Death of developer sheds light on status of new office building on St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue; 'The project is entirely on spec'

The story of NYC developer Brandon Miller, who died after being found unconscious in the garage of his $8 million Water Mill home, has become tabloid fodder in recent weeks. (A cause of not has not ben made public.)

Brandon Miller loved the high life. A Park Avenue home. An influencer wife. Vacations in Paris. A real estate inheritance. Then he was found dead.https://t.co/P8k5Hqokag

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 13, 2024

Many of the stories focused on the lavish lifestyle that the 43-year-old Miller led with his wife, Candice Miller, a blogger and Instagram influencer, and two children who shuttled between their $50,000-per-month Upper East Side rental apartment and a Hamptons home in Water Mill with a collection of classic cars. 

There is a local real-estate angle in the story. According to The Real Deal, Miller inherited the commercial and residential real estate firm Real Estate Equities Corporation (REEC) from his father, shopping mall tycoon Michael Miller, who died in 2016. (The younger Miller joined the firm in 2004)

Per TRD: "It came out after the elder Miller’s death that he had allegedly told his assistant to forge Brandon's signature on loan documents related to a condo project, according to court records." 

The many REEC investments under Brandon Miller's watch weren't paying off either. He was reportedly $17 million in debt to friends and facing several lawsuits when he died, according to published reports. 

In November 2017, REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the assemblage on the NW corner of St. Mark's Place and Third Avenue for nearly $150 million. The Gabay family had owned the buildings for generations. (There were other suitors for the property.)

The previous buildings here, which included retail tenants such as Korilla BBQ, the Continental and McDonald's, were demolished in the summer of 2019 to make way for an office building. 

There was a lot of drama surrounding the size of the building (flashback), and work was stopped for 10 months as Madison Capital Realty tried foreclosing on the property in 2021. Foundation work finally started in late August 2022 — this after crews and equipment were assembled here in the summer of 2020. 

From the story last Thursday at TRD about 1-3 St. Mark's Place:

...but progress was slow. Before foundations were even dug, Madison Capital Realty tried foreclosing on the property in 2021. Parkview Financial rescued the project with a $70 million refinance the following year. 

Only the third and final tier of the nine-story building is still under construction. But as the building nears completion, 24 percent of Manhattan offices remain vacant, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report, and for the first time since 2021, no new construction or full renovations of offices were completed last quarter. 

REEC recently fell behind on loan payments at the project, Parkview Financial CEO Paul Rahimian told TRD, and there are not yet tenants for the building's retail or office space. "The project is entirely on spec," Rahimian said.

Elsewhere on the Lower East Side, REEC took over the leasehold at 156-166 Bowery, a 15,000-square-foot assemblage just south of Delancey, in a deal valued at $50 million. 

Per TRD: 

In 2022, the firm filed plans for a 73,000-square-foot mixed-use commercial building and landed a $60.5 million loan from Raven Capital Management, according to property records. 

But progress at that property appears to have stalled.

Said Parkview's Rahimian: "We think there will be demand for new offices in such a popular neighborhood, and we were surprised like everyone else to learn about what had happened [with Miller]."