30 Henry Street (credit: PropertyShark)The Brooklyn Eagle headquarters will be demolished and give way to a six-story residential building, according to Department of Building filings cited by Brownstoner.

Though there’s no record of the building changing hands since being put on the market in March with Massey Knakal Realty Services, a company called “Fortis Manor” that shares an address with the Fortis Property Group filed plans for a five-unit building at 30 Henry Street designed by BKSK architects. Comments

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From left: Leon Charney, Peter Malkin and 119 West 40th StreetBillionaire investor Leon Charney is facing a new lawsuit filed last month from Malkin Properties for allegedly reneging on a deal to buy a $22 million mezzanine loan on his Midtown office tower, almost a year after the property was placed under a court-appointed receiver.
The 340,000-square-foot building, at 119 West 40th Street, has been in trouble since December 2009, when CW Capital Asset Management filed to foreclose on a $160 million senior mortgage. Charney, the Manhattan-based head of L.H. Charney Associates and former Carter administration advisor, originally acquired the property for $182 million in 2007 with Manhattan-based George Comfort & Sons and Brooklyn-based Fortis Property Group, one of the city’s top commercial real estate firms. [more]

From left: Leon Charney, owner of L.H. Charney, Peter Duncan, president of George Comfort, and 119 West 40th Street (Building photo source: PropertyShark)

Just weeks after negotiating an agreement to rescue 119 West 40th Street from a mezzanine loan default, George Comfort & Sons and L.H. Charney Associates are facing foreclosure on a $160 million senior mortgage at the site.

CW Capital Asset Management, which is servicing the senior loan on behalf of Bank of America, filed suit in New York State Supreme Court Dec. 14 to foreclose on the property.

George Comfort and Charney originally borrowed $160 million from Wachovia Bank and Greenwich Capital Financial Partners in April 2007, according to the lawsuit, with half coming from each bank. The loan was later sold to GS Mortgage Securities Corp. II, as part of a July 1, 2007, loan purchase deal signed between Greenwich and GS.

In July 2009, Fitch Ratings warned that the 119 West 40th Street loan was performing below expectations. Fitch said the loan was underwritten based on the expectation of resigning below-market leases at higher rents; however, the building fell behind schedule and was transferred to the special servicer in June 2009 with the expectation of imminent default.  More

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Peter Duncan, president of George Comfort, and 119 West 40th Street (building photo source: PropertyShark)

L.H. Charney Associates and George Comfort & Sons have reached an agreement with lenders on a deal that would save their struggling office tower at 119 West 40th Street from going into receivership.

High-level sources familiar with the negotiations say they have reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit by mezzanine lender Wein & Malkin and are finishing up a deal with their senior mortgage lenders.

“It’s done,” Leon Charney, chief executive of L.H. Charney, confirmed to The Real Deal, in a brief telephone interview.

On Oct. 16, W&M, now called Malkin Properties, filed suit against Charney, George Comfort President Peter Duncan and Fortis Property principals Joel and Margaret Kestenbaum alleging they defaulted on a $22.25 million mezzanine loan with the original mezzanine lenders, Wachovia Bank and Greenwich Capital, who issued the loan in April 2007. [more]