Isaac Chetrit closes on deal for senior debt at 315 West 35th Street

AB & Sons, led by investor Isaac Chetrit, has closed a $10.75 million
deal to buy the senior debt at 315 West 35th Street, according to
legal sources and documents filed with the Department of Finance.

Chetrit, the cousin of real estate developer Joseph Chetrit, had been
in talks with Chicago-based Wrightwood Capital, after the lender filed
to foreclose on the building’s $13.5 million debt in April.

After buying the loan from Wrightwood, Chetrit reached a new loan
assignment agreement with Signature Bank, and he is expected to
foreclose on the note, according to loan documents filed with the
department. The 14-story office building had been marketed for
residential conversion by Eastern Consolidated, but Chetrit declined
comment on what he plans to do with the building in the near term.

“Right now I cannot say,” Chetrit told The Real Deal, in a phone interview.

The 63,000 square-foot property was previously owned by diamond dealer
and Citra Trading owner Aaron Chitrik, who bought the property in 2006
for $16.2 million, and later defaulted on the mortgage with
Wrightwood, before Wrightwood sold the note to Chetrit.

Chitrik had planned to convert the building into a 57-unit residential
property with 5,000 square foot of retail space. He also had a $1.7
million personal guarantee on the property.

David Schechtman, senior director at Eastern Consolidated, brokered
the deal on behalf of the lender, while Aliza Avital, director at
Eastern, procured the buyer.

Attorney Larry Drath, of the firm Levy Holm Pellegrino and Drath,
represented the buyer.