Yeshiva, imperiled by Madoff, to sell more buildings

Still struggling after losing roughly $100 million in one-time trustee Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Yeshiva University plans to sell several properties on the main campus, at 500 West 185th Street in Washington Heights.

Companies have liquidated their investments in the university’s debt, particularly after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded it to junk bond status earlier this month. The school’s deficit was $105.9 million in 2012; $46.7 million in 2011; and $107.5 million in 2010.

In 2012, an undisclosed developer bought the 18,000-square-foot 237-241 East 34th Street, a lecture hall, for $15.5 million, as The Real Deal reported.

In February 2013, the modern orthodox Jewish institution sold two more buildings, both office buildings in Midtown South between Fifth and Sixth avenues, for a combined $115 million. The month after, the school sold another two office properties to a partnership of ClearRock Properties and Juster Properties for $87.5 million. [Bloomberg News] — Mark Maurer