Alex Sapir in entrance of 260 and 261 Madison Avenue (Getty Photographs, The Sapir Group)

The Sapir Group is formally on the clock to refinance a pair of Madison Avenue workplace buildings.

Sapir did not repay a $231 million CMBS mortgage for its high-rises at 260 and 261 Madison Avenue earlier than its mid-June maturity date, in line with Trepp, an information service that tracks securitized mortgages. Sapir entered right into a forbearance settlement with the mortgage’s servicer, permitting a further 60 days to repay the debt.

The agency, led by Alex Sapir, put the 2 Midtown properties in the marketplace earlier this yr, hoping to get round $600 million for them because it shifts its funding technique to Florida. Now, Sapir may have a couple of month to discover a purchaser or a lender that’s prepared to refinance its CMBS mortgage.

Sitting reverse each other on Madison Avenue between East 38th and 39th streets, the 2 buildings had been 81 % leased as of March, down from 92 % in December 2020, in line with Moody’s Traders Service. Notable tenants embody the regulation agency McLaughlin & Stern and the Sapir Group’s personal headquarters.

Rising rates of interest have made borrowing dearer, however landlords have nonetheless been in a position to rating refinancings on maturing loans. Sapir might have held off on refinancing the properties in current months because it looked for a purchaser.

The buildings even have a job in a tangle of lawsuits between Alex Sapir and his ex-brother-in-law and former enterprise associate Rotem Rosen.

Rosen claims Sapir was supposed to purchase out his pursuits in a partnership between the buyers for $75 million. Of that, $15 million was to be paid upfront whereas the remainder could be paid over 15 years. Sapir’s debt to Rosen was assured by 260 and 261 Madison Avenue, and Rosen alleges that Sapir breached the settlement by refinancing a line of credit score on the property, triggering a clause that made the $60 million debt payable instantly.

However that dispute isn’t the one lawsuit by which 260 and 261 Madison are concerned. Sapir is suing former tenant WeWork for ditching its lease on the property final yr, alleging that WeWork owes $17 million in damages. WeWork, in the meantime, argued that the Sapir Group was struggling financially and “resorted to questionable practices as a way to extort WeWork” and its founder Adam Neumann.

Sapir purchased the Madison Avenue properties in 1997. The corporate was based by Alex’s father, the late Tamir Sapir, a Georgian-born billionaire who partnered with Trump on the previous president’s decrease Manhattan lodge undertaking, Trump Soho.

The agency extra just lately developed Arte, a 16-unit luxurious condominium constructing in Surfside, Florida, that’s practically offered out.

Alex Sapir didn’t reply to requests for remark.