Lender Emerald Creek Capital takes title to LES office, following $32M bankruptcy
139 Bowery (Credit - Cyclomedia)
Lender Emerald Creek Capital through the entity ECC Bowery LLC, took title to the 18-unit mixed-use building (O6) at 139 Bowery in the Lower East Side, Manhattan, with a transfer value of $49.5 million. The expected use is hold for sale. The former owner Hung Kwong Leung through the entity Global Joint Venture, Inc., filed bankruptcy a year ago following a default on a $32 million loan Emerald Creek Capital provided in 2019.
The title transfer closed on May 21, 2026, and was recorded on June 4, 2026. The property has 58,390 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The sale price per built square foot is $847 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for Hung Kwong Leung was Kevin J. Nash. The signatory for Emerald Creek Capital was Mark Penna. The contract date was May 21, 2026.
Just over one year ago, Hung Kwong Leung as president of Global Joint Venture Inc., the sponsor of a mixed-use condominium project at 139 Bowery with 18 residential units, commercial units, one community center and one retail space, filed the bankruptcy petition May 1, 2025 in Brooklyn.
139 Bowery Condo Unit Planned Sale Prices
The bankruptcy was filed to halt a May 2, 2025 UCC foreclosure auction. The total projected sell out was $59 million. Developers borrowed $32 million in 2019 to develop the project. It was delayed by Covid, but was completed in 2024. The sponsors put in $6 million of their own cash. “The Debtor has agreed to retain BKREA as its real estate broker in the Chapter 11.”
Prior sales, articles and revenue
Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer Emerald Creek Capital had purchased any other properties and sold one property in one transaction for a total of $3 million over the past 24 months.
The seller Hung Kwong Leung had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period. The 58,390-square-foot property generated revenue of $3.8 million or $66 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
The property
The office building with 18 residential units in Lower East Side has 58,390 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 109 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,446 square feet. The lot is irregular. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $15.9 million.
Violations and lawsuits
The property was involved in zero lawsuits and one bankruptcy over the past two years. The bankruptcy was filed on May 1, 2025, by Hung Kwong Leung and Chung Fon Lew citing assets of $32 million. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $1,450 in OATH penalties in the last year.
Development
For the tax lot building, it received its initial certificate of occupancy on October 28, 2024. 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 GLOBAL JOINT VENTURE, INC. to create 18 residential units and 18 commercial units in a building at 139 Bowery in Little Italy, New York, called 139 Bowery Condominiumthat has a $59 million sellout, according to an March 31, 2022 submission to the New York State Attorney General. The principals of the sponsor, GLOBAL JOINT VENTURE, INC., were Lew Chung and Patrick Wu.
The neighborhood
In Lower East Side, The majority, or 51 percent of the 23.8 million square feet of commercial built space are elevator buildings, with walkup buildings next occupying 21 percent of the space. In sales, Lower East Side has 1.5 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $533.7 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 22nd highest in Manhattan. For development, Lower East Side has had very little major development activity relative to other neighborhoods.It had 1.2 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 5 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of six of the 20 commercial properties representing 220,755 square feet of the 328,471 square feet. The largest owner is Lightstone Group, followed by City Of New York and then Wai Kuen Wong.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 8,521 square feet. It is a nine-unit, 8,521 square-foot residential (R-2) building submitted by Mayer Berkovits with plans filed April 1, 2021 and permitted September 11, 2024.
The majority, or 34 percent of the 328,471 square feet of built space are hotel buildings, with office buildings next occupying 34 percent of the space.
The seller
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Hung Kwong Leung owned at least one commercial property with 18 residential units in New York City with 58,390 square feet and a PincusCo-determined asset value of $42.6 million. The portfolio has $32 million in debt, borrowed from Emerald Creek Capital. The portfolio consists of at least a single office property.
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