The fallout from LuxUrban Hotels’ spectacular unraveling is not confined to courtrooms, collectors and locked resort doorways. For a former govt, it’s turning private.
Brian Ferdinand, the founder and former chief govt of the short-lived resort operator, filed for Chapter 7 private chapter final month, in search of a clear break from almost $100 million in liabilities tied largely to the corporate’s failed New York Metropolis resort leases. Ferdinand reported lower than $4.5 million in belongings in opposition to greater than $98 million in debt, in keeping with the submitting, first reported by Bisnow.
On the core of the wreckage are the private ensures Ferdinand signed as LuxUrban raced to scale up its master-lease mannequin throughout Manhattan. These ensures left him straight on the hook for tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} after the corporate stopped paying hire and landlords moved to implement their claims.
Ferdinand owes $28 million to MAve Lodge Traders, which owns Lodge 27 on Madison Avenue, $6.4 million to the proprietor of The Herald close to Herald Sq. and $14.2 million tied to the Tuscany Lodge, court docket information present.
The record of collectors reads like a cross-section of LuxUrban’s most troubled offers. Ferdinand additionally disclosed a $19 million obligation to Wyndham Lodge Group stemming from an deserted partnership, a $2.7 million judgment associated to a defaulted lease at 123 Washington Avenue and almost $4 million owed to service provider money advance lenders.
He reported 18 lawsuits filed in opposition to him within the 12 months earlier than the chapter, most linked to breached mortgage or lease ensures, together with $148,000 in unpaid federal taxes from 2023.
Financially, the submitting portrays a dramatic reversal. Ferdinand says he’s unemployed, with no earnings, lower than $170 in money throughout three financial institution accounts and a repossessed Porsche Cayenne. He’s receiving a $30,000 month-to-month allowance from his father. His largest remaining asset is a Sunny Isles Seaside apartment valued at $4.4 million, although it’s encumbered by $5.7 million in mortgages.
Ferdinand launched CorpHousing Group in 2017, initially leasing flats for short-term stays earlier than pivoting through the pandemic to grasp leasing resorts. That technique powered a $13 million preliminary public providing in 2022 and a rebrand to LuxUrban Resorts, pitching the corporate as a fast-growing disruptor in hospitality.
The ambition outpaced the steadiness sheet. After a brief vendor report and mounting lawsuits, LuxUrban filed for Chapter 11 in September, solely to collapse into Chapter 7 liquidation weeks later after abandoning resorts, staff and booked guests.
Although Ferdinand had stepped away from day-to-day management, the corporate’s court-appointed trustee is in search of to drag him again into the liquidation, arguing that solely he can produce key monetary information.
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