Bank Hapoalim Takes Over Fulton Street Development Site for $37M

Bank Hapoalim has taken over a development site in Manhattan’s Financial District after previously being a lender on the site.

The Israel-based bank, through the entity Bank Hapoalim B.M., bought the 2,898-square-foot vacant lot at 140-142 Fulton Street from Hidrock Properties for $36.9 million, according to city records made public Tuesday.

Abraham Hidary, president and CEO of Hidrock, signed for the seller, which used the entity 140 Fulton Associates, records show. It was unclear who signed for the buyer.

Spokespeople for Bank Hapoalim, Hidrock and BKREA, whose founder Bob Knakal seemed to broker the deal, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bank Hapoalim provided a $33 million loan to Hidrock on the property between Broadway and Nassau Street in October 2018 after Hidrock bought the site for $19.8 million, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Hidrock, which controls several hotels in the New York City area, had plans to turn the Fulton Street site into a 41-story, 140,000-square-foot hotel, the New York Business Journal reported.

But Hidrock ran into foreclosure proceedings on the site in 2022, and the deal this week was part of a settlement decision made between Hidrock and Bank Hapoalim last year, according to the NYBJ.

It’s unclear what Bank Hapoalim plans to do with the Financial District lot, which was previously home to two residential buildings with ground-floor retail space, but the site has a buildable square footage of 84,100 square feet, according to BKREA’s listing for the property.

Urgent care facility CityMD and fast-food chain Chick-fil-A are neighboring tenants of the site, which is half a block from the Fulton Street station for the A and C subway lines.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.