Major Developments:
Fortress won the right to go after Cohen for a $187 million personal guarantee he signed in 2022. When Cohen quit making payments on the $534 million loan earlier this year, Fortress sued, alleging default. They will appeal the decision. First, the parties have to see through the $534 million UCC foreclosure Fortress Fortress pursues largest UCC foreclosure ever on the courthouse steps. Assets tied to a $534 million loan Fortress Investment Group alleges is in default and a $187 million personal guarantee the lender won the right to collect on. Fortress could then, potentially, pursue the claim against Cohen Realty Enterprises, if it’s solvent.Yellowstone Real Estate Investments acquired the defunct Midtown East Maxwell hotel, The firm picked up an outstanding debt of $233.6 million on the hotel, a 697-room property at 541 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. Bought the property at auction for $140 million. Dune Real Estate Partners and Aynsley Capital covered the acquisition portion of the loan. The firms were listed as the defendants in Yellowstone’s suit to claim the property.
The last seven meatpackers in the Gansevoort Market Co-Op, scattered around the district’s 66,000-square-foot piece of city-owned land east of Tenth Avenue, will relocate before their 2032 lease expires as part of an agreement with the Economic Development Corp.
Manhattan Country School located at 150 West 85th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, is alleged to owe $2.9 million to the lending company. A recently filed lawsuit claimed that it has not paid back a debt.
A New York-based private lender provided the $180 million senior loan for the planned 137-unit building at 26 East 35th Street. The loan term is 30 months. The 173,000-square-foot building in Murray Hill is expected to be completed by early 2027. The 18-story project will include a parking garage and ground-floor medical offices.
A Queens judge ruled that the local law that let New York City rapidly shut down more than 1,000 businesses accused of selling cannabis without licenses is unconstitutional because it denies shop owners their rights to due process. The decision calls the legality of the closures into question and has the potential to halt the city’s enforcement effort, known as Operation Padlock to Protect, which Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly hailed as a success.
Chetrit Organization could lose two of its downtown properties to foreclosure. LoanCore Capital Credit sued Chetrit alleging the developer defaulted on almost $200 million in loans tied to his properties at 1 Whitehall Street and 428 Broadway. The asset management firm is calling for a forced sale of the buildings to pay off the debt. Chetrit stopped making loan payments on the Financial District tower in July 2023.
Tishman Speyer has emerged victorious in its bid to secure a refinancing deal for Rockefeller Center, with some expensive strings attached. The companies have secured a $3.5 billion commercial mortgage-backed securities loan. The deal is the largest CMBS transaction and is the largest issued ever for a single office asset. The transaction will refinance $3 billion in remaining debt on the property.
A Judge ruled RFR must hand over 405 Lexington Avenue, the Chrysler Building, to Cooper Union.
Menin reached a compromise with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and the Hotel Association of New York City to allow hotels to subcontract work that requires “highly technical skills.” Also to exempt small hotels, those with fewer than 100 rooms.
960 Franklin Avenue is a 355-unit development, Eichner’s attorneys told the City Council that they would accept the commission’s height limits to Brooklyn Botanic Garden, if they could choose the “workforce housing” option of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law to meet affordability requirements.
Brodsky Organization’s plans to convert the vacant office space in the Flatiron Building into high-end residential units. Related’s plans to convert 625 Madison Avenue into retail, a hotel and condos. InterVest Capital Partners’ plan to turn the 1.2 million-square-foot 111 Wall Street into rentals.
A proposed redesign to the outdoor plaza of its Park Avenue office building at 245 Park Avenue which includes adding 31 trees and additional seating, along with addressing grade differences.
New York City Housing Authority’s board approved a plan to demolish 2,000 public housing apartments, replacing them with new projects by Related Cos. and Essence. The 18 buildings, which are part of Manhattan’s Fulton and Chelsea-Elliott Houses, are home to 4,500 residents. Tenants will move back into the six to-be-built replacement buildings in phases over the course of seven years. The developers will be allowed to construct 3,500 units, both replacement affordable housing and market-rate apartments, on the two campuses.
