$125M pre-foreclosure filed at Clipper Realty’s DoBro office which HRA vacated

David Bistricer’s Clipper Realty is facing a major reckoning in Downtown Brooklyn. LNR Partners, acting as special servicer for a CMBS pool, has officially moved to foreclose on the 12-story mixed-use building at 250 Livingston Street, owned through the entity 250 Livingston Owner LLC, citing an unpaid $125 million principal balance and various defaults.

Clipper Realty is a real estate investment trust, and is affiliated with Clipper Equity, David Bistricer‘s main operating entity.

The trouble began in earnest last August when the city’s Human Resources Administration, the building’s primary tenant for 45 years, exercised an early termination clause to vacate approximately 342,000 square feet. The HRA relocated to 2400 Fulton Street in East New York. The loss left a massive hole in the rent roll that the Brooklyn Eagle reported was difficult to fill in the current office climate.

By October 2025, Clipper failed to make its required monthly debt service and tax escrow deposits. While the REIT successfully negotiated a deal for its sister building at 141 Livingston Street which reinstated a $100 million loan, as reported by the Commercial Observer, Clipper Realty was not able to do the same for 250 Livingston.

In a stark SEC filing on December 23, Clipper admitted it had received a formal default notice and owed roughly $3.4 million in interest and penalties. During a subsequent investor call, Bistricer signaled a strategic retreat, noting the company did not intend to support the property’s ongoing operations following the City’s exit.

In an SEC filing from February 2026, “The Borrower does not plan to continue to support the ongoing operating and debt service shortfall related to 250 Livingston Street property… As previously disclosed, the Company is in the process of negotiating a Consent and Cooperation Agreement with the Lender for the sale of the Property, but there can be no assurance that such Consent and Cooperation Agreement will be consummated.”

The property, a 1920s-era building that Clipper significantly renovated, was the centerpiece of a 2019 refinancing deal with Citibank’s Citi Real Estate Funding. Now, with the city gone and the debt accelerated, Clipper may lose control of the property. As the special servicer LNR Partners moves for a receiver, the market is watching to see if this Downtown Brooklyn anchor is destined for a sale, an auction or a refinance.

The property

The property, which has 36 residential units as well as office space, is on a parcel that has frontage of 139 feet and is 171 feet deep with a total lot size of 29,707 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-4 which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $76.6 million.

Prior sales, articles and revenue

The 306,853-square-foot property generated revenue of $9.7 million or $32 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on March 18, 2013.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received $6,125 in OATH penalties in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Boerum Hill, The bulk, or 32 percent of the 9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with mixed-use buildings next occupying 16 percent of the space. In sales, Boerum Hill has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $750.1 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Brooklyn. For development, Boerum Hill has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 5th highest in Brooklyn. It had 2.8 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 30 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the seven commercial properties representing 311,143 square feet of the 345,064 square feet. The largest owner is Jacob Schwimmer, followed by Mina Moussa and then Rose Associates. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 74,115 square feet. It is a 48-unit, 74,115 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Oestreicher Properties and filed by Deborah Tsabari with plans filed February 24, 2016 and permitted February 17, 2017.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Jacob Schwimmer owned at least 18 commercial properties with 2,449 residential units in New York City with 1,902,322 square feet and a city-determined market value of $207.2 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.1 billion in debt, with top three lenders as MF1 Capital, Kennedy Wilson, and Valley National Bank respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 73 percent of the 1,902,322 square feet of built space are elevator properties, with office properties next occupying 20 percent of the space. The bulk, or 54 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 29 percent of the space.

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Jacob Schwimmer, head officer and Tuli Kleinman, site manager. The business entity is 250 Livingston Owner Llc.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 252 Livingston Street, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a loan which Brenda Rohlman and Lloyd Pine borrowed $10.2 million from JPMorgan Chase secured by the 39,770-square-foot, 60-unit rental (D1) on 335 State Street on March 17, 2026.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.