Landlord David Israeli has sold his controversial Far West Side development site to an entity affiliated with Joel Wiener’s Pinnacle Group for $84 million, according to property records.
Israeli put the site on the market back in March, roughly two years after tearing down the five buildings along it. The properties are addressed at 485-487, 489-491, 497 and 501 Ninth Avenue.
Representatives for Pinnacle did not respond to a request for comment, and Israeli could not be reached.
The site is based between West 37th and West 38th streets, and it can handle up to 185,000 square feet of development or as much as 320,000 square feet if Pinnacle secures air rights available from the Port Authority.
MADDD West 38 LLC is listed as the seller of 501 Ninth Avenue. The entity filed for bankruptcy in late 2016 in an attempt to hold onto the property and avoid forfeiting a $9.5 million deposit it said it paid Equity Residential earlier that year.
Records with the Department of State link MADDD West 38 LLC to Jorge Madruga’s Maddd Equities, but Madruga previously told The Real Deal he had sold the LLC to landlord Joseph Noormand. Madruga’s frequent partner Eli Weiss told TRD on Tuesday that Maddd no longer had anything to do with any of the Ninth Avenue properties.
Israeli faced criticism over his treatment of the buildings in 2015, when housing advocates said he was damaging them on purpose in order to convince the Department of Buildings to condemn them, allowing him to demolish the properties and make way for a more profitable project.
Pinnacle Group landed a $66 million loan for its Upper West Side apartment complex at 323 West 96th Street earlier this year and purchased 97-25 64th Avenue in Rego Park late last year for $31.5 million.