Last month, it seemed that the end of the road was fast approaching for design center landlord Charles Cohen. In early March, a New York State Supreme Court judge gave the real estate mogul 45 days—with a deadline of April 20—to settle his nearly $190 million debt with lender Fortress Investment Group. After that, Fortress would have the go-ahead to begin selling Cohen’s properties to recoup the missing funds.
Now, Cohen has managed to extend that runway. Earlier this month, the court approved his request for a 30-day extension—shifting the deadline back to May 20—in order to close a potential transaction that he says will generate enough cash to fulfill his debt obligations to Fortress. According to the April 17 filing, Fortress agreed to the extension in light of the real estate mogul’s reported progress on the deal, which he says will fully cover the outstanding principal and interest on his loan, in addition to $12 million of the lender’s attorney fees.
The coming weeks represent the culmination of a dispute that originated in 2022, when Cohen borrowed $533 million from Fortress and put up several properties as collateral, along with a $187 million personal guarantee. When Cohen’s company began falling behind on payments, Fortress took legal action, forcing an auction that allowed it to scoop up the Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach, Florida, and several other properties in the landlord’s portfolio for a total of $76 million.
The sale still wasn’t enough to satisfy the total balance of Fortress’s loan. Over the past year, the lender has been looking to collect the outstanding debt, while Cohen himself has been shopping buildings around to raise capital. Thus far, he has succeeded in offloading his New York properties at 623 Fifth Avenue and 3 East 54th Street in sales that will generate $52 million in proceeds toward paying down his judgment—far short of satisfying the full amount.
Along setting the 45-day deadline—now extended for an additional 30 days—the March 9 court filing granted Fortress’s motion to appoint a receiver (David Moson, the lender’s head of U.S. real estate asset management) to oversee the sale of any of Cohen’s properties to recover any outstanding debt once the timeline has elapsed. For Cohen, the success of his efforts over the next three weeks could mean the difference between keeping his remaining assets—a list that includes the Decoration & Design Building in New York and the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles—or handing them over to Fortress for an uncertain future.
A representative from Cohen Brothers Realty did not respond to a request for comment.
