A Midtown-based real estate firm specializing in multifamily properties has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on nearly 5,000 of its residential units across the city, records show.
Joel Wiener, CEO of Pinnacle Group, filed the action in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York Wednesday under the entity Broadway Realty I Co. That LLC name is also associated with a 6-story, 73-unit rental building at 4530 Broadway in Fort George, Manhattan, owned by Pinnacle, according to court records.
Weiner has filed to consolidate the debt — totaling about $615 million — tied to 82 separate entities under his control, which overall include 91 properties and about 5,000 residential units in each borough but Staten Island, records show. The filing was first reported on by PincusCo.
The bankruptcy protection petition comes about two months after the debt holder, Long Island-based Flagstar Bank, filed for foreclosure against Weiner’s dozens of assets in state Supreme Courts in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, records show. For example, a $10.4 million loan assigned to Broadway Realty I Co. in 2019 allegedly has a current principal balance of $9.9 million, records show.
The majority of the properties that are part of the bankruptcy protection petition are located in Upper Manhattan, including 25 Hillside Ave., which is a 142-unit building in Washington Heights, along with 34 Seaman Ave. in Inwood and 11 Hillside Ave. in Fort George, according to court records.
Gary Holtzer, a partner at Midtown-based law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which is representing Weiner, did not respond to a request for comment by press time. And Harvey Strickon, an attorney at Midtown-based law firm Paul Hastings, which is representing Flagstar in the foreclosure action, also did not respond to a request for comment by press time. A spokesman for Pinnacle Group, however, declined to comment beyond what was in the court filing.
Pinnacle Group, meanwhile, has reportedly faced controversy. Wiener has been accused of harassing and overcharging tenants and paid $1 million to 300 rent-stabilized tenants in 2006 as part of a legal settlement, Crain’s has reported.
