A bankruptcy judge yesterday sent the site of a proposed 950-foot luxury residential tower on Manhattan’s East Side to the auction block, approving a sale process that seeks to place the controversial project into new hands by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Developer Joseph Beninati’s Bauhouse Group put the development into chapter 11 bankruptcy in April to try to halt a foreclosure after he was unable to refinance $147 million in loans the group used to acquire land and air rights to build the 78-story tower. Now those assets are up for sale in a court supervised auction, approved yesterday by Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane. Judge Lane previously signed off on brokers hired to market the site, which is embroiled in financial and legal woes as well as a backlash from the local community.
