Vanbarton unloads FiDi building seized from failed crowdfunder

A Financial District property that was once part of beleaguered Prodigy Network’s crowdfunded portfolio has sold for $64.5 million.

A limited liability company snapped up 17 John Street from Vanbarton Group, which foreclosed on the 111,000-square-foot property in 2021 when Prodigy was in the midst of bankruptcy.

Public documents tied to the sale list an address for Housing Solutions, which provides furnished corporate apartment rentals. A call to the company went to voicemail. Vanbarton did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the lawyer who signed the buyer’s mortgage agreement, Jason Herskowitz, declined to comment.

Prodigy had used the property as a co-working and co-living facility known as the Assemblage John Street before it was taken over by mezzanine lender Vanbarton in a deal valued at $83 million. A certificate of occupancy indicates that the building was more recently used for short-term rentals, according to Crain’s, which first reported the sale.

The Assemblage John Street was among Prodigy’s most well known assets and a symbol of the company’s ability to attract retail investors to buy pieces of commercial property.

Prodigy was founded by Rodrigo Niño, a former real estate broker, who crowdfunded money from small-time investors largely in South America. He was able to raise more than $50 million of equity for 17 John Street.

But the project struggled to break even for about a year after it opened in April 2018. Prodigy turned the red ink to black in the second quarter of 2019, but income still fell below expectations.

About a year later, Niño died of cancer. The company continued to implode and investors filed lawsuits alleging they were misled about their investment returns. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — liquidation — in 2021.

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