Chetrit, Stellar State Down Foreclosure on Upper West Side

The bill is coming due for the Chetrit Organization and Stellar Management on the Upper West Side.

Shareholders of a $400 million mortgage backing the Columbus Square shopping center filed a lawsuit seeking to foreclose on the property, Crain’s reported. The move comes months after ownership defaulted on the debt at the outdoor shopping center, stretching from West 97th to West 100th Street on Columbus Avenue.

Chetrit and Stellar began missing monthly $1.9 million debt payments in August, according to the lawsuit. Chetrit vowed to make good on the back payments and resume monthly payments after receiving a default notice in October, but failed to actually do so, according to the suit, leading to another default notice this month.

Ownership allegedly owes $370 million, including more than $7 million in interest and late charges.

Law firms for the defendants either declined to comment or did not respond to the publication’s request. No legal response has been filed either.

The 270,000-square-foot shopping center is anchored by Whole Foods and Target. The debt has been in special servicing at least twice, including once in late 2023 due to tenant distress from the pandemic, leading to a three-year extension on the mortgage.

The shopping center is separate from a five-building, 710-unit multifamily portfolio that sits above the retail portion of the complex. In August, UDR, the Colorado-based multifamily real estate investment trust, and its partner MetLife began exploring a sale of the rental portion of the property for up to $500 million.

Four of the five buildings are free market; the fifth is subject to an older 421a agreement under which an owner could raise rents by 47 percent before hitting their legal rent limits.

UDR teamed up with MetLife in 2012 to buy the portfolio from the late Laurence Gluck’s Stellar and the Chetrit Organization for $635 million.