Churchill Real Estate’s Justin Ehrlich and 945 Bergen Street (Formworks)
There’s trouble brewing in Crown Heights.
A stalled project to redevelop the historic Nassau Brewing Company complex is now facing a bankruptcy sale, with one owner claiming the property has been mismanaged.
Churchill Real Estate, the project’s managing partner, is planning a bankruptcy sale for the mixed-use development at 945 Bergen Street. A Chapter 11 filing on Friday by Nassau Brewing Company Landlord LLC, cited alleged mismanagement as a reason for restructuring and selling, according to PincusCo.
Fabian Friedland’s Brooklyn-based Crow Hill Development is a co-owner of the property, having acquired it more than a decade ago for $7.5 million, along with 1036 Dean Street. Friedland sold the Dean Street property in 2014 for $17.5 million, but retained the Bergen Street property.
Churchill joined the project in 2016 after investing an additional $5 million.
The project has run into numerous problems. A retail tenant alleges that they were unable to take possession of space, but were not given back their deposit or first month’s rent, $189,000 in all.
Churchill ultimately replaced Friedland as project manager last week, according to PincusCo. They claimed in their filing that the change was made “due to various payment and performance defaults involving, inter alia, misappropriation of funds and other wrongdoings,” and claim that Friedland “grossly mismanaged the project, apparently diverting millions of dollars that should have been put into the rehabilitation.”
The poor management allegations also involve construction funds and alleged counterfeit corporate documents.
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[PincusCo] — Holden Walter-Warner