Courts roundup: Vanbarton sued over $556M HFZ project; Rockwood Capital sues in FiDi

Courts roundup for April 22, 2021: There were no bankruptcies of interest, and one small commercial foreclosure.

Court filings are the positions of the individual parties and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

EB-5 investors sue to block UCC sale for $556M HFZ project: Preferred equity EB-5 investors who according to the complaint contributed $60 million, seek to block a UCC mezzanine sale scheduled for today, April 23. A UCC sale would shift control over a planned HFZ Capital Group development with a total construction cost of $556 million at 3 West 29th Street, for a 551-foot-tall, 34-story office tower. The investors claim the assets, partially owned by a the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, cannot be sold without approval of a court pursuant to nonprofit asset sale law. They further allege the Vanbartan Group as mezz lender is “rushing” the sale before the developers and investors can raise $40 million to cure the defaults. The Real Deal covered the suit yesterday here. Court LINK

Rockwood sues Buccini/Pollin Group over FiDi hotel: Rockwood Capital alleges it has paid $1.36 million more than its contractual share to maintain a loan totaling $62.5 million secured by a hotel at 8 Stone Street. It claims it has paid the $1.36 million on behalf of its JV partners, the Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc., and it is suing to be repaid. According to the suit, the parties borrowed $62.5 million in 2019 for the “acquisition, renovation and operation of a hotel (“DoubleTree Hotel”) located at 8 Stone Street, New York.” “Indeed, rather than fulfill the very obligations that they had reaffirmed, the BPG Parties assumed that the Rockwood Parties would make the Rockwood Excess Payments on their behalf to avoid the dire consequences of a default that both the Rockwood Parties and the BPG Parties would otherwise face.” “BPG Parties failed to pay their share of the Lender Guaranty Payments and failed to repay the Rockwood Excess Payments. Worse, the BPG Parties recently admitted that they have deliberately withheld paying the Rockwood Excess Payments because their “resources are more productively focused on [other] matters”. Thus, not only have the BPG Parties breached, among other things, their obligations under the LLC Agreement and CrossIndemnity, but they have done so willfully, maliciously and in bad faith.” “The BPG Parties breached the Cross-Indemnity by, among other things, failing to pay at least $1,364,040.15 (plus interest) in Rockwood Excess Payments.”  LINK

$814K commercial foreclosure in Brooklyn: PS Funding filed to foreclose on a $814,500 loan secured by the property 219 Hull Street in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn. LINK