A gutted office building at 315 West 35th Street has hit the market for $36 million, and if that doesn't sound all that exciting, well, that's because it isn't. The building's recent history, on the other hand, is a tale of intrigue, shady business dealings, and ... spelling errors. The building was purchased, via an LLC, by Aaron Chitrik in 2006 for $16 million. Chitrik was in the process of converting it when he was stalled by the financial crisis. In 2010, the $10.75 million mortgage was purchased by Isaac Chetrit (a cousin of real estate giant Joseph Chetrit). But Chetrit managed to accidentally misspell the name of his company on the mortgage documents, which was when things got interesting. From The Real Deal:
While trying to take control of the building after Chitrik defaulted, Chetrit and his attorney realized that someone had taken the city records that showed a nonexistent company as the owner and written in the name "Yospeh Levin," as principal, effectively staking claim to the mortgage. Chetrit eventually tracked down Levin and found he was associated with Chitrik, according to a report from Real Estate Weekly at the time.
"It's as if you bought a house and your lawyer made a mistake spelling your name and then someone with that name showed up and claimed that the house was theirs," Chetrit's attorney, Stephen Meister of Meister Seelig & Fein, told Real Estate Weekly. Besides the wasted time (and money) in court, Chetrit's spelling mistake didn't prove to be especially costly, as the mortgage was transferred back to him. And now the building, located near Hudson Yards, has appreciated enough in value for Chitrik to sell it and pay off the mortgage, so everything seems to have more or less worked out okay for him, too. The moral of the story is that you should definitely know how to spell the name of your own company.
· Mid-conversion Midtown West building on sale for $36M [The Real Deal]
· Exclusive: Judge Recused in $11M Real Estate Fraud Case at 315 W. 35th Street [Observer]
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