Crains New York - September 17, 2012 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS ® VOL. XXVIII, NO. 38 HE TRAVELED THE GLOBE FOR THE BEST PICKINGS PAGE 8 FRUIT FLY WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2012 PRICE: $3.00 Suitors line aisles of Food Emporium The sale of A&P’s ‘crown jewel’ may be as much about real estate as arugula BY LISA FICKENSCHER For the second time in two years, the Food Emporium chain of supermarkets,owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., is on the block—and there is no shortage of interested buyers. The 17-store chain controls attractive real estate in Manhattan at a time when many grocers—including Fairway Market, Balducci’s, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, as well as discount clothing retailers and drugstores— are expanding. But there are FOOD several suitors who EMPORIUMSwere in Manhattan stand out: Chris- put on the block by tian Haub, former Montvale, N.J.chairman, chief ex- based A&P ecutive and major shareholder of the Montvale, N.J.- AVERAGE WEEKLY based company revenue per store, known as A&P, according to and Gristedes industry experts owner John Catsimatidis, who said he was close to acquiring Food Emporium in 2010, shortly before its parent filed for bankruptcy protection and called off the sale. Mr. Catsimatidis has already signed a confidentiality agreement with A&P that prevents him from discussing Food Emporium, he said. Mr. Haub, who runs a Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm, Emil Capital Partners, initiated discussions with A&P executives during Labor Day week, when the company told its employees that Food Emporium was for sale. “We are very familiar with those stores and how to make them successful,”said Mr.Haub,who stepped down as chairman of A&P in March. Tengelmann Group, the German retailing conglomerate controlled by the Haub family, had been A&P’s largest shareholder since 1979, but it sold its shares this year,Mr.Haub said,after the company came out of bankruptcy. ADVISE AND CONTEMPT: David Lichtenstein insists in a lawsuit he was ill served by his lawyers and bankers. SALE! 16 ‘The mark’ redux $250K Three years after his $8B bet on Extended Stay landed the chain in bankruptcy, David Lichtenstein wants his reputation back BY AARON ELSTEIN In 2007, fast-rising financier David Lichtenstein snapped up the Extended Stay Inc. hotel chain for $8 billion, securing his status as one of the nation’s largest private landlords. His sprawling empire encompassed 30 million square feet worth of office buildings and shop- ping malls,not to mention 18,000 apartments spread across 27 states. But when Extended Stay went bust just two years later, Mr. Lichtenstein not only lost $300 million, he also lost his reputation. Now the Manhattan-based real estate investor is suing to get it back, blaming his lawyers at Willkie Farr & Gallagher for giving him bad advice about Extended Stay’s bankruptcy. Critics describe the suit as a desperate Hail Mary heave, and Willkie Farr last month moved for a dismissal. But a raft of documents from the suit and other litigation related to the Extended Stay fiasco is laying bare the knotty details of the deal culture that made the See INVESTOR on Page 22 MORE REAL ESTATE Condo prices NEWSPAPER pick up pop: P. 3. Landlords aim small to fill offices: P. 13 See FOOD EMPORIUM on Page 23 http://WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - September 17, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: REAL ESTATE
THE LIST
REAL ESTATE DEALS
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - September 17, 2012