Tribeca mixed-use building to hit foreclosure auction block

A 14,535-square-foot, five-story residential and retail building at 334 Canal Street is slated to hit the block at a bankruptcy auction Sept. 21, after mortgage lender CNBS Trust took control in 2010, Newmark Knight Frank, which is marketing the property, said today.

The building, which was formerly owned by Mymon Realty LLC, sits on a 2,900-square-foot lot with an alternative address of 37 Lispenard Street and features five loft-style apartments — the units on the second, third and fifth floors are full-floor residences, featuring two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms each, and there are two units on the fourth floor — and Uncle Steve Car Stereo store, operated by Mymon Realty, on the ground floor, which leases on a month-to-month basis. The recently renovated apartments are vacant, Newmark said.

Newmark’s David Noonan, who is marketing the property along with Jennifer Schwartzman, Justin DiMare and Justin Yadgaroff, said though the outstanding amount on the mortgage had been $12.5 million in October of 2010, when the foreclosure motion was filed, it was now closer to $13.5 million. A reserve bid of $7 million has been placed on the sale, which will take place at the law firm of Goldberg Weprin Finkel Goldstein LLP at 1501 Broadway.

Mymon closed on the building at the top of the market in 2007 for $11 million, purchasing it from New York City landlord Michael Marvisi, who recently leased a Tribeca townhouse at 153 Franklin Street short-term to controversial French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn while he underwent questioning over the alleged rape of a New York hotel maid. Mymon tried to Offload The Canal Street building various times as it got into financial trouble, listing it with Robert Dvorin, Ian Wolf, Young Lee and Michael Brais of Prudential Douglas Elliman. It was first listed for $14.5 million in July 2009 and was eventually taken off the market in October of that year.

Dvorin, now a senior vice president at Town Residential, predicts the building will sell for a large sum, in excess of the mortgage amount.

“It’s a great building,” he said. “[There will be] a lot of interest in the property because of up and coming demand for condo conversions.”

Dvorin pointed to other possible conversions in the area, including at 39, 46-48 and 50 Lispenard Street.

There’s certainly no guarantee that Uncle Steve’s will remain after the building is sold.

“Canal retail has extraordinary foot traffic,” said Noonan. “The area is slowly transforming from manufacturing, and what used to be knock-off businesses, into something more classy. It looks like an old Soho.”

Uncle Steve’s was not immediately available for comment.