From left: Stephen Siegel and Peter Turchin of CBRE and 218 West 18th Street
A joint venture between Atlas Capital Group and GreenOaks Real Estate Partners has purchased the defaulted note on a recently redeveloped 172,000-square-foot Chelsea office property, Crain’s reported, and has brought in a new leasing team to attract tenants to the building. [more]
Embattled developer Harry Jeremias put his Chelsea office rehabilitation project at 216 West 18th Street into bankruptcy in order to transfer the 13-story building to a designee of Atlas Capital Group, court records show.
Jeremias’ Harch Group, through its development company 216 West 18 Owner, on Tuesday filed the so-called pre-packaged liquidating Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plan in Manhattan, but the plan has not yet been approved by the judge.
The court records show the development company owes $74.3 million in principal and interest on a first mortgage and $24.6 million in principal and interest on a mezzanine loan, for the Chelsea property recently appraised at just $62.3 million, the filing shows. [more]
Developer Harry Jeremias and diamond retailer Tsvi Pluczenik are facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit after they failed to complete a 13-story office tower in Chelsea that was recently in foreclosure.
Jeremias, of the Harch Group and PHH Realty Group, defaulted on $48 million in loans from Bank of America to redevelop the office building at 216 West 18th Street. Pluczenik, president of Universal Pacific Diamonds & Jewelry and the Pluczenik Group, co-owned about 93 percent of the property along with Jeremias.
The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court by an entity called 216 W 18 Lender, alleges the building was originally scheduled for completion in April 1, 2008, and then the deadline was extended until Sept. 30, 2008. [more]
The $48 million note on 216-218 West 18th Street has entered contract with an unknown Israeli buyer, according to the New York Post. The buyer of the note is receiving a 7 percent discount, sources say. The building is in the middle of foreclosure proceedings by Bank of America, after developer Harry Jeremias, founder of the Harch Group, was slapped with a foreclosure suit in October 2009. Jeremias, who bought the building for $50 million in April 2007, intends to challenge the sale, according to attorney Stephen Meister, who is representing Harch. “It’s not over and we are still fighting,” Meister said. “I will be fighting against whoever buys the mortgage.” [Post, 1st item]
Embattled developer Harry Jeremias is facing a new round of litigation for allegedly defaulting on $48 million in loans from Bank of America, used to purchase and renovate a 13-story office tower at 216 West 18th Street. Jeremias, founder of the Harch Group, allegedly defaulted on the loans after the project encountered months of construction delays, multiple stop-work orders from the Department of Buildings and deteriorating safety conditions at the site, according to documents filed Oct. 22 in New York State Supreme Court. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a firm that services the loan on behalf of Bank of America, is asking for a court-appointed receiver, and warning that the building could lose its existing base of tenants without “competent” supervision of the project. [more]
Developer Harry Jeremias, who is fighting a foreclosure proceeding at
his Jasper condominium conversion, is facing a $500,000 lawsuit
alleging he failed to pay rent at his 200 West 57th Street office. The plaintiff, Jeffrey Management Corp., filed a breach of contract
suit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan alleging that Jeremias failed
to pay more than $92,700 in back rent. Jeremias’ firm, the Harch Realty
Group, is named as a defendant as well. Including the $92,700, the plaintiff is asking for more than $544,000
in commissions, legal fees, advertising costs as well as the costs to
prepare the space for a new tenant. Jeremias guaranteed all payments
under the lease agreement, according to the suit. [more]
Shaun Osher (Source: New York House Magazine) and the JasperCore Group Marketing claims in court papers filed this week that the
developers of the stalled condominium conversion project Jasper are
personally liable for half a million dollars after an exclusive
marketing contract was terminated last fall. The sales and marketing firm led by CEO Shaun Osher alleges that
developers Harry Jeremias, Francisco Pujol and Henry Orlinsky owe the
firm a $500,000 termination fee after the marketing agreement was ended
in November 2008, court papers filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court
April 20 say. Development companies the Harch Group, led by Jeremias, and PHH Realty,
a partnership of Jeremias, Pujol and Orlinsky, joined forces to build
an 80-unit condo in a converted office building in Murray Hill at 114
East 32nd Street, between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue. [more]
