the settlement gives the lender "complete flexibility" and "complete control" over the property's fate, Bloomberg reported.

Many questions still linger over the future of the property, but the settlement will at least allow CW Capital to being negotiating directly with tenants.

"We are pleased that CW Capital can now move forward with the tenants on this restructuring, and we expect them to work responsibly and in good faith with the residents of this community," read a statement from City Councilman Dan Garodnick, a lifelong resident of Peter Cooper Village who represents the area.

"The tenants will be central in any discussion, and it is important for that to take place without the cloud of further legal wrangling among the creditors."

The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association will hold a meeting this Sat., Oct. 30, to discuss future plans for the complex.