One of Eli Karp’s Hello Living rental buildings is hitting the auction block this month after the developer agreed to a bankruptcy sale to avoid foreclosure.
The 12-story building at 2417 Albemarle Road — known as Hello Albemarle — has 43 units and 30 parking spaces, according to the listing from Northgate Real Estate Group. The 38,000-square-foot Flatbush building was completed in 2018 and has a 421a property tax exemption.
Over the past few years, iCross Capital has pursued foreclosure on three of Karp’s Brooklyn projects alleging the developer failed to keep up with his debt payments. iCross and Karp reached a settlement in October to end their disputes.
Karp agreed to unload Hello Albemarle through a bankruptcy sale in exchange for the lender dropping its lawsuit.
Karp was once a promising developer who bet on building luxury rental apartments further out in Brooklyn. All of his projects had Hello in their names and stood out for their sleek designs, which appeared out of character next to neighboring buildings.
But Karp began defaulting on his loans around 2019 and lenders initiated foreclosures.
Long Island City-based iCross, founded in 2012, had provided a $6 million loan to Karp’s Hello Flatbush, a $1 million loan for Hello Lenox and a $2.5 million mezzanine loan for Hello Albemarle. The creditor initiated foreclosures on all the properties and was allowed by the settlement to foreclose on its interests in Hello Lenox and Hello Flatbush.