Related brings 225 Rector Place back to the market

Swamped in controversy from lawsuits, fraud and foreclosure in recent years, the condominium at 225 Rector Place will re-enter the market later this month, the New York Times reported. Related Companies, which bought the building out of foreclosure for $82.8 million last summer, hired Irish designer Clodagh to refurbish the building interiors and common spaces. The 181 units it is bringing to the market range from a 576-square-foot studio asking $495,000 to a 1,963-square-foot three-bedroom listed for $2 million. About one-quarter of the units are already accounted for and 12 more penthouses are being held back from the market until the fall.

The building was constructed as a rental in 1985 by Related, and was sold in 2005 to developer Yair Levy who commissioned a condo conversion. Sales started in 2007, but by 2009 the sales office was closed and construction on building amenities had ceased. Levy defaulted on the loan he took out from Anglo Irish Bank for the conversion, the lender took control and sold it to Related. In between those financial difficulties, the initial wave of buyers sued Levy over the incomplete construction and, in a separate incident, the state Supreme Court ruled the developer committed fraud buy using the building’s reserve fund for personal gain.

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Now, Related expects the building to put its tumultuous past behind it and thrive because “there’s a real shortage of brand-new luxury housing down in Battery Park,” according to Sherry Tobak, a senior vice president of Related and the building’s director of sales. [NYT]