Courts roundup: Buyer wants $26M contract terminated; Solil battles Malekan; $3M Bushwick bankruptcy

SC Holdings seeks termination of $26M Bowery Savings Bank contract: SC Holdings, which signed a contract to buy 130 Bowery, the landmarked former Bowery Savings Bank building, is seeking to terminate the contract and have its $1.3 million deposit returned. The contract vendee blames the bankrupt seller for dragging its feet in completing requirements outlined in the contract. SC Holdings declared the contract void on February 2, 2024, and filed a motion asking the bankruptcy court to accept that and force the return of the deposit.

Last month, the trustee for a defaulted securitized loan secured by the building alleged that individuals controlling the debtor are intentionally delaying the $26 million sale of the property that was originally scheduled for October 2023, and moved several times.

The sale to SC Holdings, planned as part of the disposition of the property in bankruptcy, has not happened, and the loan trustee points the finger at the debtor in a complaint filed in January in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Bankruptcy 22-11109-jpm

SC Holdings was founded by Jason Stein and Daniel Haimovic. Haimovic, through SC Holdings, is chairman of the Saga Hospitality Group, which is behind two Michelin star restaurants in New York.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page.

Solil Management seeks to terminate Manouchehr Malekan’s ground lease in Forest Hills: Solil Management, which manages the estate of the late Sol Goldman, alleges the ground lease at 116-02 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens, originated in 1951 is terminated, following the expiration of a 45-day cure period which ended on December 15, 2023. The ground lessee is Manouchehr Malekan, who owns approximately two dozen properties, according to a PincusCo analysis of city records. Solil allges there are unpaid fines totaling more than $17,000 as well as violations, which are causes of default for the ground lease. Solil Management owns several hundred properties in New York City and is the ground lessor in dozens. There is no dollar amount sought in the court case, however Malekan acquired the ground lease in October 2009 for $2.5 million. The court case does not provide the date for the expiration of the lease, nor is it available in property records. Typically such ground leases last 99 years.

$3M bankruptcy filed in Bushwick: Fannie Mae filed a pre-foreclosure in 1:23-cv-04030-RPK-TAM filed in May 2023 on a loan with an original principal of $2,375,000 secured by 1488 Bushwick Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Solomon Steinlauf, the property owner, is supposed to file a motion by February 15, 2024, to vacate a default order from July. According to the pre-foreclosure case, “Should Defendants Solomon Steinlauf and 1488 Bushwick, LLC, wish to file a motion to vacate the default, they shall serve, but shall not file, their motion to vacate on Plaintiff by 2/15/2024.”
The walkup building with 16 residential units in Bushwick has 10,800 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 36 feet and is 90 feet deep with a total lot size of 3,284 square feet. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.8 million.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page