HAP Dumps Washington Heights Project Into Bankruptcy

Eran Polack’s HAP Investments filed a bankruptcy petition this week to protect a Washington Heights project. It’s not clear why the mixed-use development at 4452 Broadway needs protection, but evidence shows it fell years behind schedule.

Without going into detail, the petition lists assets and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million, as PincusCo reported.

Four years ago, Madison Realty Capital provided a $52.5 million construction loan to replace the development’s existing debt and cover construction costs. HAP said then it expected to finish the project in the third quarter of 2020 and posted a video in September 2019 showing construction underway.

A September 2022 photo by Google shows only the shell of the building in place.

Developers sometimes put the ownership entity of a project into bankruptcy to stall a foreclosure, but Madison has not initiated one.

Madison declined to comment. An email Friday to HAP seeking comment bounced back, and its automated phone system does not put calls through.

Nir Asmel, the Israel CEO and co-founder of HAP Investments, signed the bankruptcy petition, and the ownership entity that filed it, 4452 Broadway Mazal LLC, has the same East 54th Street address as HAP. However, Polack told The Real Deal on Monday that he has not been involved with the project for two years.

HAP bought the site for $7.3 million in 2013, planning a seven-story building spanning 134,000 square feet with 11,000 square feet of retail and 129 apartments, 30 percent designated as affordable. The site is next to the 191st Street station of the 1 train.

HAP sought to expand the plan in 2015, filing for a 16-story, 241-unit building. The company cited the need to cover the costs of building on the side of a hill, but local residents opposed the project’s height.

A previous site owner, Quadriad, had applied to construct three buildings — two as tall as 28 stories. But the rezoning it needed was a political long shot and HAP stepped in, purchasing two adjacent parcels with a plan to build as-of-right.

The Washington Heights project isn’t the only one HAP put into bankruptcy this week. It also sought protection for a 42-story, 902-unit rental project in Jersey City.

The creditor there: Madison Realty Capital.

This article has been updated with a comment from Eran Polack and more information about the bankruptcy filing.