Kaufman Astoria Studios.
Photo credit: Kaufman Astoria Studios
Deutsche Bank is looking to foreclose on Kaufman Astoria Studios after property owner Hackman Capital defaulted on a $340 million loan last November.
Hackman Capital took out the loan on Nov. 8, 2021, to acquire the sprawling 500,000-square-foot entertainment production hub alongside Affinius Capital, then known as Square Mile Capital Management.
In a lawsuit filed in the Queens Supreme Court Friday, Deutsche Bank asked a judge to approve a foreclosure, citing Hackman’s failure to repay the loan in full by the maturity date on Nov. 9, 2025. The lawsuit further states that the loan value has ballooned to over $359 million due to accrued interest, late payment charges, and exit fees.
The story was first broken by PincusCo.
Deutsche Bank is the lead lender and administrative agent on the loan. It had sold two of the loan’s promissory notes, each worth $107.5 million, to Goldman Sachs and Starwood after the agreement was syndicated; Deutsche would retain the remaining $125 million note.
Friday’s foreclosure application covers Kaufman’s main studio campus at 34-12 36th St. as well as nearby lots on 34th and 35th Avenues.
In light of the maturity default, Deutsche Bank said it wished to enforce the terms of the loan documents and foreclose on the property.
As part of the lawsuit, Deutsche Bank seeks to enforce an $18.5 million recourse guarantee against several Hackman affiliates, including company CEO Michael Hackman.
Deutsche Bank did not respond to a request for comment. Hackman, which was one of several bidders for the sprawling Astoria campus in May 2021, also did not return a request for comment.
Kaufman marks the second studio property that Hackman has defaulted on in over the last six months after the real estate investment firm agreed to turn over the historic Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles to Goldman Sachs in January after defaulting on a $1.1 billion loan.
Bloomberg reported in January that Hackman Capital did not see a “realistic alternative” to turning over the LA property.
Hackman Capital also purchased Long Island City’s Silvercup Studios in 2020, with commercial real estate outlet Bisnow reporting that the firm pursued an aggressive strategy of acquiring studio space in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The firm bid for Kaufman Studios shortly after Apple TV+ had signed a lease for 90,000 square feet of space in the studio in 2020.
At the time, the Real Deal reported that the Apple TV deal represented one of the largest leases in Queens in 2020.
Kaufman Astoria Studios and the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment have not responded to a request for comment.