RFR Hit With Another Foreclosure on UES Retail Property Amid String of Debt
By Isabelle Durso December 18, 2024 12:35 pm
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It may be the season of festive cheer, but RFR Holding’s pretty bad year has just gotten even worse.
Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs are facing yet another foreclosure, this time at The Empire Condominium at 188 East 78th Street after defaulting on a $45 million loan on two retail units at the property, court records show.
Special servicer Rialto Capital Advisors, through the limited liability company Sig Cre 2023 Venture, filed the foreclosure action against RFR in New York Supreme Court on Monday, according to records. Crain’s New York Business first reported the news.
The now-shuttered Signature Bank was the original lender on the $45 million loan, which was transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2023 after Signature collapsed. Rialto, along with Blackstone, took control of the loan after the joint venture acquired a 20 percent stake in $16.8 billion of debt from Signature, Crain’s reported.
Rialto sent RFR a notice of default in February when Rosen and Fuchs stopped making their monthly payments and owed a balance of $65.7 million, records show.
A spokesperson for Rialto did not immediately respond to requests for comment. RFR declined to comment.
The retail spaces at the 31-story Upper East Side residential building were previously occupied by several tenants, including Fidelity, Spectrum and Wells Fargo, according to Crain’s.
News of the foreclosure comes amid a slew of bad news for RFR this year.
Earlier this month, the troubled landlord was notified it is facing foreclosure at its office tower at 17 State Street after defaulting on a $180 million loan in August, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
That followed RFR’s several other foreclosures at 475 Fifth Avenue, 90 Fifth Avenue, One Jackson Square and 219 East 67th Street and its eviction from the Chrysler Building in November.
But it’s not just RFR facing pressure from Rialto after the lender took over the Signature loans. The joint venture filed foreclosure notices on 15 loans, totaling more than $300 million, from the Signature pool as of October, The Real Deal reported.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
