Yeshiva University Sell-Off Continues with Washington Heights Properties
By Al Barbarino March 19, 2014 12:05 pm
reprintsYeshiva University is reportedly selling 10 apartment buildings in Washington Heights near its Wilf Campus as the debt-ridden school continues its struggle to stay afloat.
The school’s president, Richard Joel, said that the sale of the buildings, clustered around Amsterdam Avenue and West 185th Street, including 501 West 184th Street, would provide “an infusion of cash that will be used to strengthen our financial position,” in a statement.
The New York Daily News, which first reported the buildings on the market, noted that the buildings house a mix of students, faculty and longtime Manhattan residents, many with ties to the Dominican community. The university bought the buildings about seven years ago but has since fallen further into debt – reportedly a half-billion dollars in debt – in small part due to a $110 million loss resulting from ponzi scheme swindler Bernie Madoff.
The Yeshiva University sell-off was in full swing by early last year, when it sold two Manhattan office properties for $29 million to ClearRock Properties and Juster Properties after purchasing them just one year prior, and it sold a portfolio of three office buildings for $87.5 million. In November of 2012 it also sold off a lecture hall at 237-241 East 34th Street in Murray Hill for $15.5 million.
