All Year Files for Bankruptcy to Stave Off Insolvency Lawsuits
By Nicholas Rizzi December 15, 2021 4:39 pm
reprints
All Year Holdings — the Brooklyn based-developer behind The William Vale hotel — filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday to stave off potential insolvency lawsuits from bondholders on its $1.6 billion in debt, court filings in Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court show.
The firm had been negotiating to restructure its defaulted debt with bondholders in Israel, but was unable to come to an agreement on Jan. 4, so it filed for Chapter 11 so it’s not “exposed to potential insolvency litigation across multiple jurisdictions,” the filings say. It also came a day after All Year’s board found out that Founder Yoel Goldman entered into a $37 million summary judgment earlier this month without the board’s approval.
“All Year Holdings has been engaged in a robust process to maximize the value of its real estate portfolio, which is continuing to advance with the support of bondholders,” a spokesperson for All Year said in a statement. “All Year continues to maintain ample liquidity to manage its ongoing operational needs and the needs of its subsidiary properties, including paying mortgage and related property expenses in a timely manner.”
The developer started 2020 with the majority of its developments completed. It was also in contract for a $675 million refinance to replace the construction and bond debt on its Denizen development in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and a $346 million portfolio sale to stabilize its cash cushion.
Things fell apart quickly, though, after the pandemic hit as All Year started missing payments on various mezzanine loans, paused payments on its bonds in Israel, and failed to close the Denizen refinance. It filed for bankruptcy for the entities tied to the Denizen in February to block a Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure sale on the development, and sold it to Atlas Capital Group for $506 million earlier this month.
All Year has also started to field a series of bids for its signature William Vale hotel development in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with co-owner Zelig Weiss recently making an all-cash offer for $163 million on the property.
Its $1.17 billion portfolio currently is comprised of 1,648 residential units and 69 commercial units spread across Bushwick, Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to its bankruptcy filing. The debt it’s carrying includes $800 million in bonds and about $760 million in mortgage debt.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
