See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.<\/p>\n
By Caroline Spivack<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Daily<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The city may not sell Bay Ridge’s infamous Prince Hotel after all.<\/p>\n
Officials planned to auction off the notorious 93rd Street flophouse, because the owner failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for safety violations, but he challenged the plan in court on Oct. 26, and now city lawyers are considering alternatives, according to a local pol who is keeping optimistic the sale could go through.<\/p>\n
“The auction is still on the table,” said Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge). “They’re still negotiating and are also reviewing other solutions.” <\/p>\n
Mayor DeBlasio promised swift action against the inn during a February town hall and got permission from a judge to take the four-story hotel near Third Avenue and sell it to recoup roughly $400,000 in unpaid fines for unsafe building conditions.<\/p>\n
The sale was full-steam ahead until property owner Moses Fried filed an appeal in May. Now he is fighting to keep the property and even scrambling last-minute to fix safety violations on the building. <\/p>\n
Lawyers spent more than two hours pleading in front of Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Dawn Jimenez-Salta on Wednesday — mainly in a back room — before announcing they had not reached a deal and would reconvene on Nov. 23.<\/p>\n
City attorneys would not discuss specifics of the back-room conversations.<\/p>\n
Reach reporter Caroline Spivack at cspivack@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–2517. Follow her on Twitter @carolinespivack.<\/p>\n
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