Joseph, Meyer Chetrit Face Foreclosure at Times Square Hotel

Months after allegedly defaulting on its debt, the Chetrit Group stands in danger of losing 250 West 43rd Street to foreclosure.

Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies sued Joseph and Meyer Chetrit in Manhattan state Supreme Court on Tuesday, Crain’s reported. The lender alleges the Chetrit Group co-principals owe $223 million for three mezzanine loans secured by the property.

Mack is requesting the judge issue a summary judgment next month.

If the Chetrits fail to quickly settle their debts, the lender could initiate a UCC foreclosure against the 22-story hotel, once voted by Tripadvisor as the dirtiest hotel in the city.

A lawyer for Joseph Chetrit is aiming to get the February court date postponed by two months, he told Crain’s.

In September, Mack sued to collect a $6.5 million personal guarantee the Chetrits provided for one of the mezzanine loans, a $31.5 million loan they allegedly defaulted on in August. Mack provided the mezzanine debt on top of a $120 million first mortgage in August 2022 when the Chetrit Group refinanced the 570-room hotel, which is closed.

The Chetrits purchased the hotel in 2015 for $192 million, planning to renovate the 239,000-square-foot prewar property. That’s been a challenge: a partial stop-work order is in place and the Chetrits owe $420,000 in civil penalties for violations at the site.

Last month, Joseph Chetrit also allegedly defaulted on a $19 million mortgage attached to his own Upper East Side townhouse. Lender Popular Bank sued and threatened to foreclose on the six-story brownstone, though Chetrit claims there’s an agreement in place with his lender to make the loan current.

Joseph and Meyer Chetrit’s brother, Jacob, died this month at 69 years old. A major investor in Manhattan and South Florida real estate, Jacob ran the separate Chetrit Organization with another sibling, Juda.

— Holden Walter-Warner