A Kings County judge has ruled that the new owner of Brooklyn's William Vale Hotel can call in the sheriff to remove Zelig Weiss, the developer who helped build the 183-room Williamsburg tower and never left his suite even after the property changed hands. Judge Richard Velasquez entered a default judgment against Espresso Hospitality Management, the entity identified as the suite's actual occupant, closing out a legal fight that had dragged on for a little over a year.
The ruling, issued July 14, means EOS Hospitality can now have the sheriff remove Espresso Hospitality Management from the property, according to The Real Deal. Weiss co-developed the 22-story hotel with former business partner Yoel Goldman, and the two Hasidic Brooklyn developers built the property, which opened in 2016 with floor-to-ceiling windows and private balconies in every room, according to the MICHELIN Guide. Weiss was supposed to move out of his suite after the 2024 sale of the hotel but did not, and the case has hinged on whether he — or the management company tied to him — was actually the one living there.
A Suite Occupied Since the Hotel's Opening
EOS Hospitality purchased the William Vale for $177 million at a bankruptcy auction in 2024, a sale that finalized in June of that year and used the proceeds to pay off secured bonds owed to Israeli investors, as reported by the Commercial Observer. Weiss had allegedly occupied the luxury suite since the hotel opened, according to the Brooklyn Eagle. EOS served Weiss with a 10-day notice to move out in August 2024, and when he did not comply, the company filed a lawsuit against Weiss and his company in Kings County Supreme Court in June 2025, seeking eviction along with more than $200,000 in unpaid room occupancy fees, per the same Brooklyn Eagle report.
Velasquez set November 20, 2025, as the response deadline for Weiss and his company, but Espresso Hospitality Management did not file a response before that deadline. The company instead filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on January 28, 2026 — more than two months late. Attorney Jon Brooks, representing EOS, identified Espresso Hospitality Management as the suite's occupant and argued that Weiss himself was not the true occupant of the suite, a claim the article notes leaves open whether Weiss actually lives there. Brooks filed a motion in September 2025 asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit against Weiss individually, and Velasquez said Espresso Hospitality Management could not join Weiss's defense because that defense implicated the company itself.
A Long Fight Rooted in a Bankruptcy Collapse
The dispute traces back to All Year Holdings, the firm founded by Goldman that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 after missing payments to its Israeli bondholders. That default triggered foreclosures on all of All Year's properties by its lenders and left restructuring officers to untangle roughly $750 million in bond debt across the company's Brooklyn portfolio, framing the William Vale case within a broader wave of Brooklyn developers who defaulted on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange debt, according to The Real Deal. As part of All Year's liquidation, its 911-unit Denizen rental complex in Bushwick sold for $506 million in 2021, marking the largest single-asset multifamily transaction in the U.S. since 2018, per Chapman and Cutler LLP, which represented the bondholder trustee in the restructuring.
Before the fight reached this point, Weiss sought to take Goldman's ownership share in the William Vale project but failed to get a judge to block a rival acquisition offer. A 2022 deal in which healthcare executive Avi Philipson attempted to buy the hotel for $157 million also collapsed when he missed the closing deadline amid partner disputes, leaving the property in restructuring limbo for three years before EOS Hospitality finally closed the sale. A bankruptcy settlement approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in May 2024 required Weiss and Goldman to pay $8.5 million to All Year's wind-down entity, which separately agreed to buy the hotel's web domain from them for $1.3 million, clearing administrative hurdles ahead of the closing.
What Happens to the Hotel Now
EOS Hospitality, founded in 2017 and now managing more than 50 hotels and over 8,000 rooms nationally, entered the New York City market for the first time with its acquisition of the William Vale, serving as the stalking horse bidder in the bankruptcy auction, according to Hotel Dive. The hotel's ground-floor Southern Italian restaurant Leuca and 22nd-floor rooftop bar Westlight both launched in 2016 alongside chef Andrew Carmellini's NoHo Hospitality Group, and Hoodline has separately reported on the arrival of Little Fino, a newer Italian aperitivo spot inside the property.
Weiss reportedly has another apartment in Williamsburg, though it is unclear whether he currently lives in the disputed suite himself, an ambiguity the case never resolved. Beyond the William Vale, Weiss runs Riverside Developers, which broke ground this year on a 74-unit mixed-use rental building in Kensington. EOS, meanwhile, has continued expanding its hospitality footprint beyond New York, recently taking over operations at a Florida Keys resort in Islamorada.
