Servicer wants Stytown/Peter Cooper sold as 2 units

* CWCapital seeks to sell properties separately

* Mortgage plus expenses reaches nearly $3.67 bln

By Ilaina Jonas

NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - The special servicer overseeing the defaulted loans on Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village have asked a U.S. District Court judge to allow it to proceed with an auction and sell the two massive Manhattan apartment complexes separately.

Lawyers for CWCapital, the special servicer asked the court to issue a summary judgment -- a decision based on the court filings -- so it can proceed with the sale of the complexes that until now have been thought as of one.

"CWCapital undoubtedly believes that marketing the two properties for sale individually will yield broader investor interest, if for no other reason than by shrinking the price tag," Deutsche Bank CMBS analysts Richard Parkus and Harris Trifon wrote in a research note on Friday.

"However, considering the two properties have been jointly managed and operated since they were built following World War II, which undoubtedly yields some cost savings, it is unclear if potential owners will be interested in buying and operating the properties separately."

When a consortium led by private equity firm Tishman Speyer bought the two complexes in 2006 for more than $5.4 billion, about $3 billion of mortgages were securitized into commercial mortgage-backed securities, known as CMBS bonds.

Technically, Tishman Speyer bought the properties in two separate sales.

The loan was transferred into special servicing after the owner defaulted in January. The failure of Tishman's huge acquisition became a symbol of the collapse in the U.S. commercial real estate market.

CW says that, with interest and other costs that have grown since the group lead by Tishman Speyer defaulted on the $3 billion mortgage, the bondholders are now owed about $3.67 billion, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

About 25,000 people live in the 11,200 apartments built to house middle-class New Yorkers. On Feb. 16, CW filed to foreclose on the property.

Hedge fund Appaloosa Investment LP, which owns about $750 million of the CMBS bonds that are junior to the bonds owned by Fannie and Freddie, has filed a motion to be heard in court.

The case is Bank of America, N.A. et al v. PCV ST Owner LP et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-01178. (Reporting by Ilaina Jonas; editing by Andre Grenon)