Boymelgreen mulls 14 Wall sale.

Less than two years after he purchased 14 Wall Street, Leviev Boymelgreen is said to be seriously considering a sale of the building in order to be free of his joint venture partner in the property, Africa-Israel Investments.

When asked to describe relations between the two, a source with an ear tuned to rumblings from the Boymelgreen camp said simply, "It's difficult." The source wouldn't launch into specifics about how Boymelgreen's Israeli partner was being difficult, but qualified the scope of their acrimony saying, "You name it and there's a problem."

Boymelgreen bought the building from Stellar Management in April 2005 for $215 million with potential plans to convert all or some of its one million square feet into residential condominiums. That plan seemed to be on hold in recent months just as it has been for many other landlords in the area who are increasingly reconsidering conversion projects given the strides that the downtown office market has made in the last year

According to year-end data from major real estate services firms in the city, downtown vacancies have shrunk and its rents have risen, trends that are expected to continue in 2007. Indeed, down the street from 14 Wall, Joe Moinian has delayed and will possibly cancel the residential conversion of his office property at 95 Wall Street in order to capitalize on the district's increased activity among office tenants.

But the owners' deteriorating relationship at 14 Wall Street may also be at play among the reasons that have postponed its onetime hot residential plans. In this sense, there is perhaps a bright side to their feud because it may have held up a conversion long enough for the partners to see the downtown office market's resurgence.

Although a sale is being contemplated, the source said it isn't imminent and that Boymelgreen had not yet hired a sales broker.

Another source indicated that the real thing Boymelgreen may be fuming at is the steep price he paid for the building. According to the source, Boymelgreen had tried on numerous eccasions in the past to flip the property. "From the day he got that building he wanted to sell it," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

According to the source, 14 Wall Street's upper floors differ much from the building's lower portion, which sits in shadows most of the time. The source said that Boymelgreen paid a price as if the whole building was of the quality of its top portion, forgetting that there were 400,000 s/f below not as commercially viable.