Owner of historic Sousa townhouse files unusual bankruptcy tied to another West Village property

William Rainero, who is an owner of the highly litigated historic John Philip Sousa townhouse at 80 West Washington Place in the West Village, filed an unusual bankruptcy petition in Manhattan yesterday, related to another property he and other family members sold in 2017 for $17 million, 607-609 Sixth Avenue, also in the West Village, a development site.

Rainero filed the bankruptcy petition on behalf of Sei Insieme LLC,  an entity that gave a $7.5 million purchase money loan to the buyer of 607-609 Sixth Avenue. Then a year later, Rainero’s entity borrowed $5 million from the Galinn Fund, using that $7.5 million loan as collateral.

The current owner of the development site 607-609 Sixth Avenue is not involved in this bankruptcy litigation.

The 2017 buyer of 607-609 Sixth Avenue, an entity tied to George Filopoulos, fell into default on the $9.3 million senior loan provided by Castellan Capital, and in 2020, Castellan initiated foreclosure proceedings, which ended in a foreclosure sale set for today, December 14.

As part of Rainero’s sale of 607-609 Sixth Avenue, his family through the entity Sei Insieme LLC provided a purchase money mortgage to buyer George Filopoulos, which was a second mortgage on the property, junior to an $8 million acquisition loan provided by Castellan Capital, later upped to $9.3 million. Acris records show the purchase money mortgage to be $5 million, but the bankruptcy filings puts the figure at $7.5 million.

The Rainero bankruptcy filing appears to be an effort to protect the entity that will likely have no value following the foreclosure sale of 607-609 Sixth Avenue, but the reason for the bankruptcy filing was not provided in the petition.

The Sousa townhouse was also involved in foreclosure proceedings, which Emigrant Bank and the Galinn Fund initiated separately in March 2021. Emigrant through 850070/2021, has pursued the case and won the appointment of a receiver, but there have been no documents filed in the Galinn case since March 23, 2021. LINK

Late last month William Schneider submitted a new building construction project for a 39-unit, 22,339 square-foot residential (R-2) building at 307 to 309 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on November 22, 2022 under job number M00791192. It calls for the construction of a seven-story building.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.