Lender Deutsche Bank has filed a foreclosure complaint against Kaufman Astoria Studios and its owner Hackman Capital Partners alleging the historic sound stage is in default on a loan that was due to be paid in full last fall.
The loan, from 2021, was for $340 million. Deutsche Bank’s complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, puts the outstanding balance at $359 million as of March 26 including principal, accrued interest, late payment charges and exit fees.
The maturity date was Nov. 9, 2025 but no payment was made, it said.
“In light of the Maturity Default, Agent seeks to enforce the terms of the Loan Documents and to foreclose upon the Mortgage,” the filing says. It also asked for “a deficiency judgment and related relief against Borrower and the guarantors of the Loans … to the extent the proceeds of the sale of the Mortgaged Property are insufficient to satisfy the full amount due and owing to Lender.”
Hackman Capital declined to comment. The firm’s founder and CEO Michael Hackman is also named as a defendant.
Hackman Capital with Square Mile Capital Management acquired Kaufman Astoria in 2022 amid a sound stage buying spree that included the purchase of New York City’s Silvercup Studios in 2020 and the Radford Studio Center in LA in 2021. Hackman defaulted on the Radford campus early this year, Goldman Sachs took it over and and Netflix is talks to buy it.
Kaufman Astoria and Radford are both historic properties. Kaufman, which opened in 1920, was the original home of Paramount Pictures. Sesame Street started filming there in 1992. Productions on its 11 sound stages have included Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, Showtime’s Nurse Jackie and The Affair, HBO’s The Undoing, Apple TV’s Dickinson. . Feature film productions include Deliver Us from Evil, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Men in Black 3, The Bourne Legacy and The Irishman.
The foreclosure complaint comes at a challenging moment for the business with production well off its peak and many projects continuing to film overseas where costs are lower and incentives higher. Hackman’s portfolio includes, among other sites, Eastbrook Studios in London, Cardington Film Studios in Bedford, UK. and Ardmore Studios and Greystones Media Campus in Ireland.
Stateside, there seems to be a growing divide among studio complexes. Earlier this week, Hudson Pacific Properties’ Quixote Studios said it’s exiting all of its leased sound stage facilities in Los Angeles except for Griffith Park.
Hudson Pacific called its separately owned Sunset Studios more “resilient.” The real estate trust said. Sunset’s flagship Hollywood stages are 96% leased and a new Manhattan facility is 100% leased as “best-in-class, purpose-built studio real estate in prime locations continues to attract strong tenant interest even amid more moderate production levels.”
Next door to New York, New Jersey, a rising force in U.S. production, is holding its second annual Film Expo today, an all-day event at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford. Governor Mikie Sherrill will deliver the keynote address this afternoon.
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