Settlement reported between Ira Shapiro and Cevdet Caner at One Madison Park

"Embattled One Madison Park condominium developer Ira Shapiro has agreed to give up much of his authority at the project under a settlement with billionaire investment partner Cevdet Caner, effectively ending his $40 million rescue deal with investor Ian Bruce Eichner," according to an article by David Jones yesterday at therealdeal.com.

Mr. Shapiro "reached a settlement last Tuesday with Caner's Green Bridge Partners, which helped finance One Madison Park in 2007 and filed suit in December to block the Eichner agreement, which would have financed the completion of the 23 East 22nd Street condo and leave Shapiro in charge of the property," the article said.

Mr. Caner alleged that Shapiro was making unilateral decisions on the troubled property without the permission of his investment partners, the article continued, "and filed the December suit in New York State Supreme Court to block the Eichner plan from going through. Specific terms of the settlement were not released, but sources familiar with the agreement said the various parties are now fighting over how the new plan will be implemented, including payment of outstanding debts, the right to individual apartments and the role of various investors in the project. 'There's a lot of internal shoving and kicking,' said one legal source who asked not to be identified."

Last month U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross in Delaware slapped an injunction on Mr. Shapiro, the article said, barring him from making any decisions regarding One Madison's development firm, Slazer Enterprises, without the written consent of Green Bridge that had loaned Mr. Shapiro $18 million in 2007 to fund development of the condo and "by 2009 entered a deal with Shapiro's partner Marc Jacobs, to acquire his proxy rights in the development company."

Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Jacobs then defaulted on their mortgage loans and in early 2010 iStar Financial filed to foreclose on Mr. Shapiro.

By the summer of 2010, the article continued, "a group of creditors represented by famed attorney Barry Slotnick, threw the condo project into involuntary bankruptcy, in the hopes that they would gain priority when the project's debts were repaid. That group of creditors was owed about $12 million. This past November, Shapiro reached a deal with Eichner to finance the completion of the condo and put Eichner and Shapiro in charge of the project. Caner is now working with Jacobs, various creditors and lenders to work out a plan to complete his own rescue plan for the project.

An article about the project November 21, 2010 at nycurbed.com described the very slim, 50-story tower, which was designed by Cetra/Ruddy at the base of Madison Avenue overlooking Madison Square Park as the "Shake Shack shadowing monolith.'"

Slazer Enterprises at one point had commissioned a "peek-a-boo" smaller taller at 23 East 22nd Street behind One Madison Park that was notable for the fact that it was extremely cantilevered towards the east and that many of its floors had windows. It had been designed by Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

That building was not built.