So much for the mythical Boymelgreen Roadblock. Anyone who actually believed Shaya Boymelgreen earnestly intended to build a hotel near Pacific and Vanderbilt should read today’s New York Times (thanks sje for the tip): Developer Bruce Ratner is going to buy those two buildings (800 Pacific Street and 546 Vanderbilt Avenue) in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards project. Rival developer Boymelgreen had bought the buildings in August–August–and had “vowed to block” Ratner’s plans for the Atlantic Yards project, according to NYT.
So, let’s recap: Boymelgreen bought the property in August 2004, for $20 million, for no other reason than he thought it might be a nice place for a hotel. Eight months later, Ratner’s Forest City Ratner Companies agrees buy the buildings and pay $44 million to Boymelgreen’s development company. So, a difference of $22 million in 8 months, or a selling price 120% higher than the buying price.
BOYMELGREEN, the team player: “I’m not the one to block a big project that everybody wants to see going on.”
As Jack Krohn infamously remarked, “it’s a pretty rare occasion that a man as rich as Ratner does not get his way.” This latest “win-win” transaction shows that when two rich men square off, nobody actually has to lose. It’s a great day to be a multi-millionaire in New York!
Did anyone go/is anyone planning to go to this? The numbers almost work, and when the numbers almost work, that invariably means there is something wrong with the building, the location or the deal.