Abraham Leifer Sells Bankrupt Downtown Brooklyn Hotel Project

Abraham Leifer sold an unfinished hotel project in Downtown Brooklyn through bankruptcy.

St. Louis-based Midas Hospitality purchased the property at 291 Livingston Street from Leifer’s Aview Equities for $34.9 million, city records show.

Leifer put the property into bankruptcy last June in an attempt to stave off foreclosure. The project was 95 percent complete when Leifer and development partner Eli Karp’s Hello Living defaulted on a pair of loans tied to the property.

Senior lender Acres Capital sued to foreclose in 2022 after Aview fell behind on a $30 million construction loan. In March 2023, private equity firm Cingulate Group sued over an unpaid $3.5 million mezzanine loan.

Leifer put the property into bankruptcy in June 2023 and an auction for the property was scheduled for November. Greg Corbin, a bankruptcy specialist, marketed the auction.

Acres’ credit bid was the only bid for the property recorded with a White Plains bankruptcy court, which approved the sale of the property this year. A court document calls it “the highest and best bid.”

But somehow that changed. Almost two months after the sale was approved, the deal between Leifer and Midas was filed with the city’s Department of Finance office.

Leifer’s bankruptcy attorney, David Goldwasser, declined to comment, as did Corbin. Midas did not respond to a request for comment.

Leifer kicked off construction at the 100-key hotel in 2019. The 22-story tower was known for the zebra-like pattern covering much of its exterior.

Borough Park-based Aview has also run into trouble at a residential conversion project at 19 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The project’s lender, Merchants Bank, is attempting to foreclose on the property after Aview allegedly defaulted on a $36.7 million refinancing loan.

Leifer’s downtown Brooklyn property wasn’t the only New York City hotel sold this week. Developer GFI Real Estate parted with its 330-room Crowne Plaza Hotel near JFK Airport, which is being used as a migrant shelter, for $79 million this week, records show. A Brooklyn-based LLC was the buyer.

GFI had purchased the property for about $58 million in April 2017. New York Business Journal first reported the sale.

Hotels were among the most in-demand commercial properties in New York last year, with $2 billion in sales. That marked the highest sales volume for hotel properties since 2019.