Corcoran Group in talks to bring Manafort townhouse to market

The Corcoran Group has a contract to sell the Carroll Gardens townhouse owned by indicted former President Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, sources told The Real Deal.

The property was cited in the Monday indictment, in which special counsel Robert Mueller alleged that Manafort bought the townhouse as part of a larger money laundering and tax evasion scheme.

If Manafort is convicted, the property is subject to forfeiture to the federal government.

Two brokers in talks to list the home, Cheryl Nielsen-Saaf and Cara Sadownick, as well as a spokesperson for Corcoran, did not respond to requests for comment. The agents began looking for comps on the townhouse at 377 Union Street in June, according to documents obtained by TRD.

In 2012, Manafort paid $3 million for the townhouse. Since that time, renovation work to convert the three-apartment, 4,400-square-foot brownstone into a single family home has been slow and irregular.

Brad Zackson, an associate of Manafort’s who previously partnered with him in an unsuccessful bid to redevelop the site of the Drake Hotel, is handling sale arrangements on Manafort’s behalf. Zackson told TRD that the property could list for as much as $9 million, but also said that he and Corcoran had not yet finalized pricing.

Nielsen-Saaf and Sadownick are two of the most active brokers in Brownstone Brooklyn, with over 40 closed sales over $2 million. Their largest active listing is a carriage house at 20 Verdanah Place in Cobble Hill that’s on the market for $4.4 million.

The most expensive listing in Carroll Gardens is a renovated, 5,400-square-foot townhouse at 181 President Street. It’s on the market for $9.95 million.

Manafort’s construction loan agreement for 377 Union indicates that the post-renovation value of the home is expected to be at least $8 million, according to the indictment papers. The Daily Beast reported on Monday that Manafort has recently sped up renovation work, in what may have been a last ditch attempt to spend real money on construction, as dictated by the terms of the loan, which was issued by Federal Savings Bank.

An asset forfeiture attorney told TRD that the indictment makes a potential sale of 377 Union inadvisable until the litigation is resolved. In the meantime, prosecutors could move to deter a sale, such as by filing a lis pendens on the property.

A spokesperson for Mueller’s office declined to comment on whether it would block a sale of Manafort’s brownstone.