The Los Tacos No. 1 location at 229 W. 43rd St. does a booming lunchtime business selling $6 tacos and quesadillas to Times Square tourists and office workers. Unfortunately, it’s one of the few businesses in the retail berth owned by Kushner Cos. Control of the space is expected to change hands at a foreclosure auction scheduled for May 29.
Investors in the $285 million mortgage could suffer a $232 million loss, estimates bond-rating firm KBRA, which disclosed the auction’s existence in a recent report.
The retail property is located in the building that housed The New York Times’ headquarters until the news organization relocated to a new building on Eighth Avenue in 2007. The former newsroom is now a bowling alley, Bowlmor Times Square, which leases about a third of the 250,000 square feet in retail space. The rest of the building, owned by Columbia Property Trust, is offices and has a separate mortgage.
The retail space was acquired in 2015 by Kushner for $295 million. In 2019 the mortgage was transferred to special servicing, and in early 2020 two large tenants defaulted on their leases and moved out: National Geographic, which ran a whale-themed exhibit, and Gulliver’s Gate, which catered to fans of Stonehenge. Lenders moved to foreclose on the retail space, which was 60% vacant last year, KBRA said.
A May 2023 appraisal valued the retail property at $84 million, or $338 per square foot, an 82% decline from the value of $1,892 per square foot around the time Jared Kushner’s firm bought it.
It isn’t clear who’s handling the May 29 foreclosure sale. Details aren’t yet available on the New York state courts’ website.
Aaron Elstein , 2024-03-21 18:57:17
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