POLO has renewed and expanded its showrooms at 25 W. 39th St. to a total of 48,780 feet. The space is the current outpost for Lauren Dresses.

When the dress division began two years ago, Polo had the seventh through ninth floors on a one-year deal, which was then stretched to two years. The new lease renews the existing space, and adds the sixth floor, an additional 13,116 square feet, for 15 more years. The asking rent was $55 a foot.

Polo was represented by a Studley team that included David Goldstein and Michael Leff. Christel Engel and Michael Thomas of FirstService Williams represented the owner, an entity of Joe Sitt‘s Thor Equities.

The fashion company has several other divisions in the area, but is particularly enamored of this building, a 1903 treasure that was previously owned by, and served as the headquarters for, Tommy Hilfiger.

Engel said that company put in around $56 million in upgrades and regularly refreshed and enhanced the showrooms.

Financier Andrew Carnegie funded the construction of the building as the headquarters for the Engineering Society of New York, which used it until it outgrew the property.

“It contains very distinctive architecture, and ceiling heights ranging from 12 to 20 feet,” said Engel. Other tenants now include Seven For All Mankind, Movado, and Turion.

*

The possible foreclosures on several large housing projects could lead to their eventual takeover by city government.

Last week, Speaker Christine Quinn suggested the city could cut deals for unsold condos, turning them into affordable rental units for middle-class families.

But the city has a better chance of glomming two Harlem projects that are already in dire straits, because private investors are leery of making investments in the current environment.

It’s still incredibly difficult to get financing for large transactions. Worse, the New York State legislature is threatening multi-family apartment investors with their plans to severely restrict and limit further vacancy decontrols and to claim more apartments under stabilization rules.

“You scare off investors and it becomes an unpredictable rent environment,” said Marolyn Davenport of the Real Estate Board of New York. “Property taxes and other revenue would also be reduced.”

*

The ownership of the 1,230 unit Riverton Houses in Harlem is being thrown into question as a Friday auction by the $25 million mezzanine noteholder, Realty Finance Group, is unlikely to attract private operators.

Loans on the property total $225 million, but the site was reappraised at $190 million. It was bought in 2005 for $131 million.

The former Delano Village, now known as Savoy Park, is another Harlem development in financial hot water.

The 1,802-unit project was purchased in 2006 by Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Vantage Properties for $175 million. It was soon refinanced and now has debt of $367.5 million, with a high default risk, according to ratings agency Realpoint.

Dan Fasulo of Real Capital Analyt ics said such prop erties will end up with the lenders.

“The question is, what kind of bath are they willing to take to sell them?” he said. [email protected]