Tenants left high and dry after Church of England abandons New York towers

The Church of England provokes heated debate in US over strategic defaults after it abandons a Manhattan investment
From The Times
February 16, 2010

When the Church of England walked away from a £40 million investment in a Manhattan apartment complex last month, it simply wrote off the entire amount, promising that “lessons would be learnt”.

Yet many of the tenants of the 11,000 apartments are still dealing with the fallout. Left in limbo as a new buyer is sought for the buildings, they have serious concerns about who will maintain the complex.

The move also puts the Church at the centre of a heated debate in America about strategic defaulting — walking away from property debts. The Church of England has joined the likes of Morgan Stanley, the banking giant, which stopped repayments on five office buildings in San Francisco that it had bought for $2.5 billion at the height of the property boom. the rest