A Brooklyn Luxury Condo With Monster Arrears

There are arrears. And then there are serious arrears. And then there are absolute monster arrears like those racked up by the Chinese developer, Xin Development, at the Oosten, a 216-unit luxury condo building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn – a cool quarter of a million dollars or, to be precise about it, $252,752.23. 

The company’s failure to pay common charges from October 2018 to January 1 of this year has led the board’s attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, to file liens against 43 of the units, the New York Post reports. The Oosten, the first U.S. building by Dutch architect Piet Boon, boasts an interior garden, roof deck, a spa, townhomes, and a prime location in Williamsburg at 429 Kent Avenue. But its finances are officially a mess. 

Xin Development is the subsidiary of Beijing-based Xinyuan Real Estate Co., an NYSE-listed company that will report earnings on Friday. In addition to the unpaid common charges, there is litigation with a contractor who is owed about $470,000, and Xin is being sued by Halstead Property Development Marketing, which claims it is owed $1.3 million after being dropped from the building’s sales and marketing. At that time, 49 units remained unsold. 

Apartments have sold at prices ranging from $6,495,000 for a six-bedroom penthouse to $698,000 for a one-bedroom. 

Attorney Steve Wagner, a partner at Wagner Berkow, who is not involved with the building, says of the unpaid common charges: “It’s a punch in the kidneys and one of the reasons people are concerned when there are a number of units held by a sponsor.” Generally, he adds, sponsors don’t walk away. “But if they don’t pay, there can be very serious problems for the condo.”