Hidrock Properties Transfers FiDi Site to Bank Hapaolim

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An Israeli bank is the new owner of a pair of Financial District sites after a fight with a borrower.

Bank Hapaolim has taken over a development site at 140-142 Fulton Street in Manhattan for $36.9 million from a previous owner related to Hidrock Properties.

Hidrock purchased the sites, between Broadway and Nassau Street, in 2018 from Raymond Gindi. The deal totaled $41 million between two separate transactions — one for 140 Fulton, a vacant lot, at $19.8 million; another for 142, a five-unit rental building, for $21.2 million.

The next year, Hidrock filed building permits for the vacant lot, planning to construct a hotel. The developer, connected to the Hidary family, borrowed $32.8 million from the bank.

But by 2022, the Bank Hapaolim began the foreclosure process, alleging that Hidrock failed to meet the loan’s maturity deadline despite three extensions. The total owed now reached $35 million, the bank said. The borrower countersued a few months later, alleging it was wrongly placed in default. But the bank won out, scoring a $39.2 million judgment.

The auction was scheduled for early 2024. However, Bank Hapaolim agreed to wait another year to allow Hidrock to market the property itself in the hopes of getting a better sale. The effort failed to find a buyer, and the title transferred to the bank this January.

Bank Hapaolim, however, claims that when it found a prospective buyer, Hidrock began to sabotage the sale. The bank sued in June, saying the Hidarys refused to sign transfer documents. It withdrew the suit later in the month when the documents were executed.

It’s unclear what Bank Hapaolim plans for the sites. Neither the bank nor representatives at Hidrock responded to requests for comment.

Hotel construction is no longer as easy as it was in 2018. In 2021, the de Blasio administration began requiring a special permitting process for hotels, freezing that pipeline almost entirely.
It’s not Hidrock’s first loss in the area. Last year, the firm sold its land at 112 Liberty Street for 44 percent less than it had purchased the site for six years earlier.