Shaya Boymelgreen

Paul Bright, a Smith Street condo owner who successfully sued Shaya Boymelgreen over construction problems in his building, says the embattled developer — and the $1,800 in damages he was ordered by a judge to pony up — is now nowhere to be found. “As soon as they lost the judgment, they disappeared,” Bright told the Daily News, which couldn’t reach Boymelgreen for comment. The sheriff’s office, which Bright called in order to get the judgment enforced, couldn’t find him either. In April, Boymelgreen was evicted from his Prospect Heights headquarters near Atlantic Yards after his landlord lost the building to eminent domain. In March, his LibertyPointe Bank was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and he’s also facing a slew of lawsuits from condo buyers over allegedly shoddy construction at his buildings. [NYDN] 

[more]

Flushing’s landmarked RKO Keith’s Theater, which Shaya Boymelgreen lost in a so-called friendly foreclosure last year, sold this week for $20 million to Manhattan condo developer Patrick Thompson, Crain’s reported. Thompson, who hasn’t yet decided on the future of the long-vacant but once-famous theater on Queen’s Northern Boulevard, said he paid the price of Boymelgreen’s loan for the 389,000-square-foot building. Potential uses include a condominium or a nursing home, he said. Boymelgreen bought the building in 2002 for $15 million with the intent of converting it to condos. [Crain's] 

[more]

Atlantic Yards property owner Henry Weinstein, who lost his six-story Pacific Street office building last month to eminent domain, has evicted his tenant, developer Shaya Boymelgreen, for allegedly selling his lease to Bruce Ratner and failing to pay rent. Weinstein arrived at the building yesterday morning with sheriff’s deputies and had a locksmith use a crowbar to break open the door. Some 20 Boymelgreen employees and subtenants filed out before Weinstein padlocked the doors. State officials said that while they did not plan to intervene, Weinstein technically had no right to evict tenants, as the state took title to the building March 1. [NYDN]

Alleged transfer of funds from companies linked to Charles Antonucci, former president of the now-shuttered Park Avenue Bank, back to him and then reinvested in the bank. (Click image for larger version.)

Marking the first ever prosecution of alleged fraud against the Trouble Asset Relief Program, Charles Antonucci, the former president of the Park Avenue Bank was arrested this morning and charged with embezzlement, bribery and allegedly trying to defraud the program of $11.2 million. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara warned that while this was the first ever TARP prosecution, his office had recently ramped up staffing and expected the probe to continue. Federal prosecutors allege that Antonucci approved loans and lines of credit to companies that he invested in, made false statements to federal regulators to apply for TARP funds and arranged for the bank to lease properties that he personally owned at 2 Broad Street and 48 Jackson Street in Fishkill, NY. “Antonucci allegedly put his personal greed ahead of his professional duty, deliberated and repeatedly deceived regulators and even attempted to obtain through fraud more than $11 million in taxpayer rescue funds through the Troubled Asset Relief program or TARP,” Bharara said. Antonucci’s attorney, Charles Stillman, said he just received a copy of the charges and would not immediately comment.
[more]

Donald Glascoff’s (left) Park Avenue Bank has been shut down with its deposits sold to Valley National Bank, headed by Gerald Lipkin (right)

Federal and state regulators have shut down the Park Avenue Bank and sold its deposits to Valley National Bank, marking the second seizure and asset sale of a New York City bank in two days. The State Banking Department closed the bank citing ineffective management and inadequate capital as well as a high volume of non-performing loans. “We determined that the management team’s inability to address the
problems in the consent order led to the bank being critically
undercapitalized,” said Richard Neiman, supervisor of the state Banking
Department. “This issue coupled with the high volume of non-performing
loans held by Park Avenue meant that the bank could no longer operate
in a safe and sound manner.” The FDIC entered into a loss-share transaction on $379.8 million of Park Avenue Bank’s assets. Park Avenue Bank reported assets of $520.1 million and deposits of $494.5 million, according to the FDIC. The bank’s four branches will reopen as branches of Valley National Bank. Last night, state regulators shut down and sold the assets of LibertyPointe Bank, the struggling lender owned by Brooklyn-based developer Shaya Boymelgreen. Asked whether the collapse of two small New York banks was a start of a new trend, FDIC officials acknowledged that commercial real estate lending is playing a larger role in bank failures. [more]

