RJ Capital, Top Rock put office-to-resi conversion with $71.8M senior debt in bankruptcy to halt UCC auction

RJ Capital Holdings and Top Rock Holdings, who owe $71.8 million in senior debt on a high-profile project to convert and enlarge the office portion of 609 Fifth Avenue in Midtown East, Manhattan, into 66 residential condominium units, yesterday filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Southern District of New York to halt a UCC foreclosure auction scheduled for today at 10 a.m.
Case 26-10579 LINK

Even as this project appears to be struggling, RJ Capital Holdings and Top Rock Holdings are moving ahead with other projects. That said, conversion from office to residential is one of the most active development plays in Manhattan.

Recent activity as company:

• RJ Capital Holdings borrowed $90 million from Madison Realty Capital for 113-16 70 Road on December 19, 2025.

• RJ Capital Holdings borrowed $74 million from Benefit Street Partners for 98-81 Queens Boulevard, 98-81 Queens Boulevard, 98-81 Queens Boulevard, and 98-81 Queens Boulevard, Rego Park, Queens on December 01, 2025.

• RJ Capital Holdings borrowed $5.5 million from Pacific National Bank for 20 Huntington Street, 22 Huntington Street, 24 Huntington Street, and 26 Huntington Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn on September 27, 2024.

• RJ Capital Holdings for Rudolf Abramov filed plans for new building for 250,814 square feet in Forest Hills, Queens, on March 18, 2024.

The entity GW Assets FZE is seeking to foreclose on an undisclosed amount of mezzanine debt lent to RJ Capital Holdings and Top Rock Holdings’ entity 609 5th Junior Mezz LLC. Whoever controls 609 5th Junior Mezz LLC controls 100 percent of 609 Fifth Partners LLC, which in turn owns 100 percent of 609 5th Ave Owner LLC, which owns the office portion of the building.
The Daily Dac reported on the UCC foreclosure auction in January 2026.

Top Rock Holdings and RJ Capital Holdings closed June 15, 2022, on the $100.5 million acquisition of the vacant office condominium unit at the commercial building 609 Fifth Avenue. The seller was SL Green Realty. The buyers plan to convert the office portion of the building, located on the corner of East 49th Street, into 66 high-end residential condos, following conversions of office space at the Crown Building at 730 Fifth Avenue, the former Coca-Cola building at 711 Fifth Avenue and the Mandarin Oriental Residences at 685 Fifth Avenue, which all involved developer Michael Shvo. The developers then borrowed $80 million from Valley National Bank, which the Daily Dac reported was now $71.8 million.

The conversion has run into financial difficulties, reflected in the city issuing Department of Buildings violations, and Con Ed and the city alleging nonpayment for steam service and water. Reuben Brothers, which owns the retail portion of the building, sued the condo developers March 2, 2026, 651248/2026, alleging an unpaid steam bill of $467,566.

Rudolf Abramov, of RJ Capital Holdings submitted a major alteration application for a $19,594,200.00 renovation of the office portion of the building at 4 East 49th Street in Midtown East, Manhattan. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on March 9, 2023 under job number M00828334. It call for the increase in the size of the building from a 14-story building with no dwelling units to a 29-story building with 66 dwelling units. The project is described in the filing as: convert existing 14-story commercial building to a 29-story mixed use building (residential and commercial).

Prior sales, articles and revenue

This property was sold by SL Green Realty for $100.5 million to Top Rock Holdings and RJ Capital Holdings on June 15, 2022.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Midtown East, The majority, or 81 percent of the 62.6 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 7 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown East has the 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $4.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown East is the 4th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 18.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 29 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of 13 of the 20 commercial properties representing 2,234,848 square feet of the 2,546,047 square feet. The largest owner is Chun Ka Luk, followed by Comm 2014-Ubs4 and then Elo Organization. On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 285,606 square feet. It is a 285,606 square-foot business (B) building submitted by Albert Sanfilippo with plans filed June 30, 2022 and it has not been permitted yet.

The owner

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Top Rock Holdings owned at least 10 commercial properties with nine residential units in New York City with 216,459 square feet and a city-determined market value of $53.8 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $37.5 million in debt, with top three lenders as S3 Capital, Golden Bridge Funding, and Lightstone Group respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 33 percent of the 216,459 square feet of built space are specialty properties, with M1 properties next occupying 31 percent of the space. The bulk, or 96 percent of the built space, is in Queens, with Brooklyn next at 4 percent of the space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 609 Fifth Avenue, PincusCo identified 10 commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those 10 items, one was for major renovation including a certificate of occupancy change. It was a permit application filed on September 18, 2025 for the $3.8 million renovation of 74,588-square-foot 56 building with zero residential units at 18 East 50th Street. Of those 10 items, five were sales above $5 million totaling $422.8 million. The most recent of the five was Liberty Bagels which bought the 14,025-square-foot, two-unit office building (O6) on 5 East 47th Street for $9.4 million from Walter & Samuels on November 3, 2025. Of those 10 items, four were loans above $5 million totaling $3.8 billion. The most recent of the four was Namdar Realty Group, Empire Capital Holdings, and Mason Asset Management in which borrowed $172.4 million from Reznik Paz Nevo Trusts secured by the 271,266-square-foot, two-unit office building (O6) on 587 5th Avenue and one other property on January 29, 2026.

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