Kaufman Astoria Studios Draws Pre-Foreclosure Suit

A lender is telling one of the city’s most iconic filming studios to pay up.

Deutsche Bank has filed for foreclosure on the 500,000 square foot Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. The lender is claiming the borrower, a partnership tied to Hackman Capital, failed to pay back the loan by the November maturity date and now owes about $359 million.

The lender is also seeking a judgement against guarantor Michael Hackman and others.

As the city tries to increase its studio space, monetary troubles at one of the city’s biggest and most famous studios could be a worrisome sign.

In 2021, the borrower, called Astoria Studios Limited Partnership II, took out $340 million tied to the property. Hackman purchased the site through an affiliate for about $600 million two years later.

Hackman was personally named as a defendant as he served as a guarantor on the loan. The lender is seeking a deficiency judgement to make Hackman and Hackman Capital responsible for any difference between the loan amount and what the property can get at auction if a foreclosure goes through.

The news was first reported by PincusCo. Representatives for Kaufman Astoria management and the lender did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hackman Capital also owns Silvercup Studios with stages in Queens and the Bronx. Earlier this year, the company defaulted on a $1.1 billion loan tied to Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles, with Bloomberg reporting that Goldman Sachs would be taking over the property.

The studio partnered with Silverstein Properties and other developers for what was meant to be the Innovation QNS site, a $2 billion plan to bring 2,700 units of housing and 200,000 square feet of retail to the area. The megaproject received rezoning approval from the City Council. The plan was scrapped last summer after Silverstein walked away from the project, citing in part uncertainty around multifamily tax abatement programs.

Kaufman Astoria Studios first opened in 1920 by the company that was later to become Paramount Pictures, according to the studio’s website. The company filmed silent and later talking films there, including appearances from the Marx Brothers, but the lot fell into disrepair after World War II. It got its name in the 1980s when developer George Kaufman renovated and expanded the space.

Recent television productions filmed there include Sesame Street, Succession, Orange is the New Black, and And Just Like That. Despite a spate of new studio openings, Kaufman Astoria claims to have the only studio backlot in the five boroughs.

The foreclosure filing comes as New York has been pushing to expand film and television production in the city. The state has been offering tax incentives for production and post-production since 2004, offering 30 percent back on qualified expenses, but expanded those incentives this past May. The annual cap on funding was boosted to $800 million, and several new credits were added as part of the state budget.

These changes made New York one of the country’s leaders in film production incentives, on par with Georgia, according to production streamliner Entertainment Partners.

Several new studios have opened in the city in the last few years. The most recent is the Sunset Pier 94 Studios, which launched in January on West 54th Street, from Vornado Realty Trust, Hudson Pacific Properties, Blackstone Real Estate, and the New York Economic Development Corporation.

The EDC announced in October $552 million in closed financing for two new studios in Bushwick and Red Hook.