Demolition Under Way at Naftali Group’s 84th Street Site
Demolition is now underway at 207-221 West 84th Street, a site consisting of four residential buildings purchased by Naftali Group for $71 million in June 2021. According to New York YIMBY, “workers were [recently] seen hauling away dumpsters of debris from the gutting of their interiors.”
One of the buildings included in the $71 million purchase included 215 West 84th Street, also known as Eagle Court, where penthouse tenant Ahmet Ozsu started making headlines last February for refusing to move out.
Naftali filed a lawsuit against Ozsu at the time, stating that his lease had expired at the end of 2021 and that he hadn’t paid rent in months, adding that he had been “maliciously” standing in the way of the project “for the sole purpose of causing financial harm” to the developer, ultimately costing them $25 million in “lost rent and profits.”
Ozsu’s attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, claimed Naftali Group had been tampering with Ozsu’s “gas and hot water supply, cut off electricity in the building’s laundry and garbage area, and started using several generators that make ‘mind-numbing noise’ as early as 6:45 a.m,” according to Crain’s.
The developer had offered Ozsu a $30,000 buyout which he declined.
Naftali Group filed plans for the luxury condo in May 2022, even though Ozsu still lived there at the time. The developer then filed demolition permits in July 2022 – again with Ozsu still in the building – and public records indicate the permit was issued on March 6, 2023.
Wondering when Ozsu actually left, we reached out to the offices of Adam Leitman Bailey and were provided with the following statement:
“We have a happy ending. My client moved out at the end of the year and now has the ability and is closing in on buying a home. Also, our firm’s attorney’s fees were paid in full by the the developer. The cases were all settled except one as I refused to give up our ability to seek sanctions and attorney fees at the appellate division in the case where I was personally and frivolously sued which should be decided this summer.”