Corebridge Sues Ed Minskoff Over Dumbo Loan

Corebridge Financial hit Edward J. Minskoff Equities with a $138 million pre-foreclosure suit on Friday.

EJME defaulted on three mortgages tied to an 11-story office building at 29 Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, according to the lender. The note came due in November of 2024 and the maturity date was not extended, PincusCo reported.

The loan was initially issued by AIG Investments, but later taken over by Corebridge Financial, which was formed in 2022 following a spinoff of AIG’s assets.

EJME bought 29-35 Jay Street from the Forman Group in March 2020 for $61.5 million, when the site was occupied by a two-story brick warehouse. The deal was backed by a $40 million acquisition loan from Bank of America. In August of 2020, the firm filed plans to construct a 184,467-square-foot commercial building.

Though EJME requested an extension on the project, the suit alleges that the developer didn’t pay the extension request fee.

In July, EJME found itself facing another potential foreclosure of its leasehold at three office buildings at 500-512 Seventh Avenue, along with partners Meyer Chetrit and Joseph Moinian. In that suit, the lender alleged that the partnership was not collecting rent and that the lender had to pay the project’s electricity bill after the partnership failed to do so.

In December 2024, the borrower nearly defaulted on an office tower at 1166 Sixth Avenue but secured a refinancing from lender Wells Fargo.

Despite the defaults, EJME has secured several large tenants in recent months. In June, L.E.K. Consulting signed a 10-year, 54,000-square-foot lease on a Midtown property which EJME owns interests of.

It has had luck with scoring large leases with government agencies. In January, the firm leased 148,000 square feet in a Midtown office building to the FDIC as well as 139,000 square feet in a Jamaica plaza to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

— Quinn Waller