Ken Huang buys $23M note secured by 89-unit LIC condo project in foreclosure

Ken Huang through the entity 32 New Venture Holding LLC bought a note with an original principal of $23 million from Cathay Bank secured by an 89-unit residential condominium project (D6) at 37-19 32nd Street in Long Island City, Queens.
The deal closed on September 27, 2024 and was recorded on October 2, 2024. The property has 97,106 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.
The owner bought the property on November 21, 2013, for $8.1 million.

Cathay Bank in February 2024 filed case 703084/2024 to foreclose on a $23 million construction loan lent in 2018 for the development of the 86-unit Meridian Towers condominium at 37-19 32nd Street in Long Island City with an alternate address of 37-21 32nd Street. The sponsor is Shangri-La Astoria Inc. that includes various individuals signing loan documents, as sponsor and named in the court filing. Eastone Equities lists the property on its website with the address 37-21 32nd Street. The signatory on the 2018 loan documents was Xiaozheng Tang.
In 2023, Shangri-La Astoria Inc. sought to refinance the $23 million loan, according to allegations in a complaint Northwind Group filed in December 2023, 656538/2023. In it, Northwind Group alleged the prospective borrower did not abide by a term sheet signed October 20, 2023, with an exclusive period, that envisioned a $27 million loan from Cathay Bank.

Violations and lawsuits

The property was involved in two lawsuits over the past two years. The highest value suit was a $23 million commercial foreclosure concerning a loan filed on February 8, 2024, by Cathay Bank against Eastone Equities, Jason Li, Bin Lin, Xuan Cheng, and Kevin Yu. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $2,950 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on October 31, 2022. There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot. On the tax lot, the most recent condominium plan was filed by SHANGRI-LA ASTORIA INC. to create 86 residential units and 3 commercial units in a building at 37-19 32nd Street in Long Island City, Queens, called Meridian Towers Condominium that has a $68 million sellout, according to an August 11, 2021 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principal of the sponsor, SHANGRI-LA ASTORIA INC., was Yiming Li.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of four of the nine commercial properties representing 103,566 square feet of the 144,829 square feet. The largest owner is Xiaozheng Tang, followed by Michael Arapis and then Century Development Group.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 58,254 square feet. It is a 64-unit, 58,254 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Century Development Group and filed by George Xu with plans filed October 19, 2020 and permitted January 12, 2023.

The majority, or 75 percent of the 144,829 square feet of built space are elevator buildings, with industrial buildings next occupying 10 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link