Fannie Mae files $11.9M pre-foreclosure on Washington Heights multifamily bought in December 2022

Fannie Mae filed an $11.9 million pre-foreclosure action against the owner of adjacent properties at 82-84 Wadsworth Avenue in Washington Heights, Manhattan, that the borrower purchased just over a year ago.

Basya Weiss bought the two buildings in December 2022 for $15.5 million and borrowed $11.9 million, which was originated by JLL and assigned to Fannie Mae.

Fannie Mae alleges the borrower did not make loan payments starting in November, leading to this foreclosure action. Case LINK

Court records represent the position of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete.

According to the complaint, “On or about March 31, 2023, JLL Real Estate Capital, LLC (“JLL”) made a loan to Borrower in the original principal amount of $11,933,000 (the “Loan”).Borrower failed to timely make the Monthly Debt Service Payments that came due on November 1, 2023 and December 1, 2023, both of which remain outstanding as of the date of this Complaint.

The property

The walkup building with 21 residential units in Washington Heights has 14,665 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 41 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 4,191 square feet. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $1.4 million. The most recent loan totaled $11.9 million and was provided by JLL on March 31, 2023.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was sold by Shimon Kohn for $6.9 million to Basya Weiss on December 22, 2022.

The 14,665-square-foot property generated revenue of $325,381 or $22 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Development

Over the past five years, there has been no NYC Department of Buildings new building, demolition, or alteration permit application valued at more than $20,000 filed for this parcel.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received 33 housing violations, $50 in OATH penalties, and one housing litigation in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Washington Heights, The bulk, or 45 percent of the 65.9 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 27 percent of the space. In sales, Washington Heights has near average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $508 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 20th highest in Manhattan. For development, Washington Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 22nd highest in Manhattan. It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 2 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 16 commercial properties representing 210,692 square feet of the 363,514 square feet. The largest owner is Alma Realty, followed by Ashkenazy Acquisition and then Basya Weiss. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Basya Weiss owned at least two commercial properties with 46 residential units in New York City with 38,375 square feet and a city-determined market value of $2.7 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $17.9 million in debt, borrowed from JLL and Roc360. Within the portfolio, all identified are walkup properties. They are all located in Manhattan.

The owner according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development is Barry Brunner, head officer. The business entity is 82-84 Wadsworth Avenue Ny Llc.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 82 Wadsworth Avenue, PincusCo identified six commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. One of those six items was a sale which Basya Weiss bought the 23,710-square-foot, 25-unit rental (C1) on 84 Wadsworth Avenue for $8.6 million from Shimon Kohn on January 10, 2023. Of those six items, five were loans above $5 million totaling $42.4 million. The most recent of the five was Ashkenazy Acquisition in which borrowed $19 million from JPMorgan Chase secured by the 85,176-square-foot, five-unit industrial (G1) on 4168 Broadway on February 27, 2023.

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