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Park Slope Landlord Evicting Seniors Had Already Sold Building

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Earlier this year, Haysha Deitsch, the owner the assisted living facility at 1 Prospect Park West, abruptly announced that the facility would shut down and that its elderly residents had 90 days to vacate the premises, prompting a drawn out legal battle. Now, thanks to a report from Brooklyn Paper, the reason for Deitsch's hasty eviction has come to light: turns out he had already sold the building. And now the investment firm he sold it to, Sugar Hill Capital, is suing him for not evicting the seniors fast enough. The two (wretched, inhuman) sides agreed on a price of $76.5 million back in January, "on the condition that Deitsch clear out the special-needs facility, specially tailored for dementia patients, that takes up the fourth floor." Thanks to all the legal woes (who would have thought that anyone would have a problem with that plan?) Sugar Hill got cold feet at some point, but Deitsch, who bought the facility in 2006 for $40 million and told its residents that he was shutting the place down because of a "tax obligation," still wanted to keep their $7.65 million deposit, because of course he did. Here's an out of context quote from Deitsch's lawyer: "If you believe everything in the Berger complaint, you know the purchasers knew my clients are terrible people." Yup, sounds about right.

The current state of the eviction proceedings is that there are eight holdouts, and a judge has already blocked the closure and ordered the facility to continue providing services. Deitsch has allegedly cut off services anyway and is now facing contempt of court charges. But hey, remember that time the residents had an "unauthorized music performance"? Who's really the bad guy here?
· EXCLUSIVE: Prospect Park Residence selling for $76 million [Brooklyn Paper]
· Prospect Park Residence coverage [Curbed]