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BILL RADKE: The future of a massive New York City apartment complex is a little clearer this week,
after a state appeals court ruled that a foreclosure sale will go forward. The $5.5 billion sale of this development four years ago
kind of marked the peak of the real estate bubble. Now the property is said to be worth less than half that.

Marketplace’s Amy Scott reports.

AMY SCOTT: Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village occupy 80 acres on the east side of Manhattan. Some 2,500 people live there.

AL DOYLE: And it’s been a middle class housing oasis, really, since 1947.

That’s Al Doyle, president of the tenants association. Earlier this year the owners of that oasis defaulted on billions of dollars in loans. Two groups of lenders have been battling for control. This week’s court ruling clears the way for one of those groups to sell the complex.

Economist Sam Chandan with Real Capital Analytics says the sale could be a bellwether for the recovering commercial real estate market.

SAM CHANDAN: Strong valuation, I think, could help to bolster what is already a positive underlying trend for the apartment sector in the United States.

Tenants are hoping for a deal that allows some of them to buy their apartments at affordable prices and others to stay on as renters.

I’m Amy Scott for Marketplace.