From left: developer Yair Levy, broker-developer Ilan Bracha, developer Serge Hyoda (photo 1), Bracha, Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto (photo 2) at last night’s fundraiser held at 15 Central Park West (photo 3) for Shuva Israel West Synagogue (rendering in photo 4). Click image for larger version. (Photo credit for first three photos: Joseph Ben Joseph Fine Art Photography & Video)
Developers Serge Hoyda and Yair Levy as well as Nello restaurateur Nello Balan gathered last night in the sixth-floor event space at 15 Central Park West to kick off fundraising for a new West Side synagogue.
Prudential Douglas Elliman broker and B+B Investment Group co-founder Ilan Bracha and partner Haim Binstock held the first annual fundraiser for Shuva Israel West Synagogue, which B+B plans to build in the ground-floor retail space of the condominium Heritage at Trump Place at 240 Riverside Boulevard at the corner of 72nd Street.
The 2,600-square-foot space, which B+B purchased in 2007 with the intention of building the synagogue, will be able to accommodate 150 members, said Levi Krinsky, project director at B&B. The company plans to begin building out the space, slated to cost roughly $400,000, after Passover in two weeks and open before Rosh Hashana Sept. 9, he said.
Shuva Israel West Synagogue provides a second Manhattan space for followers of Israel-based Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto, a rabbi-to-the-real estate community, who was the featured speaker last night. Real estate folks consult Pinto when it comes to business and personal matters.
“There’s a tremendous need for [the synagogue],” Krinsky said because the main synagogue is in East Midtown. Krinsky said that Bracha, who resides on the Upper West Side, has to walk to the East Side to go to services every week.
Last night’s attendees also included real estate attorney Terrence Oved, Elliman executive vice president Yuval Greenblatt and Mickey Roth, who received Pinto’s blessing last month at the opening of the office for Park River Properties, the firm he recently co-founded with Lenny Sporn.