Last summer, the battle over whether or not 186 Spring Street, once home to former Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, should be preserved ended last year when the Landmarks Commission gave the new owner permission to demolish the townhouse said that the house was ineligible for landmarking. After that, the owner, Stephane Boivin, wasted no time bringing in the wrecking balls last October, and it turns out, he may have been a bit too hasty. The Real Deal reports that Bovin faces a $5.6 million foreclosure suit by the investment firm Silo Capital that claims he wasn't allowed to tear down the house. Evidently, Bovin used 186 Spring Street, as well as the 182 Spring Street, as collateral for a loan, and he did not receive the lender's permission to demolish the building. Ruh-roh.
The suit alleges that Bovin stopped making interest payments on the loan, which upped the balance to $6.2 million (plus default interest at a rate of 24 percent). Bovin had used funds from Silo to purchase 186 Spring Street, and he was supposed to obtain construction financing that would allow him to buy out Silo before starting the project, but apparently he skipped that part. Now he must go to court. Is this how preservation karma works?
UPDATE: This article previously stated that the Landmarks Preservation Commission gave the green light for demolition, but reps from LPC reached out to inform Curbed that this was not the case. "We did not give permission to demolish the building. It wasn't landmarked, nor was it slated to be landmarked. We determined in October 2012 the building was ineligible for designation as an individual landmark." Curbed regrets the error, and the article has been updated.
· Developer Faces Foreclosure at Former Beastie Boys Property [TRD]
· 186 Spring Street coverage [Curbed]
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