Bankruptcy filed for FiDi dorm valued at $13M with $50M debt

Alliance University, the shuttered Christian liberal arts college that owns a dormitory condominium unit at 2 Washington Street in the Financial District, placed the property in chapter 7 bankruptcy through a filing made Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The filing states the asset is worth $13 million and has $50 million remaining in a senior loan, along with additional liabilities.

Bankruptcy Case 24-12439-mg LINK
2 Washington Alliance University Ch 7 pdf
Foreclosure Case 850020/2024 LINK

The trustee for a securitized loan with an original principal of $55 million filed a pre-foreclosure action in January 2024, seeking the sale of a 150,000-square-foot dormitory condominium (square feet measured including loss factor) unit at 2 Washington Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The unit is part of the condominium building 17 Battery Street.

Alliance University, the new identity for a 142-year-old institution formerly known as Nyack College, closed in 2023 after losing its accreditation, according to news reports. Since July 2023, the school had not made debt payment, the lender alleged.

Nyack College was started in Manhattan in 1882 as an education institution founded by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It purchased the 150,000-square-foot condominium unit at 2 Washington Street from the Moinian Group in 2016 for $49.2 million.

The school is affiliated with the Ohio-based Christian and Missionary Alliance.
The condominium board of 17 Battery Place in state court is battling the lender over a $3.18 million lien of unpaid common charges as of November 2023. The board states its lien has priority over the loan.
The bankruptcy filing states the property is worth $13 million but has a $50 million loan outstanding to CGCMT 2016-P3, also known as Series 2016-P3 which was originated by Natixis. The bankruptcy also states the debtor owes about $2.2 million to the Moinian Group through the entity Salon Owner LLC.
The bankruptcy filings also says Alliance University stipulated that it would transfer ownership of the condo unit to Seminario Teologico de Puerto Rico, Inc.
The filing says, “Transferred building where the seminary is located. Building was funded by donation with restrictions that if debtor ceased to exist, the funds would remain in Puerto Rico for seminary education.”

The property

The property in NYC has 127,080 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $16.7 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold for $49.2 million on March 17, 2016.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on July 8, 2013.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

The property was involved in one lawsuit and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The suit was a $55 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on January 26, 2024, by CGCMT 2016-P3 and Series 2016-P3 against Nyack College and Alliance University. The bankruptcy was filed on December 24, 2024, by Alliance University and Nyack College citing assets of $13 million.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 2 Washington Street, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a loan which Moinian Group borrowed $134.2 million from Deutsche Bank secured by one condo unit in the 383,478-square-foot, 623-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 17 Battery Place on March 22, 2024.

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