A Lower Manhattan retail condo is poised to be sold.
The retail space at 170 Broadway, in the Financial District, has been foreclosed upon and a receiver on the property is currently marketing it for sale, according to court documents. The space was previously owned by the Chera family’s Crown Acquisitions and PPF Retail, a Morgan Stanley real estate adviser fund.
Crown and PPF purchased the space at the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane for $70 million in 2014, from a joint venture that also included Crown. In 2015, the borrower took out a total of $70 million in loans against the property.
The Gap has occupied the entire retail space since 2015, most recently with a “Gap Factory” store.
Net operating income has increased 27 percent since 2015, according to figures available on Morningstar Credit. But the appraised value of the property has dropped significantly, from $100 million in 2014 to $40 million last year. Gap duked it out with the building owner over rent at the property during the pandemic, even going as far as demanding a refund.
By December 2024, the borrower indicated that it wouldn’t be able to pay off the debt by the maturity deadline of April 2025 and the loan was transferred to special servicing. The lender filed to foreclose in May of 2025, winning summary judgment in November.
A referee’s report put the total amount due at $63 million.
In March 2026, the judge on the case ordered foreclosure and sale of the property. The receiver would be working out a lease extension with the Gap, the lender said. A few weeks later the court granted the receiver approval to sell the property.
The Gap now has a lease until 2030. The receiver on the property, Chris Neilson of Trigild, has tapped CBRE to broker the sale, according to servicer commentary provided to Morningstar.
Neither Neilson, CBRE, nor attorneys for the borrower responded to a request for comment Friday.
An attorney for the plaintiff forwarded a request for comment to PNC Bank, which declined to comment.
Crown Acquisitions was founded by billionaire Stanley Chera, who died in 2020.
Of Manhattan retail corridors, average asking rents on Broadway in the Financial District are the lowest in the city, according to a report from the Real Estate Board of New York. Average rents on the retail strip were $227 per square foot and had fallen more than 8 percent year over year.
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