Rechler ready to invest $150M on metro real estate

 Scott Rechler is betting $150 million that the time is getting ripe to reinvest in real estate in Manhattan and the rest of the metropolitan area.

His Uniondale-based RXR Corp. last week announced it had closed on a $150-million commitment from Five Arrows Realty Securities V Lp, a Manhattan-based investment fund. RXR, a commercial development company, said it will use the funds as capital to invest in real estate.

A few weeks ago, RXR took what it called an initial step back into the Manhattan market, signing a $273-million deal to buy a 49 percent stake in a building at 340 Madison Ave., one block from Grand Central Terminal.

"I'm betting that now is a prime time to be an active investor in the tri-state area," Rechler said. "This is a unique window. We want to be able to take advantage of that."

Still, he noted, it may be two or three years before the real estate market becomes robust. "Our view is we could be bouncing along the bottom for a few years now. But when it returns, it will return very quickly. What we've been doing for the last two years is meeting with all of the banks, private-equity shops, mortgage companies and [property] owners and talking about how we can resolve their challenges."

But everyone also wants to know about the stalled Lighthouse project that Rechler has partnered with developer Charles Wang to build. "We're just waiting [for a decision] from the Town of Hempstead," he said. "I think it's imminent."