RFR’s $105M Mortgage at 90 Fifth Avenue More Than 90 Days Delinquent: Report

The terrible, no good, very bad year for Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’s RFR Holding keeps getting worse. 

Just weeks after the New York City landlord became embroiled in an ugly legal dispute over the Chrysler Building, RFR is now delinquent on a $104.5 million mortgage it holds for 90 Fifth Avenue, a 140,000 square-foot office building in Manhattan, according to Fitch Ratings. 

The firm is more than 90 days late on its payment, the ratings agency reported. Crain’s New York Business first reported the news. 

RFR acquired 90 Fifth Avenue for $37 million in 2000, and it renovated the property in 2013 with an upgraded lobby, new elevators and bathrooms, and a refurbished ground-floor retail space. The firm took out a 10-year commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) mortgage in 2017 and retired $31 million in preferred equity the same year, according to Crains. 

But a combination of falling occupancy and declining cash flow hampered RFR’s ability to pay its mortgage on the property. The $104.5 million senior loan  was sent to special servicing earlier this year, while the building’s top tenant, Compass — occupier of 89,000 square-feet — has announced plans to leave next year and has been subleasing its space in the meantime. 

Republic Bank had leased the ground floor retail until its lease expired this July, and KBRA reported that cash flow at the building fell 8 percent last year to just $5.9 million. 

Distress at 90 Fifth Avenue is just one of many worrisome loans plaguing RFR’s portfolio, however. 

CO reported Friday that the New York State Supreme Court ordered RFR to pay $18 million to Daol Asset Management, the lender on two of the mezzanine loans on 285 Madison Avenue.

Last month, CO reported that a ​​$247.2 million CMBS loan RFR has for the seven office buildings in Stamford, Conn. went into special servicing upon hitting its 2024 maturity date. 

CO has also reported that RFR faces foreclosure on 475 Fifth Avenue after failing to pay off a $180 million loan tied to the 23-story office building in August, as well as at One Jackson Square in the West Village and 219 East 67th Street, where it defaulted on $22.4 million in loans. 

Perhaps most notoriously are RFR’s troubles at the Chrysler Building. On Sept. 27, Cooper Union terminated the ground lease and took control of the Chrysler Building from RFR, arguing that the firm has not paid rent since May and has missed $21 million in ground-rent payments thus far. 

The two sides are now locked in a pair of messy lawsuits. On Oct. 21, Cooper Union requested in court that a sheriff or a city marshal to evict RFR from the building. 

“RFR is committed to 90 Fifth Avenue and to working with the special servicer on a resolution that ensures the property’s success,” said a firm spokesperson. 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com