Good riddance! The Brooklyn developer Mendel Brach (of Finger Building fame) was barred by New York State from selling condos after he was found to have illegally taken advantage a loophole which allowed him to build an outsized building, reports The New York Times. As you may recall, Brach claimed back in 2002 that he was building faculty housing for a local yeshiva at a new development at 191, 195, 197 and 201 Spencer Street in Bed Stuy and received a zoning variance that allowed him to build nine stories instead of five. The only problem was that he turned around and sold all 72 units in the building as condos. While the state’s attorney general office, unaware of the variance, initially approved the condo sales, the city ultimately refused to grant a permanent C of O, plunging the buyers into a kind of housing purgatory in which they were unable to sell, rent or refinance their apartments. In addition to the ban (which Brach can apply to have lifted after five years), the developer was ordered to pay a financial settlement to the occupants of $10.9 million.
State Accord Bans Sales of Homes by Developer [NY Times]
Subpoena for Fraudulent Spencer St Developer [Brownstoner]
A Big F-in Mess on Spencer Street [Brownstoner]
Lock Him Up and Throw Away the Key [Brownstoner]
The Bottom Line on Developer Abuses [Brownstoner]
Photo from Property Shark