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Maverick moves to foreclose on former Flushing theater site

Maverick's David Aviram and Ted Martell with rendering of previously planned development at 135-35 Northern Boulevard
Maverick's David Aviram and Ted Martell with rendering of previously planned development at 135-35 Northern Boulevard (Maverick Real Estate, Studio V Architecture, Getty)

Chinese developer XIN Development Group has run into another issue on another one of its Brooklyn properties. 

David Aviram and Ted Martell’s Maverick Real Estate Partners, the lender that’s known for being trigger-happy on foreclosures, has filed to foreclose on XIN’s Flushing development. The action was first reported by PincusCo.

The site at 135-35 Northern Boulevard was formerly the historic RKO Keith’s Theater. XIN paid Jerry Karlik’s JK Equities $66 million in 2016 for the land, where it planned a 17-story mixed-use complex on the site that would feature 269 condominium units.

In 2019, Madison Realty Capital provided XIN with a $30 million pre-development loan. The loan was acquired in August by Maverick, who later upped the loan to $34 million, according to property records

Maverick alleges Xin initially went into default in January when it failed to pay its real estate taxes. It then missed payments on its debt service beginning in May, according to the lawsuit filed in New York state court.

Maverick and XIN declined to comment.

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XIN, the U.S. development arm of Xinyuan, was once viewed as a company that could lay the blueprint for how Chinese developers could operate in New York City. 

But the action by Maverick comes on the heels of another foreclosure for the firm. A block of 21 unsold units in the Oosten condominium complex in Williamsburg is slated to go up for auction on July 25 after XIN defaulted on a $45 million loan.

Maverick is one of the most active players in New York distressed real estate. Its strategy involves buying the debt on troubled landlords, collecting interest on the default rates, and, sometimes, initiating a foreclosure. 

The firm has not backed down from some of New York’s notorious landlords.

In 2021, Maverick sued Steve Croman to foreclose on four Kips Bay apartment buildings. It also sought to foreclose on a building owned by Herman Epstein, who was convicted of bribing an official in the New York City Department of Buildings. Epstein accused Maverick of “sandbagging” him by seeking to foreclose on the Bushwick building while he was in prison.

For its part, Maverick has said its legal actions are simply following the terms of the loan documents, with the goal of getting repaid.

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