HAP Investments puts Washington Heights project in bankruptcy with $48M debt
4452 Broadway (Credit - Cyclomedia)
HAP Investments through the entity 4452 Broadway Mazal LLC filed a bankruptcy petition yesterday in the Southern District of New York to protect its delayed 129-unit mixed-use development project at 4452 Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
Madison Realty Capital through the entity 4452 Broadway 1 LLC provided a $48 million senior construction loan in 2019 for the project that was initially expected to be completed in late 2020. The total debt at the time was reported to be $52.5 million.
HAP Investments is an Israel-based real estate development firm co-founded by Nir Amsel, who filed the petition.
At the same time, HAP Investments filed a second bankruptcy petition covering another project, a 42-story, 902-unit rental at 500 Summit Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Madison Realty Capital is also a creditor.
The 4452 Broadway Chapter 11 filing provides very little information, including no information on creditors or assets. It indicates both assets and liabilities are between $10 million and $50 million, even though the total loan reported in 2019 was $52.5 million. It also indicates that funds will be available to repay unsecured creditors.
HAP Investments bought the site in 2013 for $7.3 million. According to The Real Deal at the time of the 2019 Madison Realty Capital loan, the firm planned to build a seven-story mixed-use project with a total of 134,475 square feet, which includes 11,000 square feet of retail space and 129 apartments. Of those units, 30 percent were planned to be affordable.
The entity 500 Summit Avenue LLC, which is an affiliate of Madison Realty Capital, which is the lender through the entity 4452 Broadway 1 LLC and maker of a $48 million senior construction loan in 2019, filed to appear in the Washington Heights case.
After tossing out its original plans filed in 2013, in 2018, HAP Investments submitted a new building construction project for a 129-unit, 86,760 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 4452 Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on May 8, 2018 under job number 123366302 and was permitted on December 6, 2019. It calls for the construction of a seven-story building. The project is described in the filing as: construct seven story mixed use new building as per plans filed.
Prior sales and revenue
This property was sold with another property for $7.3 million on April 29, 2013.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received $33,500 in ECB penalties and $40,810 in OATH penalties 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 $591.3 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 23rd highest in Manhattan. For development, Washington Heights has near average amount of major developments among other neighborhoods and is the 19th highest in Manhattan. It had 1.3 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 42 of the 88 commercial properties representing 1,612,672 square feet of the 2,638,389 square feet. The largest owner is Alma Realty, followed by Chaim Simkowitz and then United States Postal Service. On the tax block, there were eight new building construction projects totaling 516,827 square feet. The largest is a 123-unit, 135,361 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Woody Victor with plans filed October 4, 2017 and it has not been permitted yet.
The surrounding
Within a 400-foot radius of 4458 Broadway, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those two items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $48.9 million. The most recent of the two was GP Properties in which borrowed $17.7 million from KeyBank secured by the 9,729-square-foot, 16-unit rental (C1) on 1 Broadway Terrace and seven other properties on June 8, 2023.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.