Thanks to the green light, closing on residences under contract will soon commence. Manhattan House is a condominium conversion project located on Manhattan's Upper East Side, which was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1952. As GlobeSt.com reported nearly one year ago, O'Connor Capital Partners closed on $750 million of senior financing from HSH Nordbank AG, a commercial bank headquartered in Hamburg/Kiel, Germany, money that it is using for the redevelopment or restoration of the landmark building. The building, located between Second and Third avenues, was purchased for $625 million in 2005, and O'Connor plans to invest $1-billion in the conversion.

O'Connor's capital improvement program will include "all of the amenities, conveniences and services demanded by 21st century lifestyles." Atop the building will be a private, residents-only club with a rooftop garden and an Exhale Mind Body Spa. For children, Roto Studio has designed a delightful indoor playroom and outdoor play area. The private garden is being restored by renowned landscape architect, Sasaki Associates. Some of the additional new services include an in-residence five-star hotel concierge, private valet parking and in-house valet. Manhattan House sources tell GlobeSt.com that already well over 100 units have been sold.

In January, 2008, in a battle over the rental-to-condo conversion here, 45 tenants of Manhattan House lost their bid to overturn the acceptance of the proposal by the Attorney General's Office. Finding they had no standing to challenge the conversion plan and that their claims against the attorney general and building sponsors were baseless, a Manhattan judge dismissed an Article 78 proceeding brought by the tenants of the luxury Upper East Side building. "Not only are all existing tenants of Manhattan House not disadvantaged in any legally recognized way should the Plan become effective, if the Plan did become effective, their situation would only improve," Justice Lewis Bart Stone previously stated.