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]

From the November issue: The string of developments directly across from McCarren Park on Bayard Street, dubbed “Karl Fischer Row,” has been one of the most talked-about blocks of condos in Williamsburg. All three buildings — 20 Bayard, 30 Bayard and 50 Bayard — went into the ground a few years ago and have been move-in ready for more than a year. But how have the buzzed-about projects fared during the downturn, compared to the rest of this struggling neighborhood? For all their notoriety in the real estate media and on the blogs (the stretch was nicknamed by the real estate Web site Curbed.com after the prolific architect who designed all the buildings), brokers say only one building there can truly be considered a sales success.