Meyer Chetrit: Nobody will help me.
Michael Regan: But I thought you testified that one of your family members is helping you with mortgage payments?
MC: That’s my son.
MR: Ok.
MC: But if he had this kind of money, he would not be my son. - Deposition of Meyer Chetrit, March ‘26

When you think of commercial real estate investing in its most romantic form, the Brothers Chetrit are who first come to mind. The girthy lads, merchant princes of the world’s most important skylines, brought their deep pockets and signature joie de vivre to the art of dealmaking, tying up trophy towers by moving rapidly and convincing sellers they meant business by reportedly showing them a checking account w/ $100M+ just hanging out in it.

This was, of course, in the good times, when the Chetrits could reliably be counted upon to make a run at any of the great properties in play, be it the Sony Building or the Sears Tower. Lenders of all stripes flocked to them, the portfolio kept getting fatter, and the legend around the family grew.

Over the last couple years, however, fate has been less kind. The Chetrits are facing extinction-level threats across their portfolio. They’ve lost several key holdings, new partners have come in to recap others, and they are poised to lose more still. Joseph and Meyer are both battling serious health issues, and lenders are in hot pursuit over hundreds of millions of dollars in personal guarantees tied to their loans. The PGs are essential context to understand the extraordinary testimony that Meyer gave this spring. 👇

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Properties are properties, and for guys like the Chetrits, they hold little emotional value – the thrill, as we’ve written about previously, is in the trade. So if this were just about losing buildings, it’s hard to imagine Meyer going this hard in his deposition. But the Chetrits, their creditors have successfully argued, are personally liable for a good chunk of the monies. Among the lenders:

Maverick Real Estate: Maverick won a $130M+ judgment against Meyer, and took control of a Penn Station hotel project and several others as part of the satisfaction of it.
Mack Real Estate: Has $30M+ in judgments against Meyer & Joseph (The Meyer deposition was taken as part of Mack’s case on the Hotel Carter; a big h/t to Crain’s for spotting.)
Wells Fargo: Suing Meyer personally over a $481M CMBS loan it originated on the Chetrits’ multifamily megadeal for the Roco portfolio (Absolutely see: The Big Bank Battle of Chetritstan)

Now that you have that info., comments like these make a bit more sense. 👇

It is not an uncommon strategy, be it in divorce proceedings or financial disputes, for the party on the hook to portray itself as deeply impoverished. In this case, Meyer estimates that the Chetrit Group’s portfolio, once comfortably in the several billions of dollars, is today worth -$80M, a number he says he got to by doing his own math on a “small piece of paper” which he then put “in the garbage because I don't want my wife to be unhappy all day and all night.” Joseph was also deposed about a month after Meyer, at which time it was revealed that he had suffered 2 strokes. “I have a different priority right now in my life - my health,” Joseph said. (Per a source familiar with the company, Meyer too has suffered a stroke in recent months and is recovering.)

Behind the scenes, the Chetrits continue to be in talks w/ at least some of their lenders to work out a solution for partial repayment. Rob Verrone of Iron Hound, a longtime Chetrit adviser, is in the mix here, while the Chetrits also have attorney Leo Jacobs repping them on the legal side. TBD on whether this is truly the end for the Chetrit Group as Meyer claims it is, or whether it’s a temporary retreat. Jacobs gave the following metaphor-butchering statement to Crain’s: “When the tide rises, we will see in real estate who is the last man standing.” What we do know is that numbers, and hence portfolio values, can transmogrify depending on circumstances. Real Chetrit heads will recall this work of art in probate court from when Meyer and Joseph’s brother Jacob Chetrit passed last year.

How much is a lender willing to endure? A fresh refi in one of America’s hardest-hit CRE markets provides a valuable snapshot: In July ‘25, Ready Capital, one of the tragic figures of this cycle (See also: “Late Cycle Stress”), foreclosed on Block 216 Tower in downtown Portland. Ready had inherited the ≈$460M construction loan in ‘22, when it acquired debt fund Mosaic, the original lender to Walter Bowen’s BPM Real Estate, and reportedly upsized it soon after. BPM has been on a financial rollercoaster over the past few years, losing several properties and racked by a battle between Bowen & a key lieutenant. Block 216 is home to a 251- 🗝 Ritz-Carlton hotel, a 160K sf slug of office, 132 branded-condo units and some retail, and soon after Ready foreclosed it announced dramatic discounts on the units, as high as 50%. “Right now it's a value proposition,” Christie’s Patrick Clark told KATU at the time. “The pricing used to be much higher.” (Finding the upside in every crisis is why we love brokers.)

Now, Ready has landed a refi for the project, in the form of a $141M C-PACE loan from Peachtree (Greg Friedman’s shop seemingly everywhere rn), per CO. It’s an unusual one b/c it’s rare to see such huge announced price cuts, especially on a tony brand like the Ritz. Says much about Ready’s newfound urgency, and just as much about the vibes in Portland.

Every era of the market has its main characters. And in the reset-basis era, with broken capstacks and huge discounts to be had if you’re bold enough to take the leap, no one is going harder than 601W Cos. Our quickfire snapshot is now live on YT