Rajmattie Persaud puts Bronx buildings with $61.5M debt in bankruptcy as prep for sale

Rajmattie Persaud and Karan Singh filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in consultation with their lender Fannie Mae last week in order to facilitate the sale of two large Bronx complexes that are subject to a $61.5 million pre-foreclosure action. The bankruptcy comes barely two months after Fannie Mae filed the pre-foreclosure action, alleging the loans were in default. The bankruptcy filing estimates the properties are worth about $40 million.

Case 1-25-45747-jmm LINK

Fordham Tower, Fulton Tower bankruptcy

Persaud and Singh bought Fordham Tower at 480 to 490 East 188th Street, and Fulton Tower at 540 East 169th Street, in 2013 for $51.5 million.

In the bankruptcy filing, the debtor alleges, “the Debtor’s Property is overleveraged and subject to foreclosure, and lacks liquidity due to a judgment obtained by the New York City Department of House Preservation and Development.
“Besides the first mortgage, the Properties are also subject to a judgment obtained by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”) in the sum of $10,700,000 based upon an overly inflated analysis of outstanding violations which includes interest and penalties that will be challenged in bankruptcy. Like virtually all multi-family buildings in New York City in the wake of the pandemic and a tremendous reduction in the payment of rents, the Properties became subject to hundreds of violations for outstanding tenant repairs. Of these violations, however, 403 are Class A and B, with far fewer Class C violations (156). The root cause of the violations is the tenant’s self-inflicted damage arising out their failure to pay rent to the tune of more than $11.6 million in arrears that left the Debtor without the necessary liquidity to make the required repairs.

“To kick-start the sale process, the Debtor intends to retain Northgate Real Estate Group as its exclusive real estate broker to market the Properties for auction.’

Fannie Mae in its complaint filed in September, alleged through the filing 1:25-cv-07877, mortgage payment and water payment defaults at Fordham Tower and Fulton Tower. According to the complaint, “Greystone Servicing Corporation, Inc., in its capacity as loan servicer (the “Servicer”), acting on behalf of Plaintiff, and Borrower entered into seven separate forbearance agreements [From April 1, 2020, to May 31, 2022]…The amounts paid by Borrower have been sufficient to pay the Monthly Payments due and owing from April 2020 through September 2024. Monthly Payments remain due and owing from October 2024 forward, a period of twelve months… As of the filing of this Complaint, Borrower owes $1,669,439.13 in waste and wastewater charges for Fordham Tower and $3,161,069 in waste and wastewater charges for Fulton Towers…” The lender was seeking an order for the appointment of a receiver.

The properties

The elevator building Fulton Tower at 540 East 169th Street with 321 residential units in Morrisania has 285,056 square feet of built space and 96,365 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 381,031 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 407 feet and is 266 feet deep with a total lot size of 110,765 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R7-2 which allows for up to 3.44 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $20.3 million.

The elevator buildings with 170 residential units at Fordham Tower at 480 to 490 East 188th Street in Belmont has 148,500 square feet of built space and 6,374 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 154,888 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has two buildings with frontage of 173 feet and is 244 feet deep with a total lot size of 63,740 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is R6 which allows for up to 2.43 times floor area ratio (FAR) for residential. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $7.7 million.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page