Corebridge files $138M pre-foreclosure in Dumbo, alleges Minskoff construction loan in maturity default

Corebridge Financial filed a $138 million pre-foreclosure action on Friday, alleging the construction loan provided in 2021 to Edward J. Minskoff Equities for the development of the recently completed 11-story office building at 29 Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, was in a maturity default.

The lender says the loan was not repaid by the November 1, 2024, maturity date, and the maturity date was not extended.

Many lenders have filed pre-foreclosure actions alleging maturity defaults, typically because property values for some assets have declined and interest rates have risen.

A representative for Edward J. Minskoff Equities declined to comment.

Despite these headwinds, Minskoff continues to pursue new development projects. It recently signed a ground lease with Edison Properties for a development site in NoHo.

The original lender was AIG Investments, but the loan was assumed by Corebridge Financial, a firm created in 2022 through a spinoff of AIG assets.
Court cases reflect the position of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete. The lender filed the case under the case type Commercial Division, and not under the typical location for commercial foreclosure actions, Real Property – Mortgage Foreclosure – Commercial.
Case LINK

According to the complaint, “Although Borrower delivered to Plaintiff an Extension Request Notice on October 1, 2024, it did not pay the Extension Request Fee…On or about November 1, 2024, Borrower paid the interest that had accrued and was then outstanding, but failed to pay the Debt in full as required by the Loan Agreements.”

Minskoff acquired the property at 29-35 Jay Street in March of 2020 from the Forman Group for $61.5 million. It was then home to a  two-story brick warehouse. The purchase was funded by a $40 million acquisition loan from Bank of America.

On August 27, 2020, Edward J. Minskoff Equities submitted a new building construction project for a 184,467 square-foot business (B) building at 29 Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 321592969 and was permitted on October 4, 2021. It called for the construction of a 11-story building.

The city issued the initial temporary certificate of occupancy for the new building on September 4, 2024, and has reissued subsequent TCOs since then.

The property

The development building in DUMBO has 196,664 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 99 feet and is 150 feet deep with a total lot size of 18,955 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is M1-6/R8X which allows for up to 10 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 6.02 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The property is in the DUMBO Historic District. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $5.3 million. The most recent loan totaled $138 million and was provided by AIG on October 12, 2021.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Forman family for $61.5 million to Edward J. Minskoff Equities on March 23, 2020.

Development

Edward J. Minskoff Equities submitted a new building construction project for a 184,467 square-foot business (B) building at 29 Jay Street. The plan was filed on August 27, 2020 and was permitted on October 4, 2021. It calls for the construction of a 148-foot tall, 11-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 321592969.

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on November 14, 2012.

Violations and lawsuits

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

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

The neighborhood

In DUMBO, The majority, or 56 percent of the 4.4 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 36 percent of the space. In sales, DUMBO has not had any sales in the last two years. For development, DUMBO has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 34th highest in Brooklyn. It had 238,530 square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of three of the five commercial properties representing 81,310 square feet of the 202,654 square feet. The largest owner is Edward J Minskoff Equities, followed by Joseph Torres and then Pearl Realty Management. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 184,467 square feet. It is a 184,467 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Edward J. Minskoff Equities and filed by Daniel Centonze with plans filed August 27, 2020 and permitted October 4, 2021.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 37 Jay Street, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those two items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on July 1, 2025 for the $376,400 renovation of 31,075-square-foot residential (R-2) building with six residential units at 39 Pearl Street. One of those two items was a loan which Two Trees Management borrowed $108.4 million from M&T Bank secured by the 500,000-square-foot, 240-unit office building (O6) on 20 Jay Street on November 6, 2023.

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