UAE owner of stalled condo conversion at 609 Fifth files bankruptcy as $70M loan matures

The United Arab Emirates-based owner of the stalled condominium conversion set for the upper portion of the building at 609 Fifth Avenue, in Midtown East, Manhattan, filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy petition yesterday, on the day a $70 million senior loan from Valley National Bank and Ben Harlev’s Be Aviv, secured by the property, matured. The owner, GW Assets FZE, based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, took control of the project through its position as mezzanine lender in recent weeks. The debtor filed the petition in the Southern District New York of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Case 26-11420 LINK

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 planned 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 and Be Aviv, which bankruptcy records show was reduced to $71.8 million. (A transcript for the earlier bankruptcy says the current debt is about $70 million. (Case 26-10579-sab Doc 32-1)

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).

The former owners of the project, RJ Capital Holdings and Top Rock Holdings, filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy petition on March 18, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Southern District of New York to halt a $57.6 million UCC foreclosure auction scheduled the next day. (Case 26-10579 LINK) That auction was blocked but ultimately the bankruptcy was dismissed May 5, 2026, and at some point control shifted to GW Assets FZE.

The individual Komilkhuja Makhamadkhodjaev, identified as director of GW Assets FZE, signed the bankruptcy petition.

The Sharjah-based entity Global Wireless FZE, on November 18, 2025, provided a $41,373,614.26 mezzanine loan consolidation structured the secondary financing for the asset. The transaction merged two prior $13,000,000 promissory notes from June 2022 and June 2023, originally issued to United Arab Emirates-based Global Wireless FZE and subsequently assigned to GW Assets FZE. To finalize the consolidation, a new mezzanine promissory note was executed for $15,373,614.26. Under Section 2.1.4 of the overarching loan agreement, these newly advanced funds were specifically earmarked to address immediate property-level capital deficiencies and senior debt defaults.

The allocation of the $15.37 million advance was strictly distributed across several critical liabilities. Specifically, $4,620,728.51 liquidated accrued, unpaid interest owed to the senior lender through October 31, 2025, while an additional $918,973.69 covered forward-looking senior interest from November 1 through December 15, 2025. Furthermore, $8,700,000.00 satisfied a mandatory principal paydown demanded by the senior lender, and $833,708.05 cleared delinquent real property taxes, insurance premiums, and operating expenses. The remainder of the capital advance was completely absorbed by transaction closing fees, which included approved legal expenses incurred by the senior lender, GW Assets FZE, and the debtor in the first bankruptcy case.

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