SEPTEMBER 9, 2024
RFR’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year Owner of the Chrysler Building and other high-profile properties faces slew of foreclosures, challenges By C. J. Hughes and Eddie Small
522 Fifth Ave. is one of many RFR buildings where the developer has been facing financial woes. | BUCK ENNIS
By just about any measure, this summer’s sale of 980 Madison Ave. was a doozy. In the middle of a historically slow investment sales market, an entity linked to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg acquired the Upper East Side office building from developer RFR Holding for a hefty $560 million, or $4,700 per square foot, about five times the going rate. And the deal supposedly netted RFR as much as a few hundred million dollars, providing the firm with a major cash infusion in a
difficult financial environment. But all the gauzy attention to the transaction might obscure the current reality facing RFR, one of the city's flashiest developers and the owner of such highprofile sites as the Chrysler Building, the Seagram Building and 281 Park Ave. South, which helped bring about the downfall of infamous fraudster Anna Delvey. The firm, founded in 1991 by childhood friends Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, is confronting multiple financial problems, including foreclosures, across its extensive See FORECLOSE on Page 17
High-end art in healing spaces Hospitals house a surprising treasure trove of art, worth millions of dollars By Amanda Glodowski
E
nter the atrium through glossy doors, proceed past a marble bust through a towering stone archway and come face-to-face with a vibrant floral silkscreen by Andy Warhol. Just upstairs, a 26-foot-long collage by Romare Bearden depicts city life in Harlem. This is not a stroll through the Met, the MoMa or the Guggenheim, but Bellevue Hospital. The city’s hospitals are a surprising home for thousands of works of art worth many millions of dollars. The pieces, which are commissioned, donated and curated, offer a brief escape from an environment that can be overstimulating for patients and employees alike. But the collections are more than pretty pictures on walls; though originally thought of as a way to reduce the bleak institutional feel and employ artists, there is a growing body of research that shows art aids in the healing process. New York City’s Health + Hospitals in particular has an impressive collection
A silkscreen by Andy Warhol hangs in Bellevue Hospital. | BUCK ENNIS
See ART on Page 18
VOL. 40, NO. 32 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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SPORTS & RECREATION How many pickleball courts does New York really need?
CRAIN’S LIST Our annual ranking of the largest local accounting firms.
GOTHAM GIG Brooklyn model shines in Paris, this time for fencing.
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