Charles Cohen’s 750 Lexington Heads to Auction Block

Get your bids ready. Charles Cohen’s 750 Lexington Avenue is set to be auctioned off next month.

The auction is the result of a foreclosure lawsuit facing the billionaire behind Cohen Brothers Realty. In a judgment entered earlier this month, a state court ordered the 31-story office building to be foreclosed upon and sold to pay off a $155.9 million loan balance.

The sale is scheduled for January 21 at 2:15 pm at the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, according to Joshua Stein, the referee for the auction. The buyer will be entitled to the leasehold on the property as well as the borrower’s interest in the underlying land.

The building at 750 Lexington is one of Cohen Brothers’ legacy properties, developed by the family in the 1980s and the site of the company’s office. A borrower connected to Cohen took out $130 million on the leasehold in 2015.

But trouble began just a few years later. Tenants began vacating during the pandemic as Cohen fell behind on payments, according to information from Morningstar Credit. In 2023, beleaguered coworking company WeWork stopped paying rent. When the company declared bankruptcy, Cohen negotiated a lease amendment.

But the most recent net operating income reported by the property was just $1.8 million in 12 months, a drop of about 86 percent since the loan was underwritten. The appraised value of the property has fallen by a similar percentage in that time, from $300 million to $41 million, according to Morningstar. Debt service has been more than annual net operating income since 2021.

In 2024, the loan’s special servicer launched a foreclosure suit, accusing the borrower of falling behind on taxes and financial statements. The lender also accused Cohen, who served as a limited guarantor on the loan, of failing to submit documents showing his net worth and liquidity.

In July, a judge awarded the lender a summary judgment. The borrower now owes $155.9 million, according to court documents, nearly $25 million more than the original loan.

Attorneys for the borrower and for Cohen Brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The office tower is the latest to be lost or sold by Cohen’s entities. Last year he was ordered to pay lender Fortress Credit $187 million after a down-and-out court battle related to loan defaults. In an effort to pay off that judgment, Cohen has been marketing his buildings. In August, Vornado Realty Trust announced it would buy 623 Fifth Avenue for $218 million. Cohen also agreed to sell 3 East 54th Street to a mystery buyer for $188 million.