Bloomberg: Fortress Looking To Float $4.7 Bln Bid For Stuyvesant Town Complex

(RTTNews) - New York-based buyout firm Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) is looking to float a $4.7 billion bid to acquire the Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in New York, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg report also revealed that tenants at the complex are also looking to put together a bid for the property and are said to be working with Brookfied Asset Management, Inc. (BAM).

Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, Manhattan's largest apartment complex, is set on an 80-acre property that has more than 11,200 apartments between 14th and 23rd Streets on the east side of Manhattan. It is the largest and most unique residential community in Manhattan, New York City.

The giant New York apartment complex is currently owned by CWCapital Asset Management LLC, a subsidiary of Fortress. CWCapital had recently indicated that a sale is likely later this year or in 2015.

CWCapital took over Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village in 2010 after previous owners Tishman Speyer Properties LP and BlackRock, Inc. (BLK) defaulted on $3 billion mortgage loans following their record $5.4 billion purchase of the complex in November 2006 from Metlife, Inc. (MET).

It was the largest commercial mortgage default in U.S. history. Tishman Speyer Properties gave up control of the properties by handing the complex to creditors in January 2010, thereby avoiding a bankruptcy of the site.

CWCapital is currently in negotiations with parent company Fortress to sell the property.

CWCapital is said to have confirmed in an email that the sale through a foreclosure process will have no impact on the residents or on property operations.

The Bloomberg report states that Stuyvesant Town was appraised at $3.4 billion in September, according to Barclays Plc (BCS), higher than the about $2.8 billion when CWCapital took it over in 2010. Barclays estimated in early May that a sale of the property could fetch $4 billion to $4.3 billion.

FIG closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $7.03, up $0.06 or 0.86% on a volume of 2.11 million shares.