German Asset Manager Commerz Real Trying to Kick RFR Out of SoHo Hotel

Troubled real estate company RFR Holding may be saying “auf wiedersehen” to yet another one of its New York City properties.

Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs’s RFR, which was hit with three foreclosures in December alone, might now be kicked out of its boutique hotel in SoHo at 11 Howard Street, according to Crain’s New York Business, which first reported the news.

German asset manager Commerz Real, landlord of the 207-key hotel, simply named 11 Howard, has claimed RFR failed to pay more than $8 million in expenses since 2023, according to a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court this week.

RFR declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Commerz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

RFR sold the hotel on the corner of Lafayette and Howard streets to Commerz for $170 million in April 2016, just one week after opening the property, The Real Deal reported at the time. As part of the deal, RFR signed on to lease back the building for 10 years and operate the hotel, the outlet reported.

Commerz intends to end its lease with RFR over the unpaid debt, according to the suit.

But the German firm’s efforts may prove difficult after RFR filed its own lawsuit this week claiming Commerz went back on a deal to give RFR the first chance to buy back the 14-story hotel, court records show.

The suit claims Commerz met with potential buyers in November to tour the hotel and denied RFR’s bid for the building earlier this month. RFR is now seeking to remain in control of the hotel until its lease expires in 2031, the suit says.

The legal dispute comes after a rough few months for RFR. In December, the landlord was hit with foreclosures at 285 Madison Avenue, 17 State Street and its Empire Condominium at 188 East 78th Street.

That came after RFR’s other foreclosures at 475 Fifth Avenue, 90 Fifth Avenue, One Jackson Square and 219 East 67th Street — as well as its eviction from the Chrysler Building back in November.

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