Courts roundup: $43.6M HFZ dev site foreclosure; $12.8M Thor Equities Soho foreclosure; more

Cours roundup for May 3, 2021: There were no real estate bankruptcies of note but there were five commercial foreclosures, including one for $43.6 million and another for $12.8 million.

Please note that legal filings represent the positions of each party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

W Financial sues to foreclose on $43.6M HFZ Capital loan: W Financial REIT filed a pre-foreclosure suit against developer the LLC affiliated with HFZ Capital Group and developer Ziel Feldman personally, in New York State Supreme Court yesterday, seeking the foreclosure and sale of the properties that secure the $43.6 million loan, including 150 East 79th Street, a development site on the corner of Lexington and East 79th Street in Lenox Hill. W Financial notified Feldman of the alleged default by letter on July 29, 2020, just five months after providing the $43.6 million loan secured by the five-parcel development site in February 2020. Lenders have sued Feldman or his affiliates approximately 40 times since January 2020, according to an accounting by PincusCo. Court LINK

Hirshmark files to foreclose $12.8M in debt at Thor Equities Soho retail: Hirshmark Capital filed to foreclose on a 2013 loan given to Joseph Sitt and a Thor Equities entity with an initial principal of $14.5 million and secured by the retail and commercial building 496 Broadway in Soho. Hirshmark bought the loan from BankUnited in December 2020. The suit says BankUnited in April 2020 signed a forbearance agreement which terminated in August 2020. The unpaid principal is $12,826,381, according to the suit. BankUnited sent a notice of loan default November 27, 2020. Sitt signed a carveout guaranty, according to the suit. LINK

3 small commercial loan foreclosures in Manhattan, Brooklyn: Lenders filed to foreclose commercial loans at several smaller properties. In the largest loan amount, Rok Lending filed to foreclose on a 2018 loan secured by a residential condo at 900 Park Avenue, Unit 6A, New York, with an original principal of $1.5 million. The suit alleges the defendants have several judgments against them, and that this loan is superior to those and now total $2.4 million. LINK In the second largest, Larch Legacy LLC sued to foreclose on a $1 million mortgage secured by four small Brooklyn properties including 306 Malcolm X Boulevard. Three of the properties also secure a $4.5 million loan from ConnectOne. LINK In the smallest, the lender of a $240,000 loan secured by the condo unit a 1062 Bergen Street, Apt 2C, Brooklyn, filed to foreclose. LINK