Courts roundup: $3.8M pre-foreclosure in Bronx; $4.5M in LIC; $1M equity loan default

$3.8M pre-foreclosure on Bronx dev site: An entity affiliated with Robert Lumaj filed to initiate foreclosure proceedings on a development site at 655 Mace Avenue with an alternate address of 2500 Barker Avenue, with plans for a 53-unit building. The new note holder bought the debt from ACRES Capital in January 2023.

Abraham Wieder submitted a new building construction project for a 53-unit, 48,452 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 2500 Barker Avenue. The plan was filed on March 19, 2019 and was permitted on February 11, 2021. It calls for the construction of a 74-foot tall, seven-story building and was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings under job number 220693961.

Case LINK

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

$4.5M pre-foreclosure in LIC: Kearny Bank filed a pre-foreclosure action alleging a loan with an original principal of $4.5 million loan secured by the office building at 30-01 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens, was in default. The property is owned by Michael Schwartz.
According to the complaint, “Plaintiff seeks to foreclose upon the Note and Mortgage, and to recover the principal, interest and other charges in the total accelerated amount of $4,357,976.72 as of April 17, 2023.”
The office building in Long Island City has 9,200 square feet of built space and 15,256 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 24,450 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 51 feet and is 92 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,890 square feet. The zoning is M1-3/R7X which allows for up to 5 times floor area ratio (FAR) for manufacturing and up to 5 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.3 million.

Case LINK

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.

Abraham Heby alleges $1M loan to Abraham Leifer in default: Real investor Abraham Heby alleges he made a loan on February 24, 2020 to Abraham Leifer, CEO of Aview Equities. The loan, according to the complaint, was secured by equity stakes in three entities. Heby claims the loan was not repaid on time and with interest a total of $1.6 million is due. The loan was secured by interests in a 50% stake in Hello Livingston Extended LLC which owns 291 Livingston Street and is subject to a $29 million construction loan from ACRES Capital from 2018; by the entity AVEQ 275 Livingston LLC that owned 275 Livingston Street, but sold it in 2021; and the entity 232 Seigel Property LLC, which appears to be affiliated with 232 Seigel Street, a property Leifer bought from Toby Moskovits’s Heritage Equity Partners out of bankruptcy for $10.5 million. Leifer bought 232 Seigel with the entity 232 Seigel SPV LLC. Abraham Leifer is the founder and CEO of the development firm Aview Equities.
Case LINK