Kushner Companies’ Times Square retail condo headed to auction

Kushner Companies’ struggling Midtown retail condo is set to go to a Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure auction.

The 251,000-square-foot property at 229 West 43rd Street will come up for sale on June 30, according to Commercial Observer, which cited an auction notice from JLL.

The auction is being sought by mezzanine lender Paramount Group, which issued a $70 million loan for the project in 2016. This March, it was reported that Kushner Companies had fallen behind on loan payments for the fourth time in five months — and the pandemic has only intensified pressure on the retail sector since then.

Kushner Companies did not respond to a request for comment.

The firm purchased the property in 2015 for $296 million, and later secured $370 million in refinancing.

The deal included Paramount’s $70 million mezzanine loan, as well as a $15 million mezzanine loan from SL Green and a $285 million CMBS loan from Deutsche Bank.

Last November, the $285 million loan was moved to special servicing in order to be reworked after tenants defaulted on their leases. Miniature landscape emporium Gulliver’s Gate had gone bankrupt.

The auction later this month will reportedly take place over Zoom, and participants will be required to enter a password for entry.

[CO] — Sylvia Varnham O’Regan