W Financial President Gregg Winter and 20 Bayard

After settling a two-year-old bankruptcy case at 20 Bayard in Williamsburg, senior lender W Financial Fund has sold the unsold shares, which include 37 vacant apartments, to Brooklyn investment firm Fortis Property Group for $25 million, according to the lender.

After settling the bankruptcy case with developer Isaac Hager, president of North Development Group, the lender was planning to take over the project, but was blown away by an unsolicited offer from Fortis.

“The idea was that we would own the remaining apartments,” W Financial President Gregg Winter said. “At last second as we were preparing to close a week and a half ago, we were approached by [Fortis], [who was] fervently interested in buying our interest.” [more]

W Financial’s Gregg Winter, 20 Bayard

A state Supreme Court judge awarded an $8.7 million judgment this week against the developers of 20 Bayard, the Williamsburg condominium that went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2009 af [more]

W Financial’s Gregg Winter, 20 Bayard

A state Supreme Court judge awarded an $8.7 million judgment this week against the developers of 20 Bayard, the Williamsburg condominium that went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2009 af [more]

In their first official response to the bankruptcy filing of 20 Bayard, lawyers for W Financial Fund last week urged a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to reject a motion by developer Isaac Hager to continue operating the Williamsburg condominium with monthly rent and parking fees. Hager, president of North Development Group, threw the 64-unit condo into bankruptcy last month, when he was unable to make a $170,000 interest payment to W Financial, or refinance a $17.4 million bridge loan. In a Dec. 9 filing, Martin Ehrenfeld, restructuring officer for the developer, asked permission to use the rent and parking fees to cover monthly maintenance charges for at least 120 days until a reorganization plan is worked out with creditors. After selling 24 apartments before the real estate market collapsed in 2008, Hager rented out nearly all of the remaining units until the condo market recovered. According to the court documents, 20 Bayard has $1.28 million in net operating income per year. [more]

20 Bayard (right)

After months of trying to keep his Williamsburg condominium project afloat on rental income, developer Isaac Hager threw 20 Bayard into bankruptcy after he was unable to refinance the building loan or support the building’s monthly debt with outside funds, according to court documents obtained by The Real Deal. According to an affidavit filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court by Martin
Ehrenfeld, director of sales and marketing at North Development and
restructuring officer of 20 Bayard Views LLC, the entity that controls
the condo, Hagar was unable to refinance a $17 million mortgage loan
from Manhattan-based lender W Financial Fund. He was also unable to
make a $170,000 interest payment and $85,000 extension fee that would
have extended the loan until Jan. 13, 2010.
[more]

20 Bayard

In a move that stunned real estate executives and residents of the
building, the sponsors of 20 Bayard Street in Williamsburg filed the
condominium into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late this
afternoon. According to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Brooklyn, the
condo by North Development Group owed more than $10 million to more
than 50 creditors. The reason for the filing was unclear, however bankruptcy is often
used by developers to prevent a property from being foreclosed on.
Records with the city Department of Finance show that Istar Financial
inherited the building loan from subprime lender Fremont Bank.
However, court documents show that Manhattan-based hard money lender W
Financial among the listed creditors. The creditor with the largest unsecured claim was Add Plumbing, a
contractor at 120 Evergreen Avenue in Brooklyn. The claim was for
$325,000. [more]

The development site at 421-431 Kent Avenue and N. Richard Kalikow (site photo source: PropertyShark)

Brooklyn developer Isaac Hager is facing litigation after he allegedly took out a $17 million loan from N. Richard Kalikow’s Alpha Capital, and allowed his terminally ill business partner, Chaim Lax, to personally guarantee the loan, less than a year before his death.

Alpha, a firm controlled by Kalikow’s Manchester Real Estate and Construction, entered an agreement in October 2007, to lend the $17 second mortgage to Kent Wythe 9th Street, a firm led by Hager and Lax, who was at the time suffering from terminal cancer, according the lawsuit filed Nov. 20 in New York State Supreme Court.

In December 2007, the developer paid $42.6 million for a development site at 421-431 Kent Avenue and 464-474 Wythe Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, with plans to build several apartment buildings there, according to PropertyShark.com records and the complaint. [more]