Another one bites the dust for Austin investor Nate Paul and his embattled firm, World Class.
An entity tied to SKW Funding, an affiliate of New York-based real estate investor Dalan Management, bought a 34-story downtown Dallas tower out of bankruptcy that Paul’s firm owned since 2014, according to Dallas County records. The 850,000-square-foot tower faced foreclosure last year and was put into bankruptcy.
The buyer is listed on a deed filed April 18 as “SKW B Harwood Seller J,” which appears to reference the joint venture between SKW and Bain Capital Credit formed last year to target $1.3 billion in troubled real estate debt.
The sale of the 717 Harwood St. tower included $76.8 million in debt, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Paul amassed a billion-dollar real estate empire before the age of 30, but he’s been hit in recent years with multiple foreclosures and bankruptcies, plus a raid by the FBI in 2019. He told The Real Deal last month that he’s planning to rebuild his empire after selling the majority of his self-storage properties out of bankruptcy. Since then, he’s faced the threat of a Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure sale, which was recently halted in New York Supreme Court, a spokesperson for World Class said.
The downtown building has tenants including Omnitracs, Active Network, Hilltop Securities and Reel FX, the Morning News reported.
The Wrublin family’s Dalan Management and HKS Advisors partners Ayush Kapahi and Jerry Swartz founded SKW in 2014.
Paul may also lose property in Austin. An entity connected to billionaire David Bonderman’s Wildcat Capital Management is in contract to purchase a downtown Austin development site for $95 million. The site is owned by an entity tied to World Class, but amid ongoing litigation a court-appointed receiver has been tasked to liquidate the entity’s assets. The deal will require approval from a Travis County judge.
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