Active boutique Brooklyn condo developer Rafi Manor files for bankruptcy

Developer Rafi Manor, who between 2015 and 2018 submitted plans for 20 condominium projects in Brooklyn with 134 units, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday in Brooklyn’s Eastern District, claiming assets of just $315,000 and liabilities above $6.3 million.

Manor was identified as a sponsor on those 20 projects which had a total sellout of $140 million, according to a PincusCo analysis of Attorney General filings.

The bankruptcy does not include any of the active or former property LLCs. Instead, the filing’s largest identified liabilities are Manor’s guarantees on 19 loans on properties in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Some of the projects are condo projects while others are small multifamily buildings.

The guarantees are tied to projects including 148 West Street (5-unit condo filed in 2016), 1407 Vyse Avenue in the Bronx; 1450 Leland Avenue in the Bronx, 1354 Findlay Avenue in the Bronx, 717 Prospect Avenue in the Bronx, 413 East 173rd Street Bronx and 85-35 212th Street in Flushing, 17 Diamond Street Brooklyn (7-unit condo filed in 2018); 438 Herkimer Street in Brooklyn (8-unit condo filed in 2018); 54 Dupont Street in Brooklyn; 116 India Street in Brooklyn (7-unit filed in 2017); 79 Greene Street in Brooklyn (7-unit condo filed in 2016); and others.

At the same time, Manor put his development company M1 Development LLC, into bankruptcy. The name he used publicly on his website was M Development.

The lender Stormfield Capital Management, which bought debt on several Manor projects, filed to foreclosure on four projects that had a total original principal of $16.1 million. Those properties included 135 Bayard Street and 744 Lefferts Avenue. Manor’s assets are facing foreclosure in additional cases as well, according to the bankruptcy filing.

-Adam Pincus