Bidder For Pinnacle's 5,000-Unit Portfolio Has Ties To CEO Joel Wiener's Brother

When Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration filed an objection to the pending bankruptcy auction of Pinnacle Group's approximately 5,200-unit portfolio, it cast doubts on the relatively obscure buyer’s ability to rescue the dozens of buildings from distress. 

Little is known about Summit Properties USA, which could become one of New York City's biggest apartment owners overnight if its stalking horse bid of $451M for the 93-building portfolio is accepted.

But investor materials and property records analyzed by Bisnow reveal that the firm, led by Israeli businessman Zohar Levy, has been quietly operating rent-stabilized housing in the city for years — through a previously unreported relationship with the brother of Pinnacle Group's CEO.

More than half of the 8,100 units owned by Pinnacle, run by Joel Wiener, were placed into bankruptcy in May. His portfolio spans Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, and approximately 96% of his tenants are entitled to rent stabilization. Another 2% have some other form of rent control protection, according to court records. 

His bankruptcy filing last year and planned auction, which is scheduled for Thursday, has been closely watched. Caught in the middle are thousands of New Yorkers living in buildings that the city officials say are in disrepair and have accumulated $12.7M in arrears and violations. 

The situation has turned into a priority for the newly minted administration, which has made the protection of rent-stabilized tenants core to its agenda. On Jan. 1, hours after being sworn into office, Mamdani toured a Pinnacle-owned building in Brooklyn and announced his plans to intervene in the bankruptcy.

In a court filing Monday, city attorneys said that there has been “no information” provided on Summit, including its principals, history as a landlord, or financial resources and capability. They asked the judge overseeing the case for a 30-day delay.

But Summit does have experience in operating housing in New York City. It owns approximately 3,000 units across 90 buildings in all five boroughs. At least some of those properties are subject to rent control, according to a 2024 annual report, as well as more recent filings with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where the company is publicly listed.

While Summit funded the majority of the acquisitions — between 85% and 95% of the capital, according to the 2024 report — the properties are managed by a “local partner.” 

Although that partner is unnamed in the filings, deeds for several properties that Summit claims to own are linked to a company called Denali Management and were signed by Jonathan Wiener, who heads Chestnut Holdings — and is Joel Wiener’s brother.

“Chestnut Holdings has neither any business connection to Pinnacle nor any connection whatsoever to any Summit bid for Pinnacle properties,” the company said in an email when asked about the relationship between Jonathan Wiener and Summit.

Summit executives, Joel Wiener and his lawyer didn’t respond to Bisnow’s requests for comment.

Pinnacle has racked up more than 5,000 housing violations and 14,000 complaints across 83 buildings, according to the mayor’s office. Letters from tenants living in the bankrupt buildings have come streaming into court, recounting tales of mold, cockroaches, and broken windows, doors and walls. They request a say in the sale.

A Bloomberg analysis found that violations deemed “immediately hazardous” in the bankrupt buildings increased fourfold from 2019 to 2024. A Pinnacle attorney told the publication the company has reduced its violations by 1,500 over the past year.

In 2006, Pinnacle settled a complaint lodged by the New York attorney general following allegations of rent-gouging. At the time, the company owned more than 20,000 rent-stabilized apartments, according to a press release. It reached another settlement in 2022, with Wiener admitting he failed to disclose necessary repairs in a condo conversion project.

Jonathan Wiener’s Chestnut Holdings has had similar issues in its portfolio. In 2021, he landed on both Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ Landlord Watchlist — though he has since been removed — and Right to Counsel NYC Coalition’s Worst Evictors list.

For the city, ensuring the new owner of Pinnacle's portfolio is able to address all the violations is key. In court, city attorneys are questioning whether Summit will be able to do so.

“The City has substantial concern that even if Summit is able to consummate the proposed sale, it may not have sufficient resources or willingness to rehabilitate the Properties, or be able to maintain a profitable business based on the income stream from the rent stabilized or rent controlled apartments in the Properties,” city attorneys wrote. 

Officials worry that if the buildings deteriorate further, those costs may fall upon the city or the tenants.

