Signature Bank files $16M pre-foreclosure against Sugar Hill Capital Partners

Signature Bank filed a pre-foreclosure action yesterday in New York State Supreme Court against major workforce housing landlord Sugar Hill Capital Partners, over a $16 million loan originally provided in 2019 and secured by the 54-unit elevator building at 4300 Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
Sugar Hill bought the property in 2016 for $21.6 million.

This is Signature Bank’s first commercial foreclosure filing in New York City of $1 million or more in at least two years. This is the first foreclosure PincusCo has identified with Sugar Hill.

The elevator building with 54 residential units in Washington Heights has 52,598 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data.

The 4300 Broadway parcel has frontage of 100 feet and is 118 feet deep with a total lot size of 10,450 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 $4.6 million.

According to city public data, the property has received three DOB violations, $1,250 in ECB penalties, 14 housing violations, and $2,280 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Court filings reflect the positions of one party and are not necessarily accurate or complete. In some instances, a pre-foreclosure action must be filed to renegotiate the loan. Sugar Hill has not yet filed response papers.

According to the complaint, “At the request of 4300 Broadway Residences, LLC agreement dated May 11, 2020, Signature Bank agreed to defer monthly payments due on May 10, 2020, June 10, 2020, and July 10, 2020… At the request of 4300 Broadway Residences, LLC, by letter agreement dated August 12, 2020, Signature Bank agreed to defer monthly payments due on August 10,2020, September 10, 2020, and October 10, 2020…

“Defendants 4300 Broadway Residences, LLC defaulted under the terms of the Amended and Restated Note and Consolidated Mortgage as a result of their failure to pay the monthly payment amount of $99,282.89, due on August 10, 2022, and the monthly payments due on the tenth day of each month thereafter.”

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Sugar Hill Capital Partners owned at least 98 commercial properties in New York City with 1,799,200 square feet and a city-determined market value of $224.9 million. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 55 percent of the 1,799,200 square feet of built space are walkup properties, with elevator properties next occupying 34 percent of the space. The bulk, or 71 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Brooklyn next at 29 percent of the space. The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes David Schorr, head officer and Fiorella Selios, officer. The business entity is 4300 Broadway Residences Llc.

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