APF Properties Loses Midtown Office to Lender

For the second time in a year, APF Properties lost its grip on a Midtown property enveloped in foreclosure proceedings.

The prewar 25 West 45th Street office building sold to its lender, Wells Fargo, at a foreclosure auction on Wednesday, Crain’s reported. The bank bought the 200,000-square-foot property for $45.1 million, or approximately $225 per square foot.

APF had been in danger of losing the property for months. The special servicer on the CMBS debt tied to the office filed to foreclose in May 2024, shortly after a $70 million default by the landlord.

An attorney for Wells Fargo did not respond to a request for comment from the publication.

APF’s portfolio has been decimated by WeWork departures from four buildings, as well as an office market altered in the wake of the pandemic. The co-working firm, which leased 2 floors at 25 West 45th, did not begin paying rent until the second quarter of 2020, then terminated its lease in January 2023, loan documents show.

By June of that year, cash flow at the building wasn’t covering debt service on a loan set to mature six months later; APF ultimately failed to refinance the debt.

As of last October, the building was roughly 40 percent vacant, according to court records. It was appraised last year at $55 million, below the $75 million in debt attached to the property.

Beyond 25 West 45th Street, Stefan Soloviev’s firm paid more than $67 million last year to buy the site at 24 West 57th Street from APF The property sits next to an assemblage pieced together by Soloviev’s late father, Sheldon Solow.

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development had previously acquired a $50 million defaulted loan on APF Properties’ block-through plot of land at the site.

Soloviev chief executive officer Michael Hershman recently tipped off that the firm was looking for an anchor tenant for an office development, which could span more than 900,000 square feet, according to the executive.

— Holden Walter-Warner