Popular Bank files to foreclose $17.5M loan at troubled 39-unit LIC condo
By Adam Pincus
Popular Bank filed to foreclose on a $17.5 million loan secured by the troubled 42-unit Long Island City condominium development The Smyth, being constructed by D.A. Developers at 25-16 37th Avenue in Long Island City. The building has been in the works for more than eight years, with plans prefiled in 2012 by a previous owner.
The bank provided the construction loan in December 2016. The foreclosure case is 722851/2020, and was filed in Queens Supreme Court on November 25.
The guarantor for the loan was Barry Leon, who is also the signatory for another project, at 21-01 21st Street in Astoria.
The new building plans were originally filed in September 2012 by Spyros Kouzios, who sold the project as well as the plans, for $5 million to Leon in April 2015. Two months later the city issued building permits.
The latest plans outlined in 2019 call for a six-story, 39-unit building with a total of 42,425 square feet including a 5,459-square-foot grocery store and additional office space. Of that, 29,604 square feet will be residential space, yielding an average of 760 square feet per unit.
There is an apparent discrepancy between the number of units filed with the DOB and the New York State Attorney General. The plans filed with the AG in December 2016 call for a 42-unit condo, and the foreclosure filing identifies the project as a 42-unit condo project. However, the most recent DOB Schedule A only lists 39 units. The developer has not yet filed for an initial temporary certificate of occupancy.
The project was served a full stop work order on September 1, 2020 because, according to the DOB, the general contractor withdrew from the project.
The project has had construction issues going back to at least 2017, when work allegedly damaged the neighboring building, according to DOB complaints posted in 2017 and 2018.
Leon submitted plans to the New York State Attorney General for The Smyth in December 2016, and those plans were accepted that month, allowing contract sales to commence.
Correction: the loan total was corrected to reflect both the building loan and the project loan, which combined total $17.5 million.