Reuben Brothers files $62.5M pre-foreclosure at Midtown West hotel, owner battling fraud allegations
130 West 44th Street (Credit - Google)
Reuben Brothers through their entity Motcomb Estates filed to foreclose on a December 2019 loan with an original principal of $62.5 million secured by the Chatwal hotel at 130 West 44th Street, which the lender says since December 2022 has been in a maturity default.
The property is owned by Adams Hotels International and is managed according to property records by Dream Hotel Group.
The alleged guarantor on the loan, Iyer Vaidyanathan Narayan who is also known as Ganesh Narayan, is being sued in New York State Supreme court for allegedly perpetrating a fraud 652950/2022 against the company Astra Global. That 2022 complaint alleges Narayan improperly used Astra Global funds to buy the leasehold for the Chatwal hotel, which Narayan acquired for $115 million in 2013. Narayan in that case denies the fraud and has appealed two recent losses in state court.
According to the Reuben Brothers’ complaint, the “Borrower defaulted under the Loan Documents referenced above by reason of, among other things, Borrower’s failure to repay the Loan in full on the Maturity Date of December 19, 2022… there is now justly due and owing upon the Note and the Mortgage to Plaintiff the outstanding principal balance of $64,407,565.”
The hotel building in Midtown West has 75,421 square feet of built space and 1,148 square feet of additional air rights for a total buildable of 76,560 square feet according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 76 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 7,656 square feet. The zoning is C6-5.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The property is an Individual Landmark.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the 14 commercial properties representing 1,301,940 square feet of the 2,068,863 square feet. The largest owner is Dream Hotel Group, followed by Durst Organization and then Moinian Group. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 8,665 square feet. It is a 8,665 square-foot mercantile (M) building submitted by Thomas Duffe with plans filed June 12, 2015 and it has not been permitted yet.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.