Zeckendorf Development is buying the Hayworth, Ceruzzi Development’s foreclosed condo project at 1289 Lexington Ave., at 86th Street, for approximately $250 million, according to The Real Deal.
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U.K.-based Children’s Investment Fund Management took control of the the 61-unit condo through a foreclosure auction in January.
Ceruzzi and Kuafu Properties spent $118.6 million assembling the site for the 21-story tower in 2013 and 2014. The building was pitched as a “cooler, downtown, younger-family building” with a fancy roof deck; an ‘imagination room’ designed by early-childhood experts at the 92nd Street Y; and a curated library. The website boasts of a “gallery wall” in the apartments, essentially marketing a blank wall as a high-design feature. But the Hayworth struggled to move units during a condo market slowdown in 2019. As of May 2020, just two units had been sold, and Ceruzzi couldn’t make payments on its construction loan with Children’s.
Ceruzzi failed in its attempts in 2020 amid the pandemic to secure rescue financing for the troubled project and later tried to sell its equity position, pitching the building as a luxury rental development. But Ceruzzi was asking too much, according to sources interviewed by The Real Deal.
