Replies to post #9 on Trinity Place Holdings Inc (TPHS)

[Enterprising Investor]

FLAGSHIP MAKEOVER (4/29/08)

By James Covert

Off-price clothing retailer Syms quietly has taken steps to redevelop its flagship store in Manhattan’s financial district as a high-rise building, The Post has learned.

The Secaucus, NJ-based chain – which earlier this year was accused by some investors of scheming to take itself private in a bid to seize its own valuable real estate on the cheap – confirmed in city records that it’s looking to build a high-rise tower on the site of its four-story, 40,000-square-foot store at 42 Trinity Place.

In its annual 10-K filing late Friday, Syms said it has purchased “air rights” from a building adjacent to 42 Trinity Place for $3.1 million, without elaborating. But city records show that the development rights, purchased from the neighboring building at 44 Trinity, permit a building as big as 188,500 square feet and as high as 16 stories.

The air-rights deal was signed Dec. 28 by Syms’ then-chief financial officer and director, Antoine Moreia, records show. That was exactly a week after Syms first announced a controversial plan to delist its shares and “deregister” them, which would allow it to stop publicly reporting its finances to securities regulators. On Feb. 8, Moreia retired, and was replaced as financial chief by Philip Piscopo, Syms said in a securities filing.

“We believe the suspicious timing of the deregistration indicates the company was trying to avoid disclosure to minority shareholders,” said Martin Sklar, an attorney for Esopus Creek Advisors, an investment firm that in January had sued to block Syms’ effort to delist and deregister its shares. “We believe there’s a plan to redevelop that site and possibly several others.”

Syms CEO Marcy Syms, who together with her father, founder Sy Syms, owns 57 percent of the company’s stock, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But in the past she has said that the attempted delisting and deregistration – which spurred a big sell-off in the company’s shares – was a bid to cut the costs and hassles of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley. The effort was thwarted in February by a grassroots shareholder-registration campaign.

To further enlarge its plans for 42 Trinity Place, Syms could still purchase air rights from two other neighboring buildings – 46 Trinity and 67 Greenwich St. While Syms has made an “initial approach” to the owners of 46 Trinity, there are no current negotiations, sources said. The owner of 67 Greenwich declined to comment.

http://nypost.com/2008/04/29/flagship-makeover/

[Enterprising Investor]

Gas-Station Owner Cashes 'Lottery Ticket' (2/12/14)

Porcelli Family, Related Cos. Reach Deal for $200 Million Project

By Peter Slatin
Feb. 11, 2014 6:28 p.m. ET

Nearly 40 years ago during New York's financial crisis, Argentine immigrant Oscar Porcelli began buying gas-station locations in the region.

He paid $100,000 for a gritty property in the SoHo neighborhood across the street from the landmark Puck Building. "It was a lottery ticket," says his son, Marcello Porcelli, who has been involved with developing many of the properties his father bought. "And he hit a winner."

The Porcellis' company, LargaVista Cos., on Tuesday reached a deal with development giant Related Cos. to build an 83,000 square-foot building on the site. The seven-story project will cost $200 million and will include about 30,000 square feet of retail and 53,000 square feet of office space.

Jeff Blau, Related's chief executive, says the project won't break ground until Related leases the retail space. But he predicted that won't be hard, noting that big names including Crate & Barrel, REI and Hollister all have outlets in the area and Related has extensive contacts with the world's top retailers.

Mr. Blau said Related has signed a long-term lease for the site that gives LargaVista a slice of the future profit. He declined to elaborate.

Oscar Porcelli, now 78, was virtually penniless when he moved to the U.S. as a 20-year-old. He first got into the gas-station business as an operator and then began buying properties. He eventually purchased more than 50 sites in the city's five boroughs.

Marcello Porcelli, 43, says he joined his father's firm in 1997 hoping "to unlock the potential" of some of the properties. Some have been converted to modest one-story stores. The family also developed a 23-unit condominium tower a few blocks from the Puck Building, where the son lives.

Related's interest in the site reflects how hot SoHo has become as a place to shop, work and live. Prime retail rents can be as much as $1,000 a square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Kushner Cos., which acquired the Puck Building in 1986 for $19 million, is converting two floors of the building into five penthouses and building a sixth one on the roof. They are priced from $21 million to $60 million.

The Porcelli site, located in SoHo's Cast Iron Historic District, has held a gas station since the 1930s. LargaVista, which has long planned to develop it, acquired two adjacent buildings for $5 million in recent years to expand the site.

New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission last year unanimously approved a plan for the building developed by the younger Mr. Porcelli and his architect, Rick Cook of Cook + Fox Architects.

The glass facade will feature a white terra-cotta grid and decorative elements that pay homage to nearby historic buildings, including 65 Bleecker St., the only Louis Sullivan-designed building in New York.

Related is known for such projects as Time Warner Center in Manhattan and CityPlace in West Palm Beach. It is also the developer of the sprawling Hudson Yards project on Manhattan's West Side where Time Warner Inc. is planning to relocate its headquarters.

Marcello Porcelli says that the family had planned to develop the site across the street from the Puck Building on its own. But "having that much capital tied up in a single project was not the best course," he said.

Also, he added, "I don't define success by squeezing every last dollar out of a transaction."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303874504579377001901952182?KEYWORDS=gas-station+owner&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303874504579377001901952182.html%3FKEYWORDS%3Dgas-station%2Bowner