Kaufman Astoria Studios Hit With $359M Foreclosure Suit
The owners of a historic Queens film studio campus are getting a taste of the drama normally reserved for actors working inside the buildings.
Deutsche Bank is looking to foreclose on Kaufman Astoria Studios, the original home of Paramount Pictures in Astoria, after property owner Hackman Capital Partners defaulted on a $340M loan, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
Hackman Capital, along with Affinius Capital, then Square Mile Capital Management, took out the loan on Nov. 8, 2021, to acquire the 500K SF property. The debt matured Nov. 9, and Hackman Capital failed to make the required payments, according to the suit, which was first reported by PincusCo.
The lender asked a New York Supreme Court judge to approve a foreclosure sale of the studio complex to cover the unpaid mortgage, which has now ballooned to $359M when accounting for additional interest and late fees.
The action covers the main studio campus at 34-12 36th St., as well as nearby auxiliary lots on 34th and 35th avenues in Astoria.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment. Hackman Capital and Affinius didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Kaufman Astoria is the second major studio complex that Hackman has defaulted on in recent months. It agreed to turn over the Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles to lender Goldman Sachs following its default on a $1.1B mortgage, Bloomberg reported in January.
Hackman was one of several bidders on Kaufman Astoria Studios in May 2021, when pandemic-era television streaming had driven up demand for film studio space and just a few months after Apple TV+ had signed a 90K SF lease, The Real Deal previously reported.
Hackman aggressively grew its portfolio of studio space in the early days of the pandemic, including acquiring Silvercup Studios in Long Island City and the Bronx in 2020 as its first New York City property. It is the largest independent owner of soundstages in the world — a vulnerability in the U.S., as soundstage development has proliferated without demand to fill them.
Deutsche Bank originated the Kaufman Astoria loan to Hackman and Affinius, then split the note and sold $107.5M pieces to affiliates of Goldman Sachs and Starwood. Deutsche Bank is acting as agent for all of the noteholders in the foreclosure suit.
In addition to a foreclosure sale of the properties, Deutsche Bank is seeking to enforce an $18.5M recourse guarantee against several Hackman Capital affiliates and the company's CEO and founder, Michael Hackman, according to the suit.