Developer Shaya Boymelgreen

The New York State Department of Banking shut down developer Shaya Boymelgreen’s struggling LibertyPointe Bank, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sold its assets to Wayne, N.J.-based Valley National Bank, marking the first New York state bank seizure this year. The shut down — which will cost the FDIC $24.8 million — comes nine months after federal and state regulators issued a cease and desist order against the lender for using unsound banking practices, including operating with an excessive amount of commercial real estate loans. “It is a top priority of the New York State Banking Department to
protect the deposits of consumers of New York State banks and ensure
the safety and soundness of the banking system in the state,” said
Richard Nieman, state superintendent of banks, in a statement. Valley National Bank officials said the bank assumed about $200 million
in deposits and received about $180 million in loans, which are subject
to a loss-share agreement with the FDIC. The bank also received $20
million in cash and other assets. [more]

Over the past decade, a number of prominent Israeli investors have had their ups and downs investing in New York City real estate. Some of these investors who have experienced hardships include Yair Levy, Shaya Boymelgreen and Africa Israel Investments, controlled by Lev Leviev, the company which purchased the former New York Times Building in Times Square. While foreign investors with billions of dollars of capital sit on the sidelines, a few new Israeli investors are testing the Manhattan commercial real estate waters. With prices at record lows, these investors hope to capitalize on the record low prices of property in New York City. Later this month, Israeli company, IDB Holdings, controlled by Nochi Dankner, and partner Joseph Cayre plan to close on the purchase of the HSBC Bank Tower headquarters at 452 Fifth Avenue.

[more]

Some of Cuomo’s big contributors in the real estate industry, from left: Jerry Speyer, Jeff Blau, Aby Rosen, Andrew Farkas, Richard LeFrak, Kent Swig, and Shaya Boymelgreen

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is emerging as the real estate industry’s darling, as he prepares his bid for the gubernatorial race, which could include potential candidates Rick Lazio and current Governor David Paterson, with developers and other real estate bigwigs throwing cash behind the potential candidate. The industry has been so fiscally generous to Cuomo that it’s ranked as the Attorney General’s top giver, according to the New York Times. Cuomo has raked in around $18 million in funds donated from real estate executives, including some troubled figures. Three top executives from Tishman Speyer Properties, the erstwhile owner of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, have donated a combined $151,000, while Shaya Boymelgreen has given $8,000 and Kent Swig has forked over $15,000 in the past two years.
[more]

Developer Shaya Boymelgreen was hit with a five-day eviction notice
yesterday at his headquarters at 752 Pacific Avenue in Brooklyn after
a series of legal troubles with his landlord Harry Weinstein. Although
he was scheduled for eviction last year, the process was stalled
after two companies claimed to be subleasing space from the developer
and tried to push him into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But a U.S. Bankruptcy judge ruled Dec. 11 that the eviction could proceed and
Boymelgreen was given the notice yesterday. This development is the
latest in a series of financial troubles for the embattled Boymelgreen,
who most recently failed to meet the Nov. 30 deadline to raise enough
cash to save LibertyPointe Bank, a financial institution which he
co-founded four years ago.

A tenant claiming to sublease space in Shaya Boymelgreen’s Prospect Heights office has filed a petition to push two of the embroiled developer’s companies to Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to Crain’s. The alleged subletter, 752 Pacific Street Corp., says that Boymelgreen pledged to give it $252,000 if he broke its lease early. But now the company says that with Boymelgreen unable to meet his pledge, it has been forced to take legal action. The building’s landlord, Henry Weinstein, believes 752 Pacific Street Corp.’s claims are false. “Boymelgreen never gave us any indication of subtenants,” Weinstein said. “We just assume this is some kind of fraud.”