The owner of a Midtown office building filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to save the building from being auctioned off.
An entity that used to be affiliated with developer Aaron Chitrik owns the 63,000-square-foot property, according to the New York Daily News, at 315 West 35th Street. The office building is supposed to be converted to condominiums.
The owner told the newspaper that he was about to sell the building for $40 million, which would cover the roughly $30 million he owes his creditors. Isaac Chetrit owns the debt on the building and would have probably bid during the auction that was supposed to take place on Thursday, according to the newspaper. Chitrik bought the property in 2006 for $16 million.
“Our hope is that we’ll be able to sell the property for enough to cover all obligations with something left over,” David Graubard, an attorney for the owner, told the Daily News.
Stephen Meister, an attorney with Meister Seelig & Fein who represents Chetrit, called the move a “classic, eleventh hour filing,” the newspaper reported. [NYDN] — Claire Moses