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Ever since real estate mogul Sylvan Lawrence died 16 years ago, his widow, Alice Lawrence, and his brother Seymour Cohn have been warring in court.
The nasty, long-standing estate battle pits the 86-year-old Mr. Cohn, who with his brother built one of the city's largest real estate empires, against the seventysomething Mrs. Lawrence, who, with her children, inherited her husband's fortune. Today, Mr. Cohn and Mrs. Lawrence each owns a 50% stake of the brothers' remaining four Manhattan properties and their management company, Sylvan Lawrence Co.
Mr. Cohn, who is general partner of the properties and executor of his deceased brother's estate, however, controls both the real estate operations and the Lawrences' inheritance. For years, Mrs. Lawrence has been trying to force Mr. Cohn to wind up the estate's affairs, a process likely to happen only with the sale of the remaining properties held in common.
Now, for the first time, a resolution seems possible. A recent setback in court for Mr. Cohn, coupled with the upturn in the real estate market, appears likely to push the sale of the four buildings onto the front burner.
Those properties include the former Port Authority Building, at 111 Eighth Ave. in Chelsea, and the Sylvan Lawrence Building, at 100 William St. downtown. All told, they comprise 3.3...