The entity tied to the redevelopment of the shuttered Nassau Brewing Company’s former home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, has filed for bankruptcy and accused the project’s former manager of misappropriating funds, leaving the project unfinished, the Commercial Observer reported. Nassau Brewing Company Landlord LLC filed for bankruptcy with between $10 to $50 million in liabilities, as the entity’s current managing partner, Churchill Real Estate Holdings, seeks to sell the property, according to court records. Churchill also claims that it had to toss out the former manager of the project, Fabian Friedland of Crow Hill Development, “to end several years of fraud and mismanagement which has badly impacted the … development plans,” according to court records. Crow Hill bought the former brewery — which is on the National Register of Historic Places — for $7.5 million in 2008 from CPC Resources. Friedland unveiled plans in 2015 to turn the 1860s building into a mixed-use complex with retail on the ground floor and apartments above it, Brownstoner reported. Crow Hill landed an $18 million loan that year for the project. Churchill joined the project as a preferred member in 2016 when it put $5 million into the redevelopment. In its bankruptcy filing, Churchill said the development stalled “due to a myriad of issues and disputes with Friedland” and that he “grossly mismanaged the project, apparently diverting millions of dollars that should have been put into the rehabilitation.”
