The Ugliest Divorce in Manhattan Real Estate

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( THURSDAY, MAY 12 OPERATORS [The Ugliest Divorce in Manhattan Real Estate]( HFZ’s luxury developers staked their futures on Bjarke Ingels’s High Line debut and lost everything. Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photos: Shutterstock/Getty Images Ziel Feldman is in good company. At least that’s what the real-estate developer at the center of one of the most spectacular meltdowns in recent memory has been telling himself. The Manhattan real-estate industry is a game of winners and losers, Feldman says, and even titans lose big sometimes. Over the past 18 months, Feldman’s firm, HFZ Capital Group, has been obliterated by foreclosures and investor lawsuits, a collapse that has dredged up unflattering details about the company’s inner workings. Which is why Feldman, on a cloudy afternoon earlier this year, ticked off the names of prominent developers who have, at one point or another, stared down the barrel of bankruptcy. Stephen Ross, Arthur Zeckendorf Sr., Harry Macklowe. “Every single one — bar none — has run into potentially career-ending roadblocks,” Feldman says, sitting at a coffee table in his corner office, which, despite the imperiled state of his business, overlooks the Plaza Hotel and Central Park beyond. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” he says. “Most successful ones have been bankrupt.” [Continue reading »]( Want more on city life, real estate, and design? [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Curbed and everything New York. [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [The Trump International Hotel, Remembered by Yelp “It reeks.”]( By Clio Chang [The Look Book Goes to a Harlem Gospel Concert An afternoon of music and soul food at Glendale Baptist Church.]( By Kelsie Schrader and Jenna Milliner-Waddell [Eric Adams Is Design’s New Hype Man And by design, he means fashion.]( By Diana Budds [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( Introducing Dinner Party, a lively new evening newsletter about everything that just happened. [Sign up]( to get it every weeknight. [GET THE NEWSLETTER]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=curbed) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved