By: Rusty Brooks
Multi-millionaire Aby Rosen and his firm RFR Holding received a PPP loan between $1-$2 million
Rosen Hose Company owns the landmark Chrysler Building and Park Avenue’s gleaming Seagram Building, is a real estate giant and one of many multi0 millionaires to receive Paycheck Protection Program loans during the corona pandemic.
The program provides forgivable loans so companies can keep employees on the payroll, however Page 6 pointed out according to the RFR website, Rosen retained none of his employees yet still received a sizable loan.
The PPP has received round criticism from all sides of the political spectrum, as both parties were responsible for the litany of issues related to who received the loans. In a time where studies indicate half of small business will never open up again, people are scratching their heads when the list of who received the loans was released. Companies that do not have cash flow issues raked in millions of dollars of loans.
Page 6 reported: And to rub salt into public wounds, Rosen, 60, has been Instagramming pictures of himself and his wife on the beach in the Hamptons, shots from inside his sprawling modern art-filled Southampton mansion on the street named Billionaire Lane and also of the pool at his picturesque place in St. Barts during the pandemic.
Rosen last made headlines when he wrestled for control of The Lever House, at 390 Park Avenue on 53rd Street
TJV previously reported:
Rosen, who co-founded RFR Realty and is a real estate tycoon owning roughly 70 properties in the U.S., took over operations at the 260,000-square-foot modernist building in 1998. He secured a 99-year ground lease from the Korein family, which allowed him to operate the property in exchange for annual rental payments. The prized 21-story glass tower, opened in 1952, is renowned for its midcentury architecture and has attracted top-named financial firms as tenants. The building, now a landmark, was NYC’s second curtain wall skyscraper built.
Two years ago, the Korein family, the original leaseholder, signed a separate ground lease with Brookfield Properties and Waterman, encouraging the two investors to basically take over Rosen’s place as operator of the property if they could tear it back from him in a rent dispute, as per Crain’s NY. The pair is hoping a judge can help them reset the ground rent at the office building, thereby loosening Rosen’s grip over it. Last year the pair’s plans were thwarted by Rosen, who sued Waterman Interests for fraud, preventing the ground rent reset.
This case was dropped (dismissed with prejudice) and there is an agreement for Waterman Interests to take over the property, according to The Real Deal
Meanwhile thousands of small business are collapsing, people are begging for the $600 unemployment pandemic addition to remain in place, as careers have been erased, replaced with people counting on unemployment as they wait for their jobs to come back. Many are predicting a complete economic collapse by 2021, however Mr Rosen, who laid off all his workers, secured a nice emergency loan and is relaxing at the Hamptons.
