Ex-Brooklyn Lyceum owner claims judge duped him into forfeiting property

The arts center was sold at auction in October and will be converted to condos

Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue in Park Slope
Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 Fourth Avenue in Park Slope

The former owner of the Brooklyn Lyceum, a landmarked one-time bathhouse in Park Slope that he converted to an arts center and performance space, claims in a new lawsuit that a judge illegally auctioned off the property before his deadline to appeal had passed.

Eric Richmond, the building’s owner from 1994 until the auction last fall, says that the judge gave him seven days to file an appeal of her order allowing the auction, but then claimed that his appeal came a day late. Greystone won the building at auction on Oct. 23 for $7.6 million, and plans to convert it into condos in conjunction with a new 75-unit rental development next door at 225 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn Paper reported.

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“Due process matters,” Richmond said. “If you’re given seven days, you’re supposed to get seven days — and you can’t just change that after the fact.”

He said that his main goal is to preserve the building as a cultural space. “But if I have to fall on the sword of due process, I will fall on that sword,” he said. Richmond has been battling foreclosure proceedings since 2008. [Brooklyn Paper] — Tess Hofmann