“Our intervention in the Pinnacle case shows we are walking the walk, and fighting to ensure any outcome from this case improves living conditions and protects affordability for Pinnacle tenants,” Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, said in a statement.

Besides apartments, Summit owns two hotels and an office in the city, in addition to retail properties scattered across the country and real estate portfolios in Germany and Israel. 

While the firm has a long history overseas, its growth in New York City has been recent. In 2021, Summit went on a buying spree, scooping up just over 1,500 apartments by the end of the year, according to investor materials.

In a January 2022 investor presentation, Summit said its target portfolio would consist of €2B of assets, 40% of which would be New York City residential. That would mean owning about 7,500 units — achievable if Summit acquires Pinnacle’s portfolio. 

Downward Spiral

Raised by a Brooklyn landlord, Joel Wiener set out on his own in the 1990s, establishing Pinnacle. The business model revolved around buying run-down, rent-regulated properties that he would rehabilitate, allowing him to raise rents.

The strategy worked, making him a billionaire by 2017. Two years later, New York state legislators passed a package of rent laws known as the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which effectively killed Wiener’s business model.

Among the changes was a far lower cap on how much property owners can raise rents after improving buildings or individual units following a tenant’s departure. Tenant rights allow residents to remain in rent-stabilized apartments for decades or generations, resulting in units being returned to landlords in deteriorated condition and requiring costly repairs that far exceed what prior regulated rents could support.

HSTPA also stopped landlords from converting rent-stabilized units into condos, a “mainstay and successful component of [Pinnacle’s] business plan,” according to a May 27 court filing. In the two years prior to its Chapter 11 filing, the company sold 143 units for approximately $65M, allowing it to pay debt obligations on the rest of its portfolio. 

In fiscal year 2024, despite generating positive net operating income, mortgage payments resulted in Pinnacle recording a loss of $12M. Coupled with rising debt service costs, those losses increased in 2025, when Flagstar Bank filed to foreclose on the 93 properties. 

But Wiener’s troubles exceed the Flagstar portfolio, which is tied to a $564M loan.

Pinnacle’s parent company, The Zarasai Group, had a working capital deficit of approximately $549M as of the end of September, up from $147M the year before, according to filings with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where the company is also listed. 

Wiener has more than $1.1B in combined obligations to lenders and Israeli bondholders. Of that, $215M are other mortgages held by Capital One, Axis Bank and Freddie Mac, according to court records. Zarasai has similarly defaulted on several of those debts. 

In September, Capital One moved to foreclose on a Bronx portfolio after Zarasai stopped making payments on $98.5M of outstanding debt. As of its Q3 report, filed on TASE, the company was in negotiations with the debt servicer.

That same month, Zarasai received a notice from Axis that it had defaulted on $55M in loans, which have repayment dates between December 2025 and September 2032. The company is also negotiating with the bank to make adjustments to its terms, according to the TASE filings, which were obtained by Bisnow and translated using Google.

As a result of its financial struggles, there are “significant doubts” about Zarasai’s continued existence, according to the filings.

Jonathan Wiener similarly set out on his own in 1996, founding Chestnut Holdings as a real estate investment and property management firm in the Bronx. 

However, his firm seemingly never grew to the scale of his brother’s. In 2023, PincusCo estimated that Chestnut Holdings owned at least 44 commercial properties with about 1,300 residential units in New York City. It isn’t clear how many properties are run by Jonathan Wiener's Denali Management.

For Joel Wiener, the Flagstar portfolio makes up a majority of his holdings.

A December 2024 appraisal valued the Flagstar portfolio at $826M, nearly double Summit’s bid. Still, the city is concerned that the deal is overleveraged.

“The city submits that the Debtors and Summit have failed to demonstrate that the Properties can support the proposed sale price and maintenance needs and costs given the regulated rents,” Monday’s court filing says. 

City attorneys added that the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development conducted a preliminary analysis that found “the proposed sale would not lead to a supportable business as long as the Properties continued to have exclusively rent stabilized or rent controlled units because the current rents are very low-averaging.”