Judge Halts Sale of Synagogue/Development Site

A temporary restraining order paused a plan to tear down a century-old synagogue.

Members of the Chevra Anshei Lubavitch sold the 1914 synagogue in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood for $3.1 million to Moshe Karpen, an apartment developer, who planned to build apartments on the site at 4024 12th Street. As part of the deal, the synagogue would pay a $3 million one-time fee to use the first floor basement of the building as a new synagogue.

But, some Congregation board members sued to stop the deal.  They claim that the property was illegally sold because they only learned of the sale after the deed had been delivered to Karpen. They also say the purchase price was “grossly inadequate and does not represent the actual fair market value of the property, and that the sale was “the product of a personal relationship between a trustee and Karpen.”

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