Midas Hospitality Buys Distressed Brooklyn Hotel From Abraham Leifer
By Rebecca Baird-Remba March 13, 2024 3:10 pm
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A St. Louis-based hospitality firm is buying a Downtown Brooklyn hotel out of bankruptcy for $34.8 million, according to records made public Wednesday.
Midas Hospitality purchased a nearly complete hotel at 291 Livingston Street from Brooklyn developers Hello Living and Abraham Leifer’s Aview Equities, city Department of Finance records show. The 22-story, 100-key hotel was nearing the finish line in May 2022, and the property appears to have entered bankruptcy last year without being completed. Lender ACRES Capital had sued to foreclose on the hotel in 2022, alleging that Aview had defaulted on a $30 million construction loan for the property. Avraham Cohen of Vail Capital Holdings also sued Leifer over an unpaid $3.5 million mezzanine loan on the hotel a year ago, The Real Deal noted at the time. Liefer finally filed for bankruptcy in June of 2023, according to TRD.
Construction began in 2019 on the tower. Designed by architect Gene Kaufman, the skinny structure features a ground-floor bar and restaurant and an angular, black and white mural along two sides of the facade.
The sale caps a run of distress for Aview Equities. In December, lender Parkview Financial sued Aview over $66 million in mortgage defaults at 57 Caton Place, an unfinished 131-unit apartment project in Windsor Terrace, Crain’s New York Business reported. Leifer’s firm is also facing foreclosure at 19 West 55th Street, where lender Merchants Bank alleged in a lawsuit that Aview had defaulted on a $37 million refinancing loan, The Real Deal reported last year. That property, also unfinished, was a partial conversion and enlargement of a nine-story residential and commercial building into 53 apartments.
Midas, Hello Living and Aview did not immediately return requests for comment on the most recent deal.
Rebecca Baird-Remba can be reached at rbairdremba@commercialobserver.com
Update: This story has been updated to reflect the fact that Cingulate Group was not involved in the mezzanine loan for 291 Livingston Street.
