NYC commercial foreclosures rise to $469M in April, while total number of cases falls

By Adam Pincus

Lenders filed more large commercial foreclosure cases against the city’s owners and developers last month than in any other month so far this year, according to court data tracked daily by PincusCo Media. There were a total of eight cases above $5 million, seeking a total of $454 million.

However, overall the number of new foreclosure cases fell in April, with a pull back in the number of cases below $5 million.

The total dollar volume of foreclosure cases more than doubled in April to a total of $469 million, up from $196 million in March, but most of that increase was driven by one large case. If that case were removed, the total dollar volume would be steady at about $200 million.

The total number of cases filed fell from 39 in March to 24 in April, but the number of large cases — above $5 million, rose from five in March to eight in April.

The largest case filed in April was for $270 million, in which a lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, filed to foreclose on 10 loans given to Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding to develop the condo building 100 East 53rd Street. The loans originally totaled $360 million, but at the time of the suit, there was principal and interest totaling $270.1 million. LINK

That loan was the largest PincusCo has recorded since at least September 2020. The next highest loan since September 2020 was Bank Leumi’s $120 million foreclosure suit over Fortis Property Group’s 161 Maiden Lane project. 

The other large foreclosure suits filed last month included an anonymous lender filing to foreclose on a $61 million loan secured by Concord Hospitality’s Cambria New York Times Square hotel,  and AllianceBernstein filing to foreclose on a loan secured by Meadow Partners’ The Gregory Hotel at 42 West 35th Street, now totaling $27.9 million.