Building where Heath Ledger died sells for $15M

421 Broome Street, where Heath Ledger lived and died

The Soho building at 421 Broome Street in which actor Heath Ledger died last year was bought today in a foreclosure auction by the property’s lender for $15 million, sources who attended the court proceedings said.

Attorney Matthew Dollinger, representing Donald Burns, the principal behind the lender Palm Beach Mortgage Management, placed the $15 million bid to purchase the building, a source said.

A partner in Dollinger’s law firm, Dollinger Gonski Grossman, said the firm declined to comment.

The court determined the loans, interest and expense for the building to be $17 million, the property’s foreclosure documents show.

Ledger died in January 2008 of an accidental drug overdose in his rented apartment on Broome Street between Lafayette Street and Crosby Street.

An investor who attended the proceedings said the courtroom at 60 Centre Street was packed with dozens of people. There were no bidders following the lender’s bid, the investor, who asked not to be identified, said.

Burns has been in a long-term dispute with a minority owner in the building, artist Junia Neiva. The New York Post reported last month that she would appeal after the foreclosure was complete.

Her attorney was not available for comment.