Yoel Goldman is back in the game. Sort of

Yoel Goldman, who made, then lost, an empire of Brooklyn apartments, is in talks to reacquire four properties that were formerly owned by his company All Year Holdings. 

The deal is part of an agreement between Goldman and Avi Philipson’s Paragraph Partners,  which recently purchased a 133-building Brooklyn portfolio from All Year out of bankruptcy.

According to a filing in bankruptcy court, the four properties are 1361 Greene Avenue and 199 Weirfield Street in Bushwick, 648 Myrtle Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant and 3609 15th Avenue in Borough Park, all of which appear to be walkup apartment buildings. The agreed upon sales price was just $600,000, according to a filing in bankruptcy court, suggesting that the building’s loans were in distress. The deals have not yet appeared in property records.

Despite the relatively modest price — Goldman’s portfolio was once valued at more than $1 billion — his reemergence is a striking development. 

Goldman was arguably the most prolific investor in North Brooklyn real estate after the Great Recession, acquiring dozens of walkups while building some of the borough’s most noteworthy projects, including the Denizen, a 900-unit luxury apartment complex in Bushwick, and the trendy William Vale hotel in Williamsburg, which he co-developed with Zelig Weiss. He was among the first New York developers to tap the Israeli bond market for cheap financing. 

But Goldman’s empire came crashing down during the pandemic, under stress from foreclosures and lawsuits from Israeli bondholders. A member of the Satmar hasidic sect, Goldman also faced lawsuits from his partners in the Haredi Jewish community, including Weiss. 

Goldman’s highly leveraged deals eventually unraveled. Restructuring officers were appointed to oversee All Year Holdings, but he remained the main shareholder. The restructuring officers put the company into bankruptcy in late 2021 and were tasked with selling its assets. 

In late March, All Year finalized the $43.5 million sale of most of its portfolio to Paragraph Partners. It is believed that Paragraph will assume the property’s unsecured liabilities. The William Vale, which Goldman and All Year both hold stakes in, was not part of the deal. 

After Paragraph’s acquisition closed, the firm sought an additional $1 million from All Year that was held in escrow and claimed that All Year failed to comply with an investment agreement. 

In one example, Paragraph alleges All Year failed to contact lender Signature Bank in advance of the maturity of a loan secured by 648 Myrtle Avenue, 1361 Greene Avenue and 199 Weirfield Street — three of the four buildings Goldman is now in talks to buy back. The loan maturity was not extended, leading Signature to seek substantial late fees from All Year. 

All Year, now controlled by restructuring officers, denied Paragraph’s claims and alleged it had tried to contact Signature about the loan, but that the bank did not get back to them prior to early March, just days before it was seized by federal regulators. Paragraph knew the loan had matured and was in direct talks with Goldman to acquire the property.

Read more

New York

Avi Philipson to All Year: Get me out of here

New York

Zelig Weiss suffers string of losses in state, federal court

Paragraph subsequently withdrew its motion to collect the $1 million. 

Paragraph’s Philipson did not return a request to comment. Goldman also did not return a request to comment.