Courts roundup: SL Green wins $185M from HNA related to 245 Park; $13.6M Bronx pre-foreclosure

SL Green wins $185.4M award over HNA Group at 245 Park Avenue: SL Green Realty won a $185.4 million award through arbitration with the owners of 245 Park Avenue, an affiliate of the HNA Group, the beleaguered Chinese conglomerate which owns the 1.78-million-square-foot Plaza District trophy tower. SL Green claims in a court fling that it won the award on May 5, based on a $148 million preferred equity investment and a joint venture agreement it made in the building in 2018. HNA bought the building for $2.21 billion from Brookfield Properties in May 2017. Then on October 31, 2021, HNA filed to place the building in chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, in part blaming SL Green for not replacing an important tenant. The bankruptcy case link is here.  The arbitration, according to the petition SL Green filed, sided with the office landlord in the disputes over management of the building. LINK

Court filings are the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

Affordable lender files $13.6M pre-foreclosure suit in Bronx: The nonprofit affordable housing financing company Community Preservation Corporation, filed to foreclose on a development led by Leopoldo Baez and Emanuel Kambanis, who signed completion guarantees, in the Bronx with numerous ECB violations and a partial stop work order in effect. The lenders claim the loan, interest and other fees total $13.6 million. In 2017 the developer filed plans to build a seven-story rental building with 48 residential units in a total of 47,737 square feet. There was a partial stop work order notice on the property on May 23, 2022 based on an inspection on December 15, 2021 alleging the property failed to have a sidewalk shed, missing windows, etc. LINK