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Trump Group Selling West Side Parcel for $1.8 Billion

A consortium of Hong Kong investors and Donald J. Trump are selling a stretch of riverfront land and three buildings on the Upper West Side for about $1.8 billion in the largest residential sale in city history and in the latest example of a rocketing housing market.

The Extell Development Corporation and the Carlyle Group have a tentative deal to buy a major swath of developable land at the onetime railroad yard between 59th and 72nd Streets, which has been turned into a luxury enclave known variously as Riverside South and Trump Place, according to real estate executives who have been briefed on the deal. The 77-acre property embraces what will be a 21-acre public park that slopes down to the Hudson River.

The deal comes as the average condominium price in Manhattan has soared to more than $1.2 million and as developable land has become increasingly rare, even as some economists worry that a housing bubble will soon burst.

Extell, which is building the 60-story Orion condo tower on 42nd Street and owns the W Hotel in Times Square, is buying the three rental buildings at the site, as well as lots to build eight more apartment houses and nearly 3,000 apartments.

The deal also includes a five-acre parcel between 59th and 62nd Streets that real estate executives said could be rezoned for an additional 1,500 apartments. There are four condo buildings at the site that are not part of the deal.

It is unclear whether any new buildings on the site will bear Mr. Trump's name in characteristic gold letters.

Real estate executives said that the new buyers would have to pay the developer for using his name.

"I think the potential for this site is huge, because in the aftermath of Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, the redevelopment of the Far West Side is happening at an extremely rapid rate," said Nancy Packes, president of Feathered Nest, a residential broker.

The sale price was a huge number, Ms. Packes added. "But at any given point in time, when land and buildings change hands, people always question the potential rise in value," she said.

Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, declined to comment. Paul Davis, chief executive of Hudson Waterfront Associations, which represents the Hong Kong investors in New York, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Longtime critics of Mr. Trump and his project welcomed his departure yesterday.

"Even though they're paying an exorbitant price in this overheated market, we hope the new owners will be more responsive to the community," Madeleine Polayes, a leader of the Coalition for a Livable West Side and a longtime opponent of Mr. Trump and his project, said through a spokeswoman. "Can we get the name changed from Trump Place to something else?"

If it is completed, real estate executives said, the deal should be a windfall for the investors and Mr. Trump, who acquired the land for less than $100 million a decade ago during a real estate recession.

There is little question that the market is hot once again. Last year, the 15-story Mayflower Hotel near Lincoln Center and a vacant lot next door sold for $401 million to a group with plans to build a large apartment tower. And in April, a group led by Kent Swig paid $418 million for the 50-story, 845-unit Sheffield apartment house on 57th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

The former freight yard property has a long and tortured history as the largest parcel of undeveloped land in Manhattan. Mr. Trump first gained control of the defunct freight yard in 1974. Unable to build, he sold the property to another developer, who also made little progress. Mr. Trump regained control of the property in 1982 and later proposed building Television City, a wall of skyscrapers along the waterfront, including a 150-story tower, the tallest in the world.

But that project came under intense criticism from city planners and civic and neighborhood groups and the proposal died in 1987.

With the city in a deep recession in 1991 and Mr. Trump laboring under enormous debts, the developer redesigned the project with his onetime opponents, the Municipal Art Society and five other civic organizations, creating a 21-acre public park along the water and pulling the buildings back to a newly created extension of Riverside Drive.

To solve his financial problems, Mr. Trump brought in a group of Hong Kong and Chinese investors in 1994, who bought a $300 million mortgage on the land for $82 million. The investors had hoped that construction would start within a year, but continuing opposition from community groups and some elected officials, including Representative Jerrold L. Nadler, delayed the project until 1997.

But since the project started, the apartments have sold and leased well. Real estate executives said that two condo buildings nearing completion were already sold out. Earlier this year, the partners sold a small site to the Atlantic Development Corporation to build about 300 subsidized apartments.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: Trump Group Selling Parcel For $1.8 Billion. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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