Gregg Singer pulled out a last stop to prevent Madison Realty Capital’s attempt to foreclose on the old P.S. 64 site.
Singer put the entity that owns the vacant East Village property into bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, a day before a foreclosure auction was to take place. The move temporarily stops the sale, giving Singer one last shot at selling the property or refinancing the debt on it.
The bankruptcy is the latest chapter in the long-running saga of the former public school site and its embittered owner.
Madison Realty has been seeking to foreclose on the site since 2018. The lender, who is one of the most active initiators of foreclosures in the city, alleges Singer failed to pay off its loan by its maturity date.
Singer is also in litigation with the city and former Mayor Bill de Blasio over the property, which has become something of a white whale for the developer. He sued in 2018, claiming a conspiracy blocked his efforts to redevelop the building. Singer is now seeking to amend the lawsuit.
In a proposed amended complaint, he alleges that the true culprit is investment manager Aaron Sosnick, who he claims embarked on an effort to defame Singer and derail his project. Singer alleges Sosnick used the East Village Community Coalition as a front to block the redevelopment and claims Sosnick offered the city in excess of $50 million of his own money to purchase the property.
The city had not owned the property since selling it to Singer during the Giuliani administration, yet the developer alleges the offer “prompted the city to go from a slow walk to a full stop by categorically and unconditionally denying” him building permits.
Singer’s attorney filed a motion seeking to amend his complaint. The proposed amended complaint was filed under seal.
Singer said in a statement that the amended complaint “will lift the curtain revealing the city’s actions under Mayor de Blasio.”
A city spokesperson said the city plans to oppose the motion.
Singer bought the school, which had been closed since the late 1970s, for $3.15 million in 1999. He hoped to turn it into dormitories for nearby colleges. But Singer was never able to obtain permits from the city and the project never got off the ground.
In 2016, Madison Realty stepped in and provided Singer with a $44 million loan. After the lender initiated a foreclosure in 2018, Singer was able to delay the proceedings.
At the start of the pandemic, Singer offered the site up as a triage center for people with Covid.
In early 2022, a New York state court judge ruled that Madison could move ahead with the foreclosure.
In the decision, state judge Melissa Crane wrote that Singer’s responses, including a 25-page document that lacked a table of contents, amounted to a “rambling litany of defenses.”
Singer, however, did not give up. He put the 152,000-square-foot property on the market in October. A judge entered a judgment for a foreclosure and sale of the property in December. A court also found that Madison was owed $89.9 million for principal, interest and other charges based upon a report from a court-appointed referee.
PincusCo first reported the news of the bankruptcy.
Madison Realty declined to comment. Sosnick’s lawyer did not return a request for comment.