Fortress files to foreclose on Toby Moskovits’ Bushwick hotel site

LLC behind planned 155-unit hotel declared bankruptcy last summer

Toby Moskovits (Google Maps, Supreme Court of the State of New York)
Toby Moskovits (Google Maps, Supreme Court of the State of New York)

Eleven months after it filed for bankruptcy, changes are afoot at an inactive Bushwick hotel development site owned by Toby Moskovits’ Heritage Equity Partners.

Fortress Investment Group has filed to foreclose on the property at 232 Seigel Street, in conjunction with a court order allowing Heritage to pay off the mezzanine debt, PincusCo reported.

“The COVID-19 Emergency Protect Our Small Businesses Act of 2021 is not applicable to this matter,” Fortress notes in its complaint, “since the subject property is vacant and unimproved, and was intended to be used exclusively as an approximately 155 room hotel with amenities, community space and parking.”

The $5.25 million senior loan is guaranteed by Moskovits, Michael Lichtenstein and Moshe Dov Schweid. According to the complaint, the total amount owed now comes out to $8.2 million with interest and penalties.

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The Seigel Street property is part of Heritage’s Bushwick Generator development, which also includes creative and tech offices at 215 Moore Street. The complex has been the subject of numerous legal disputes between Moskovits’ firm and lenders, whom Moskovits accuses of predatory lending practices.

Last summer, a judge allowed the appointment of a receiver for the Moore Street property. The Seigel Street property filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a month later after a prospective buyer failed to close due to the pandemic, according to PincusCo. Elsewhere in Brooklyn, Moskovits’ Williamsburg Hotel filed for bankruptcy in February.

[PincusCo] — Kevin Sun