The US Postal Service has be come a deadbeat.
The Post Office has stopped paying common charges at two of its Manhattan locations and the respective condominium boards have now been forced to place liens on the locations.
The largest amount owed is nearly $59,000 to the Lincoln Square Condominium, located at 111 W. 67th Street. The agency also owes the London Terrace Towers condo association more than $24,000 for space that sits on Tenth Avenue between West 23rd and West 24th streets.
According to public documents, the amount owed to Lincoln covers missed payments from Nov. 1 of last year to March 1 of this year that amount to more than $11,700 a month. The Post Office bought the unit for $9.8 million in 1994 in the then-new building.
At London Terrace, the amount in arrears dates back to June 1, 2007. At first, the Post Office was on the hook for a mere $636.66 a month, but that figure rose to $706.80 for 2008 and 2009 before slipping to $680.64 for 2010.
Attorney Steven Sladkus of Wolf Haldenstein Freeman Adler & Herz, which represents the London Terrace board said, “One would hope that the United States Post Office would abide by its obligations to pay common charges.”
Sladkus said it took three years to file the lien because “it finally became worthwhile to pursue the action with counsel.”
Two Post Office spokespeople were incredulous that the charges had not been paid.
“Our money is good as gold and we don’t pay stamps — we pay in cash for this. I don’t know what is going on,” said a spokesman in Washington.
No answer was immediately uncovered by the Post Office spokeswoman who works in New York.
Lincoln Square’s lawyer did not return calls by press time.
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Jones Apparel Group just signed a giant 380,000 square foot renewal that includes an expansion of more than 80,000 square feet at 1411 Broadway.
Jones had been searching the market but decided to remain after the owners worked with it on rejiggering the floors and providing opportunities to expand in the future.
The economics for the deal shook out in the $40s per square foot, while upper floors get in the $50s and $60s per square foot.
The company is currently spread over numerous floors including the third, 15th, 17th through 22nd, 27th, 32nd, 34th, 37th and 39th.
Under the terms of the new deal, they will restack within the building to occupy the 3rd through 5th floors, 15th through 22nd floors and 32nd and 37th floors. While the 15-year deal starts in May 2012, Jones will be able to take over some of the new floors sooner.
The CB Richard Ellis team of Rob Martin and Amanda Bokman negotiated for the fashion house directly with owners Blackstone and Swig.
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Scott Rechler‘s RXR Realty signed a deal to buy a 49 percent stake of 340 Madison Ave. from D.E. Shaw Group.
The $279.3 million transaction, which was announced yesterday after a month of rumors, revalues the building at $570 million.
RXR will also take the lead on running the building and replacing a $400 million mortgage. Broadway Partners retains its 51 percent stake in the building.
Sources say RXR’s original partner, Ohio State Teachers Retirement System, dropped out.
Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan of CB Richard Ellis marketed the property.
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Another school is staking out a slice of downtown.
The Mildred Elley School has just leased 42,000 square feet at 25 Broadway, which is also home to the Claremont Preparatory School.
Harry L. Krausman of Cassidy Turley represented Empire Education Corp., the Albany-based parent company of the school, in the 15-year lease. The asking rent was $35 per square foot.
Building owner The Wolfson Group was represented in-house by Eli Levitan, along with Bruce Surrey of CB Richard Ellis.
The new Manhattan location will house the School of Health and Wellness Professions of Mildred Elley.
In the city it will offer an associate’s degree in occupational studies for medical assistants and certificate programs for practical nurses, clinical medical assistants and medical office assistants.
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Komar Co. is expanding to occupy a total of 58,087 square feet at 16 E. 34th Street.
The company already occupies the ninth and 10th floors of the 34th Street location as well as space at another address. In this deal, Komar takes over the entire eighth floor, which is more than 19,000 square feet.
“The timing worked so they could expand,” said Gregg Lorberbaum, a partner with Centric Real Estate Advisors, which repre sented the sleepwear manufacturer.
Larry Swiger of SL Green Realty Corp. worked on the deal in-house for the owners. [email protected]
