Argentic acquires West Village retail valued at $20.5M from bankrupt investor Barnet Liberman

Lender Argentic Investment Management acquired seven retail condominiums formerly owned by bankrupt real estate investor Barnet Liberman, which are at the base of the Printing House at 421 Hudson Street in the West Village, Manhattan. The transfer had a value of $20.5 million, according to property records filed May 9, 2023. The transfer closed on April 27, 2023.

The retail units are on the first, ninth and 10th floors and are occupied by an Equinox gym which includes a pool on the 10th floor, and includes a total of 32,645 square feet.

Liberman has been involved in a series of lawsuits over unpaid condominium liens at the property over several years. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2021  in the Eastern District of New York, claiming $123 million in liabilities including $19.15 million for this loan. The bankruptcy was later converted to Chapter 7.  Other liabilities in that bankruptcy case include $8.575 million related to 305 Second Avenue Mezz Lender LLC and another related to G4 Real Estate, for $6.13 million. The Real Deal reported in December 2022 that creditors of his wanted several Printing House residential condominium units that he had transferred to family members.

Argentic originally provided a $19 million loan to Liberman in 2017.

In March 2022, Argentic took title to the original Barneys location at 115 Seventh Avenue from Ashkenazy Acquisition, which had borrowed from Argentic, and the loan later fell into default.

The recent transfer was between Liberman’s entity Mountbatten Equities LLC and Argentic’s AREIT RE Holder II LLC in care of Argentic Real Estate Investment LLC.

John Burke signed on behalf of Argentic, while attorney Gary Rosenberg signed on behalf of Liberman’s entity Mountbatten Equities.