FORTUNE — Manhattan’s largest apartment complex could be changing hands yet again.
New York-based buyout firm Fortress Investment Group (FIG) is reportedly ramping up to buy Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village in a deal worth $4.7 billion, according to Bloomberg, which cites an anonymous source. CWCapital Asset Management, a subsidiary of Fortress, is currently negotiating to sell the 80-acre property, which has more than 11,200 apartments between 14th and 23rd Streets on the east side of Manhattan.
Both Fortress and CWCapital declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
CWCapital took over Stuyvesant Town in 2010 after previous owners Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty defaulted on loans following their $5.4 billion purchase of the complex four years earlier. Tishman Speyer and BlackRock had planned to evict illegal occupants and increase prices for rent-regulated units at the historically middle-class complex, but were barred from doing so after a series of court battles. At the time, the value of the property had also dipped significantly as a result of the financial crisis.
The New York Times also reported Tuesday that CWCapital, which represents trusts holding a $3 billion first mortgage on Stuyvesant Town, plans to foreclose on a secondary loan before fully taking ownership next month. Such a move would leave CWCapital free to sell the property to its parent company, Fortress.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently committed $8.2 billion in public funds to build and maintain affordable housing in the city, spoke out against rent hikes in the complex when CWCapital took control. In 2010, when de Blasio was City Public Advocate, he said that “changes in Stuyvesant Town’s ownership must not be used as an excuse to hike rents and skimp on apartment services.”
