Madison Realty Takes Over HAP’s Washington Heights Project

Madison Realty Capital purchased 4452 Broadway through a bankruptcy sale from HAP Investments for $26.5 million, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal hit public records on Wednesday. Neither company immediately commented on the deal.

Hilco Real Estate announced the Washington Heights site was going up for bankruptcy sale in February. At the time, the property was valued at $56 million, but critically, was only 50 percent complete.

The saga dates back more than a decade to 2013, when Eran Polack’s HAP acquired the site for $7.3 million. The firm harbored plans for 134,000 square feet with 11,000 square feet of retail and 129 apartments, 30 percent of which would be designated as affordable. Two years later, HAP figured it could go even bigger, filing for a 16-story, 241-unit building.

Local residents, however, were none too pleased with the growing height of the proposal. The previous site owner also wanted to build some tall buildings, but the longshot of a rezoning led to the site’s sale to HAP, which seemingly planned to build as-of-right.

In 2019, Madison Realty entered the picture, providing a $52.5 million construction loan to replace existing debt and cover construction costs. HAP was working towards a completion of the project in 2020’s third quarter.

But HAP never finished the project, likely deterred by the pandemic, among other factors. Last year, the project was placed into bankruptcy.

A September 2022 photo from Google shows a mere shell of a building in place. That creates an interesting dilemma for Madison Realty, which will need to determine whether to move forward with the approved development or start from scratch.

Last month, Madison Realty sold a Cobble Hill site, which once included a grand plan to redevelop the former Long Island College Hospital campus, to Rockrose for $65 million.

— Holden Walter-Warner