Allure Group, the for-profit nursing home operator at the center of the Rivington House scandal, owes the city $5.2 million in back taxes, according to city records.
Brooklyn-based Allure bought 45 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side for $28 million in early 2015, and after a deed change by the city, sold it to Slate Property Group, Adam American Real Estate Group and China Vanke for $116 million.
The sale sparked controversy as the property, which was a former nonprofit AIDS-care facility, will be turned into 100 luxury condominiums units, and de Blasio administration officials accused Allure of misleading the city.
The New York Post reported Allure was incorporated in 2012 and owes the city millions in back taxes on a Brooklyn nursing home that used to be a nonprofit. It also owes $853,795 an another Brooklyn nursing home that will be converted into housing, according to city records.
Before the city agreed to lifting the deed restriction at 45 Rivington Street, Joel Landau, an Allure executive, wrote in an email that the property would be maintained as a nursing home. On his resume, Landau says he is “master at turning poor-performing organizations into high-performing profitable companies,” the tabloid reported.
Landau’s partners are Marvin Rubin and Solomon Rubin, the newspaper reported, and most of Allure’s purchases are made using limited liability companies and some are heavily mortgaged.
Comptroller Scott Stringer initiated the investigation into the deal, subpoenaing the sale’s documents, which the city turned over. City Council member Margaret Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer also requested the documents last week. [NYP] — Dusica Sue Malesevic