Financial Times Profiles Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village
Last Saturday the Financial Times profiled the poster child of real estate excess - Blackrock's and Tishman Speyer's 2006 acquisition of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village (STPC).  The $5.4 billion transaction was eye-opening even in an era of wild deals.  Earlier this year the 11,200-unit apartment complex, which started construction in 1943, defaulted on its debt and is now with its special servicer.  Prominent real estate investors are looking at the huge property, and the drama is sure to drag on for a long time.  The estimated value for STPC is $1.8 billion.

One party that gets no press in the whole STPC discussion is Met Life Insurance.  Met Life developed and owned STPC since its inception.  Met Life sold it at the top of the market for a huge price.  Met Life sold other real estate in around New York, including its landmark headquarters.  I'm not sure what Met Life did with the proceeds (hopefully it did not load up on subprime mortgage bonds) but its divestiture strategy was prescient.