AIG Building Could Soon Be Luxury Condos

In an ironic twist of fate, New York’s AIG building at 70 Pine Street will soon be converted to luxury condos.  The developer, Young Woo of Youngwoo & Associates, purchased the downtown building in May 2008 for $150 million and plans to turn the top 40 stories of the 66-story building into luxury residences.

“If we can create that perfect trend lifestyle for this building, for our targeted audience, we are not afraid to achieve $2,000 a square foot,” Woo said.

Although, this may be an overly optimistic target, one thing is for sure: there will be an upside.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the conversion to residential condos could equate to a $600,000 profit for each unit sold, assuming $1,000 sq/ft. basis.

Rob Stevenson, an analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton, says that “any selling price north of $1,000 per square foot would drive more than $500 per square foot of pure profits (after selling costs) according to our educated ‘guestimates,’” .

The Art Deco building is the fifth tallest building in New York and had been owned by AIG since 1976 before changing ownership last year .

Billionaire Trying to Back Out of $25M Condo Deal

According to the NY Post, Canadian billionaire, Alex Shnaider, is trying to sneak his way out of $25 million condo purchase. Shnaider who has lost almost 70% of his net worth (down to $1.3 billion), had put down a $5 million deposit to buy the entire penthouse floor at The Brompton condos in the Upper East Side.

In an attempt to get his deposit back, Shnaider filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last month and claimed the Brompton’s developer, The Related Companies, misrepresented the penthouse views, the height of the floors and a promise of direct access to a street-level gym.

Shnaider, a Ukrainian immigrant, has commercial real estate projects in Ukraine and Russia and previously partnered with Donald Trump to build Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto.