The new lender to a planned 156K SF lab and office building around the corner from Moynihan Train Hall is trying to wrestle the property from its owner.
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Quinlan Development Group filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge's permission to foreclose on the leasehold interest at 320 W. 31st St., alleging the property's owner defaulted on a $54M mortgage.
The property is owned by Maple 1 Farley Owner LLC, an affiliate of Cannon Hill Capital Partners, which planned to build an 11-story building on the site that would combine lab and office space.
But the development never took off: The grime-streaked building that once housed part of Touro College’s campus was still standing as of April, according to Google Street View.
The total debt owed is now $65.9M, including accrued interest, default interest and additional charges, according to the complaint. Quinlan, which acquired the loan in September from Bank of China, is pushing to schedule a foreclosure auction to satisfy the debt. PincusCo first reported the lawsuit, which was filed in New York County Supreme Court.
Cannon Hill is also named as a defendant because it is a recourse guarantor on the mortgage, and Quinlan is reserving the right to go after the development firm if a foreclosure sale doesn't cover the outstanding debt, according to the complaint.
Based in Chelsea, Cannon Hill spun out of Columbia Property Trust in 2022 and took over funds Columbia Property acquired when it bought Normandy Real Estate Partners in 2020. Cannon Hill's co-founders, Jeff Gronning and Melissa Cosgrove Donohoe, were executives at Normandy when it was acquired.
Columbia Property Trust acquired the ground lease for 320 W. 31st — in the shadow of Facebook's offices at Vornado's renovation of the James A. Farley Post Office — in February 2020 from an entity managed by Onyx Equities for $88M, according to documents filed in the city register.
An entity tied to SL Green provided Columbia Property with a $54M loan to finance the purchase, then assigned the debt to Bank of China in June 2021. The loan’s maturity date was later extended to Aug. 18, 2025.
But the borrower didn’t pay off the mortgage, leading Bank of China to issue a default notice in September 2025.
On Sept. 17 this year, Bank of China assigned its full interest in the loan, mortgages and collateral agreements to an entity controlled by Quinlan. On Tuesday, Quinlan began preforeclosure proceedings.
Overtime Properties LLC, registered to Charand Real Estate Associates President Andrew Edelman, has owned the land under the property since 1998, according to city records.
Quinlan’s attorneys are seeking the appointment of a receiver to collect rents, manage the property and prevent its value from deteriorating.
The property has an open Environmental Control Board violation, Quinlan's attorneys wrote in the filing, claiming “waste and decay” at the property “evidences ongoing mismanagement.”
Quinlan, its attorneys, Cannon Hill and Columbia Property Trust didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
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