Greenpoint Condo Losing Its Magic

Even Magic Johnson couldn't assist this Brooklyn building.

A six-story, 160-unit luxury condo in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, has filed for bankruptcy and is now focusing on converting its units from condos to apartments available for rent - an "increasingly popular path," according to Crain's.

The building, known affectionately by its developers as The Viridian, got the majority of its funding from two primary sources - a $36 million senior loan from Bank of New York and a second for $12 million from Johnson's Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund.

The property never truly received a warm New York welcome. It was called "kind of iffy" by a local Realtor in The Real Deal. Local blogger Miss Heather made fun of it too, ironically calling its scaffolding-covered sales office "classy."

According to Crain's, the developers were forced to file for Chapter 11 bankrupty when Bank of New York "refused to make the final advance on its existing mortgage loan," effectively putting a freeze on their overall cash flow.

But just like all good developers in testy waters, the owners behind Viridian threw a positive spin on things in the filing, noting, “The demand for apartment rentals appears relatively stronger than the demand for condominiums." Whatever they gotta do to keep the magic we totally understand, and we'll wait to see how they rebound from this one come 2010.