Developer faces foreclosure on Soho condo

Note: Correction appended.

A developer whose company is pairing with General Electric to build an eco-friendly planned community in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is facing foreclosure at his Soho condo unit.

The Bank of New York filed papers in Manhattan State Supreme Court on August 15, alleging that Robert O’Neel III has defaulted on his mortgage and now owes $3.2 million, the full value of the condo at 103 Greene Street. O’Neel is president and chief executive officer of RWO Acquisitions, located in Midtown.

O’Neel, who had no role in developing the building, bought the Soho condo unit in August 2002 for an undisclosed sum and took out a $1.7 million mortgage. By 2006 he had increased the debt to $3.57 million, the filing said.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

His 3,005-square-foot unit was valued at about $1,190 per square foot. Apartments in the building have sold for between $1,301 and $1,976 per square foot in the past three years, according to PropertyShark.com.

The full-service seven-story building, called The Lofts of Greene Street, is in the Soho Cast-Iron Historic District, between Spring Street and Prince Street, and was converted to condos by hotelier and restaurateur Tony Goldman in 2002.

RWO Acquisitions and GE Consumer and Industrial announced in 2007 that they would partner to develop energy-efficient homes within a planned 900-acre community at the former Myrtle Beach Air Force base known as Withers Preserve.

O’Neel refused to comment.