mobanmarketUPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Turns out it’s not just Knicks management who sometimes make pricey deals that don’t pay off.
Former New York Knicks player Samuel Dalembert recently sold off an Upper East Side investment property for a $3.3 million loss, records show.
The 6-foot-11 inch, Haitian-born Dalembert had bought 1134 First Ave., between East 61st and 62nd streets, a decade ago for $8.7 million.
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The six-story Lenox Hill building, which includes 3,400 square feet of commercial space, had been home to a series of rotating restaurants. But Dalembert’s apparent hopes for a “slam dunk” deal fizzled over the years, as he racked up a spate of violations, according to records.
He eventually sold the now-vacant building Feb. 16 for $5.4 million — a multimillion dollar brick for the hoops star and would-be real estate investor.
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The building is also set to receive a slate of investments and renovations, said the buyer’s broker, which could help explain the lower sale price,
City records show the former NBA player, who played with the Knicks for the 2014 season, still owes over $100,000 to the city’s Department of Buildings for a list of violations including a dangerous sidewalk shed and a number of elevator violations.
Dalembert’s first — and priciest — violation in July 2015 was for operating five of the building’s eight apartments, according to Buildings records, as an illegal short-stay hotel.
The subsequent administrative court hearing found him to be in violation and issued a fine of $37,200. He still owes $34,000 on that bill, buildings records show.
For the new buyer, fixing up the building is the first order of business, said the buyer’s broker, Vadim Atbashyan of Commercial Acquisitions Realty.
Atbashyan told Patch that there were no development plans currently in the pipeline and that the buyer, David Khaloyan, is “very savvy,” and an “excellent landlord.”
While the connected two-floor commercial space is restaurant ready, the broker said the new owner is not necessarily tied to the next tenant being food related, but will seek to find an occupant that fits with the neighborhood.
Dalembert played in the NBA for 14 years and was known as a solid center and impressive shot blocker.
Knicks president and famed coach Phil Jackson traded for Dalembert in June 2014.
In addition to his time on the court, the Haitian-born Canadian was known for donating huge sums of money to Haiti following the devastating earthquake in 2010 — around $650,000 over the course of the year — a calamity which claimed the lives and injured some of Dalembert’s friends and family members, according to the New York Times.
Even prior to the disaster, the Times noted Dalembert’s generosity towards his birthplace when he donated $42,500 to Haiti via the Red Cross and UNICEF in 2004.
In May, foreclosure proceedings began against Dalembert in Manhattan Supreme Court over the First Avenue building after he missed two mortgage payments. A settlement was reached just before the sale was inked in February, records show.
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