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Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Nathan Z.):

OK.

I don't know any more about the specifics of the settlement than anyone else, just what was in the press release and what I was told by the head of the Real Estate Enforcement Division of the NYAG. I have shared that already.

The investigation has ended. A settlement has been reached. We are all waiting for the details to be released. I have no evidence for this, but I wouldn't release the settlement until I had the administrator and new management company lined up.

No amount of wishful thinking is going to change the result of three years of negotiation by the NYAG and the MC's high priced legal team. If you can locate a private attorney to take it from here, have at it. It seems to me that those efforts didn't go so well before the NYAG started the investigation. Perhaps they will go better now, but again, in my opinion, the odds are against it.

My personal belief is that few if any MC owners will be satisfied with the financial aspect of the settlement. But my interest will become marketable at whatever value the market places on it rather than being frozen. That is something of value to me.

I will be interested in seeing how owners who have not paid their maintenance fees will be treated. Do you think anyone escrowed those funds? Regardless of what the MC may have done, failure to pay without an escrow is just non-payment. Now that the situation is nearing resolution, I feel payment of past due fees should be required, perhaps at a modest discount, and used to upgrade the MC physical plant.

Unwinding this complex situation is a problem of huge proportions. Assertions of what is "right" and "deserved" or dividing $6.5 million by some number of owners doesn't help with the resolution,... especially after a settlement has already been agreed! In addition, the Eichner's may be out of the Manhattan Club, but I haven't heard anything about their ownership of the Park Lane Hotel. We are going to be intertwined with the Eichners as long as they own that property, with shared floors, elevators and who knows what else! Anyone care?

Let's stop "stirring the pot," and simply wait for the disclosure of the settlement. There are so many real questions that will need discussion, we don't have time for this stuff.

With all due respect.