Marketing to start for bankrupt former Grace Kelly home with more than $25M in claims

By Adam Pincus

The former home of actress Grace Kelly at 51 East 73rd Street with at least $25 million in claims held by lender Goodman Capital will soon be marketed for sale, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Several individuals were identified as potential buyers in addition to Goodman Capital, which in a bankruptcy has the opportunity to win with its credit bid. The additional potential buyers identified in the filings include real estate investor Michael Chetrit, French jeweler Elise Dray David, Emmanuel David and Harold Einhorn.

The Ender family which owns the building at 51 East 73rd Street filed for bankruptcy in March 2020 as it sought to hold off an imminent foreclosure auction in New York State Supreme Court. Paul Ender, a longtime owner, borrowed $10 million in April 2015, shortly before he died. His wife refinanced later that year and in 2016, ultimately borrowing $15.25 million from Castellan Real Estate. That loan was assigned in 2017 to Madison Realty Capital and then Madison assigned it in 2019 to Goodman Capital.

The once single-family, 12,321-square-foot building was divided into 16 residential apartments and additional commercial spaces, according to an article in the Commercial Observer at the time of the bankruptcy filing.

In January, a bankruptcy judge approved Greg Corbin of Rosewood Realty Group as the broker to market the property for sale.

According to an operating report covering December 2020, the debtors did not turn over any financial books or records to the bankruptcy trustee, Lori Lapin Jones, so the report only covers the finances “under the trustee’s control,” which noted only expenses and did not note any revenue.

Clarification: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this post implied Paul Ender died in 2017, when in fact he died in 2015.