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Investment giant Blackstone is moving to foreclose on two clusters of retail storefronts on the Upper West Side, putting the future of several neighborhood shops — including Delice Macarons on Amsterdam Avenue and Omonia Café on Broadway — into question.
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Here’s the situation in plain English: A local landlord called Heller Realty took out a $17.3 million loan back in 2018, using two small shopping strips as collateral — one a row of about six storefronts on Amsterdam Avenue near West 75th Street, and the other a stretch of retail spaces running along Broadway between West 108th and 109th Streets. That loan came due in full this past July, and according to a new lawsuit, Heller didn’t pay it back.That’s where Blackstone comes in. The loan was originally issued by Signature Bank — the lender that famously collapsed in 2023. After Signature went under, Blackstone swooped in and bought up a large chunk of its old loans. So Blackstone didn’t make the original deal with Heller Realty, but it now holds the debt — and it wants to collect. Through a company called Rialto Capital Advisors (which manages these kinds of situations on Blackstone’s behalf), a lawsuit was filed this week in Manhattan state Supreme Court. The suit asks a judge to let the properties be sold at auction so the proceeds can go toward paying off what’s owed. On top of the unpaid loan, the suit claims Heller Realty was supposed to start handing over the rent payments it collects from the storefronts — but hasn’t done that either. And any outstanding balance is accruing interest at a steep 24% rate.
Both properties are technically commercial condos that sit at the base of residential apartment buildings — a setup familiar to anyone who’s walked past a ground-floor shop on the UWS. The Amsterdam Avenue strip near West 75th Street is home to about six storefronts, including Delice Macarons at 321 Amsterdam Ave., known for its colorful French macarons. Retail rents here average around $200 per square foot. The Broadway strip between West 108th and 109th Streets spans the entire block and includes Omonia Café at 2801 Broadway, a Greek patisserie with a loyal following for its almond cookies. Several of the spaces along this stretch are currently vacant, and rents average around $150 per square foot.
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Heller Realty is a family-run real estate company that has owned these properties for decades. It was founded by Joseph Heller (no relation to the famous novelist) and after his death in 1986, his wife Fanya — known as Fanny — continued running the business. In her later years, she turned her attention to writing a Holocaust memoir, Love in a World of Sorrow, before passing away in 2017. The family’s son Ben also appears to be involved in the business, which also operates under the name BMH Realty. Despite the foreclosure action, Heller Realty doesn’t appear to be in total financial distress — the company sold a mixed-use building at 250 West 85th Street in September for $66 million, a property it had owned for about 50 years.As for what this means for the shops themselves — it’s too early to say. If the properties are sold at auction, a new owner could choose to keep existing tenants, raise rents, or make other changes. For now, the businesses at these locations remain open, and no sale has taken place. Blackstone is asking a judge for permission to move forward, which is just the first step in what could be a lengthy legal process.
Crain’s New York Business, which first reported the story, reached out to Heller Realty, the attorneys involved, and Blackstone — none responded by press time.
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