Capping a slow and steady financial fall, two real estate giants are handing Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village over to creditors.

Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Realty were unable to maintain their financial commitment to the sister properties.

A spokesman for the partnership says transferring control became the only viable alternative to bankruptcy, after it couldn’t make a $16 million loan payment earlier this month.

Tishman and BlackRock bought the apartment complexes in 2006 for almost $5.5 billion, in what was the most expensive deal in real estate history.

The developers planned to convert many of the rent-stabilized units into luxury housing, but they were unable to keep up payments as the venture was hit hard by the slowing real estate market.

The partnership was also dealt a blow recently when a state court ruled $200 million in rent increases were not legal.

The complex includes 11,000 apartments, housing around 25,000 tenants.

Source: NY1