The owner of Fordham Landing, a major housing development in the Bronx that’s attracted state investment, has filed bankruptcy to halt a foreclosure sale.
Dynamic Star LLC and related corporate entities that own equity in the Fordham Landing project filed Chapter 11 on Dec. 1 in New York. The filing comes weeks after state officials agreed to commit $55 million to support infrastructure construction in Fordham Landing South, which would include roughly 900 affordable housing units.
The development is split into two projects, a larger-scale Fordham Landing North, which will take longer to complete and Fordham Housing South, which is further along in development, according to court papers. The combined project along the Harlem River includes building thousands of affordable units.
Project lenders include an affiliate of commercial real estate firm CREMAC Asset Management LLC, which had initiated a foreclosure sale of the project owner’ equity interests, Zackson said. The developer is facing other lawsuits, including an August complaint from AECOM Tishman — the contractor and construction manager of the Fordham South project — seeking to recover money it says it’s owed for work on the project.
New York hasn’t disbursed funding for the project and will complete due diligence before any state funds are released, said a person familiar with the matter who wasn’t authorized to discuss those details.
Dynamic Star is working with housing specialists to build the affordable units in 2026, co-founder Brad Zackson said in a court filing. The company has spent the past two years seeking zoning approvals for 4,000 affordable housing units planned for Fordham Landing North, Zackson said.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development “is aware of the bankruptcy filing, and we look forward to receiving an update from the development team later this week,” a spokesperson said. “We expect to be building housing at this site and delivering much-needed affordable homes for New Yorkers.”
The Chapter 11 filing paused the foreclosure action and preserves the value of the project, Dynamic Star bankruptcy lawyer Kevin Nash said Thursday.
“We’re planning to proceed with the development and still think it’s going to be successful,” Nash said.
The company’s current plan is to develop thousands of affordable housing units “is certainly consistent with the current political climate in the state and city, emphasizing the need for affordability,” Zackson said in the court filing.
Dynamic Star said its confident that once re-zoning for Fordham Landing North is approved it will be able to attract new investors and construction partners to undertake the larger-scale project.
Plans to make New York City more affordable for residents was central to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s pitch to voters, including a pledge to freeze the rent for the city’s stock of rent stabilized apartments.
The case is Dynamic Star LLC, number 25-23154, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Source: Mint