$8.5M bankruptcy filed at 20-unit Flushing rental to block auction

Bao Gui Zhuo through the entity Cherry Garden LLC, filed an $8.5 million bankruptcy to block the foreclosure auction of a 20-unit rental building located at 142-15 Cherry Avenue in Flushing, Queens. Zhuo filed the bankruptcy on March 15, 2024, to halt a foreclosure auction set for the same day.

The filing estimates the building is worth $8.5 million and the property has about $5 million in liabilities, including a $4.4 million loan held by Relmo 14215 Holdings LP, which filed a pre-foreclosure action in 2020, 709282/2020. The property was noticed for sale with the auction date set for March 15, 2024.

Bankruptcy Case 1-24-41144-nhl

Cherry Garden LLC chapter 11 pdf

Bao Gui Zhuo owns half of the debtor, while the estate of Rui Rong Zhuo owns the other half, the bankruptcy filing said.

The property

The elevator building at 142-11 Cherry Avenue with 20 residential units in Flushing has 17,333 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 60 feet and is 95 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,700 square feet. The zoning is R7B which allows for up to 3 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $3.4 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property as a development site was sold with another property for $4 million on May 19, 2017.

The neighborhood

In Flushing, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 37.7 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with specialty buildings next occupying 20 percent of the space. In sales, Flushing has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $941.6 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 2nd highest in Queens. For development, Flushing has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 4th highest in Queens. It had 2.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 6 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the 12 commercial properties representing 153,252 square feet of the 233,190 square feet. The largest owner is A. Ruth & Sons, followed by Bronstein Properties and then Zara Realty Holding. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 18,168 square feet. It is a 25-unit, 18,168 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Dechun Chen with plans filed March 21, 2021 and permitted November 29, 2021.

The surrounding

This is the first commercial real estate event of interest identified within the 400-foot radius of 142-15 Cherry Avenue in the past 24 months.

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