From rotten food to wine vaults: Controversial Park Slope senior center to be reborn as luxury building

Sugar Hill to convert 1 Prospect Park West into 67 apartments

1 Prospect Park West
1 Prospect Park West

A senior facility in Park Slope that was the subject of a series of rancorous lawsuits will get a new life as luxury apartments, according to applications filed by Sugar Hill Capital Partners.

The Harlem-based firm filed plans to convert the vacant facility at 1 Prospect Park West to a 67-unit building with a slew of swanky amenities.

According to plans filed with the city Tuesday, Sugar Hill will convert the 198-unit facility to 67 apartments. Amenities will include a pet spa, wine vault, and play room, along with the now standard bike storage, fitness center and roof terrace. The 139,652-square-foot building will also include a community space.

The architect of record is the IBI Group, though Sugar Hill has previously used its own design arm, Na-Da Architects for its projects.

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Sugar Hill paid $84 million for the nine-story property in 2016 while the previous owner, Haysha Deitsch, was embroiled in a legal scandal over the way he vacated the premises. Deitsch allegedly served rotten food, cut off the air conditioning and illegally evicted tenants, which family members said contributed to the deaths of seven residents.

He ultimately paid a $3.4 million settlement to settle eviction claims, but still faces various wrongful death suits.

Sugar Hill, co-founded by David Schwartz and Alex Friedman in 2009, has amassed multifamily portfolios primarily in Brooklyn and Uptown Manhattan. Some of their more ambitious design projects include the Bogart Lofts at 59 Bogart Street in Bushwick, and the restoration and condo conversion of 505 2nd Street in Park Slope.

Sugar Hill said in a statement that they were “thrilled to have the opportunity to restore such an iconic building.”