Germany’s Helaba Bank and Chicago-based lender Capri Capital Partners are facing a $20 million lawsuit from investor Amir Chaluts at the troubled Reade57 condominium project in Tribeca, seeking to stop the lenders from modifying a loan agreement with the John Buck Co., the lead developer on the project. 
Chaluts, operating under the name 281 Broadway Developers at the project, filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court June 24 seeking an injunction against the lenders for making a loan agreement without his consent and a judgment against the lenders.

“Despite developers having advised Helaba and Capri that any loan modification must be approved by developers, Helaba continues to fund the loan, and… Helaba, Capri and Buck are presently negotiating a modification of the loan agreements,” attorney Aaron Abraham, representing Chaluts, said in the New York state Supreme Court complaint. [more]

The owners of the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park are expected to refinance the building Monday. The $1.275 billion loan is one of the biggest private financings since 2007. The money, which took building owners Durst Organization and Bank of America nine months to get, will be used to pay back a $950 million loan on the building, to repay investors and to finish work on the tower. Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Wells Fargo Bank, Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank and Helaba Bank are providing the financing. Douglas Durst, the Durst Organization’s chairman, said securing the financing for the tower was part of what allowed him to resign as the company’s co-president. He will stay on as chairman. [more]