Fifth Ave Office Tower Slapped With RFR’s Second Foreclosure Notice In Two Weeks
Lenders are coming after another one of RFR’s Manhattan properties, new court filings show.
Citibank and JPMorgan Chase filed a foreclosure suit Thursday linked to a $180M loan on 475 Fifth Ave., a 275K SF office tower overlooking Bryant Park.
The developer bought the 24-story tower in 2022 for $291M, one of the largest office sales in NYC that year, Commercial Observer reported.
RFR took out $260M in acquisition loans from JPMorgan and Citibank at the time to fund the purchase. One part of that loan was split into two notes that together totaled $180M — and one of those notes matured on June 9 without RFR paying it back in full, court records allege.
“The property is currently well-occupied and we expect to refinance the existing debt imminently,” a spokesperson for RFR told Bisnow by email.
Citibank and JPMorgan Chase declined to comment.
The property is 91.9% leased, Crain’s New York Business reported.
The filing is the second foreclosure proceeding that RFR is facing in a two-week span. Last week, Rialto Capital and Blackstone filed to foreclose against two retail condos owned by the developer, alleging that RFR had defaulted on $22.4M in total.
RFR is also in trouble at 522 Fifth Ave., a 23-story, 600K SF office building where it allegedly defaulted on a $224M loan on the property late last year, Commercial Observer reported.
There may be more to come. RFR has as much as $2.5B in loans set to mature before May next year spread across 16 loans and spanning 20 properties. As of May 2024, around 12 loans were distressed, four properties weren’t covering their mortgages and two buildings were almost empty, the Financial Times reported at the time.
