Manhattan's 16th Street Synagogue Evicted

"The locks were changed and a legal possession notice was posted today at 3 West 16th Street — marking the long-fought eviction of the Sixteenth Street Synagogue from its home of 67 years, The Real Deal has learned. The eviction paves the way for the the building’s owner, Jack Braha, to transform the six-story, 15,368-square-foot property into luxury rentals."

Jack Braha, left; the former home of the 16th Street Synagogue, right

The Real Deal reports:

The locks were changed and a legal possession notice was posted today at 3 West 16th Street — marking the long-fought eviction of the Sixteenth Street Synagogue from its home of 67 years, The Real Deal has learned. The eviction paves the way for the the building’s owner, Jack Braha, to transform the six-story, 15,368-square-foot property into luxury rentals.

“They’re now officially out,” said Braha of the Modern Orthodox synagogue, which for years has found itself in the unfortunate predicament of being caught between two feuding developers, Braha and Steven Ancona.

Braha said that the synagogue’s books and Torahs are still inside, but that congregation officials can arrange to collect those and other items left in that space.

The developer noted that the apartments on floors three through six are slated to hit the market this spring. Meanwhile the second floor unit is expected to come online this summer. A 1,200-square-foot commercial unit on the first floor is available immediately; another portion of that floor will be transformed into a residential lobby. The residential units will occupy an entire floor, and will contain three bedrooms, three bathrooms and 12-foot ceilings. Asking rents are not yet available, Braha said.…

The synagogue will meet at NYU's Bronfman Center for Shabbat prayers this week and is actively searching for a new home.

Bracha is, I believe, a follower and supporter of Rabb Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, the scandal-plagued Israeli 'kabbalist' who is also one of the wealthiest rabbis in Israel.

[Hat Tip: Chazal Qaeda.]

Comments

[Chaim]

The eviction paves the way for the the building’s owner, Jack Braha, to transform the six-story, 15,368-square-foot property into luxury rentals.

The true god prevailed. The "Holy Buck"

[Wigmore]

$7.5 million is a lot of back rent. What's very confusing is what the shul's status was with the ladlord. Did they have a lease? Were they paying any rent?

[Yochanan Lavie]

I hope they can find a new home. It is appropriate that the landlord is a follower of Pinto, who probably doesn't care if a shul is evicted as long as the developer gives him donations. Mammon is not just an ancient deity.

[schneur]

The bad guys here are not the present owners of the property. The building housed the National Council of Young Israel and the local Young Isreal syn. The NCYI led by Rabbi Pesach Lerner decided to go into the real estate business as they had already "fxed" Judiasm in the uS This wa safter they also dabbled in the nursing home business and free loans. They decided to sell the building leaving the shul homeless. Interesting a syn org evicitign a shul Later a compromise was reached but why was the building sold in the first place by NCYI ?

[Az]

It is my understanding that all yi synagouges (real estate) are owned by ncyi.
Thus is stark contract to other orgs, such as aguda, ou, etc where membership is just an affiliation and each congregation owns or rents its own propown property

[Lashon Tov]

>>

Because Porky Lerner is lying forging crook!
See http://cleanupyoungisrael.blogspot.com/2011/06/national-council-sold-young-israel-of.html how he sold a shul to a Buddhist temple, real avodah zarah!

[Harvey Eckstein]

I believe your article is completely in error when you incorrectly identify Mr. Braha as a follower of Rabbi Pinto or any kabbalistic leader for that matter.

It appears as if both the Sixteenth Street Synagogue and the Syrian congregation that was evicted by a Judge's order earlier believed that they should be given a permanent free ride, ie. should never pay rent. Why this is in any way a supportable supposition, just because a religiously affiliated organization makes it, is beyond me. Particularly when the Syrian congregation through Steven Anconna had a legally binding contract with the building owner which it conpletely reneged on.

Shouldn't a Jewish congregation, more than anyone else, live up to its ethical and moral obiligations to be honest and fair tenants? What right do they have to a free ride? The senior members of the congregations, the one's that pursued all this litigation, bring shame on all religious organizations. Their conduct is both unethical and shameful