PARK SLOPE — The owner of a Park Slope assisted living facility trying to force out the final five elderly women who live there missed the Friday deadline to pay their $3.1 million relocation settlement and their lawyers now plan to put liens on his luxury condo development properties.
Prospect Park Residence owner Haysha Deitsch was due to fork over the moving money to four women in their 90s and one 101-year-old by July 15 but failed to make the payment, an attorney representing the women said Tuesday.
Deitsch met two earlier deadlines to pay a $250,000 deposit toward the settlement, but because he missed the July 15 payment, Deitsch must forfeit that money.
Deitsch is now personally on the hook for a total of $3.35 million, said attorney Judith Goldiner of Legal Aid Society.
"He's personally liable, as is [his business partner] Sam Zalmanov, as is the building, and we intend to go after his assets,” Goldiner said.
To collect the money, attorneys will place liens on any property Deitsch owns, Goldiner said, including two Fourth Avenue sites where Deitsch plans to build an 11-story luxury building with a private roof deck and pet spa.
Deitsch's failure to meet the payment deadline has a silver lining — it buys the remaining residents more time to find new accommodations. The remaining tenants originally agreed to leave the facility by Aug. 31 under a settlement reached in late May. Now they'll get to stay until 45 days after Deitsch comes up with the money, Goldiner said.
In court Monday, Deitsch's lawyer blamed the delayed payment on Sugar Hill Capital Partners, the developer that was once slated to buy Prospect Park Residence for $76 million, the New York Post reported.
“It has always been and continues to be Sugar Hill's intention to acquire the building,” Sugar Hill representatives said through a spokeswoman Tuesday. "Sugar Hill's goal is for all parties to come to resolution and we are working diligently toward that."
Deitsch bought Prospect Park Residence, which sits on prime real estate overlooking Grand Army Plaza at 1 Prospect Park West, in 2006 for $40.1 million, records show. He recently defaulted on the $33.4 million mortgage he took out to buy the building, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
Representatives for Deitsch did not respond to requests for comment.
Deitsch has been trying to clear the building of its elderly residents since 2014, when he announced that Prospect Park Residence was closing because he could no longer afford to run it, he said at the time.
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