A controversial landlord could be facing foreclosure at an apartment building in the Norwood section of the Bronx, one of several properties in his portfolio to be ensnared in legal challenges in recent months.
David Kleiner, an owner of a Morris Heights building whose partial collapse in December 2023 led to the displacement of about 150 tenants and an ongoing court battle over who should pay for repairs at the violations-plagued site, is accused of allegedly defaulting on an $8 million loan for 282 E. Gun Hill Road, according to a Tuesday filing in Bronx state Supreme Court.
In the suit, lender Community Preservation Corp. claims Kleiner and partner Morris Weinberg haven’t made a payment on the mortgage since June 2023 and now owe $11.3 million when factoring in interest payments, late charges and other fees.
The defendants have not yet filed an answer to the complaint. Jeffrey Fleischmann, who has represented Kleiner in similar recent foreclosure cases, declined to comment. And efforts to track down a telephone number for Kleiner, who often uses a Brooklyn post office box as his contact information on property records, were unsuccessful.
Also making it difficult to locate Kleiner is his tendency to deploy opaque shell companies on deeds and building permits. He also uses variations on his own name, including Dovid Klein and David David, court filings show.
In 2015 the defendants bought 282 Gun Hill, a 5-story, 52-unit, mixed-use prewar building at Perry Avenue in Norwood, for $7.2 million, according to the city register, though the loan at the center of the dispute was issued in 2018 by Signature Bank. Soon after Signature collapsed in 2023, the debt was assigned to Community Preservation, which has assumed Signature loans backed by rent-stabilized buildings, based on the register and news reports.
A message left with Community Preservation was not returned by press time.
Kleiner, whose investing partners have included Jacob Zanger, who clocked in at No. 78 on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams 100 “worst landlords” list in 2024, has been dragged into court by lenders at other Bronx sites as well.
Since 2023 Kleiner has been named as a defendant in at least three other foreclosure cases involving Bronx rental buildings, an analysis of court records shows. In January, for instance, Peapack-Gladstone Bank sued him over allegedly defaulting on a $6 million note secured by 1162-1164 Sheridan Ave. near Grand Concourse. Kleiner’s attorney later sought to dismiss the entire claim, calling the loan terms “usurious” and the suit “unconscionable and oppressive.” The case continues to be litigated.
Similarly in March lender Rockledge sued to possibly seize 1220 Croes Ave., an apartment tower called Branford in Soundview, over a reportedly soured $22 million mortgage. Kliener and Weinberg have not yet filed an answer to the complaint.
There’s also a continuing case involving 454 E. 160th St., where ConnectOne Bank has accused Kleiner and other owners of defaulting on a $3.6 million loan. In May 2024 Justice Fidel Gomez issued a $4.2 million judgment against the defendants. Kleiner’s attorneys later successfully argued that Kleiner should not have been personally named in the case over the building, a 5-story, 30-unit prewar property in Melrose. Still, a foreclosure sale should be scheduled in the next few weeks, the judge said.
Last year city investigators concluded that the 2023 collapse at 1915 Billingsley Terrace was primarily caused by workers who removed a key load-bearing column but also blamed an engineer who inspected the 6-story, 46-unit building for saying the column could be eliminated.
Mark Slama, an attorney with Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf who is handling the Community Preservation suit, did not return a phone message by press time.
