Thomas Breen Photo
Boarded-up basement at 649 Washington.
The owner of a partially condemned Hill property has sold it to another investor, following the sale of another problem property that became the site of a fatal fire.
The owner, Dorjan Jashari of Yonkers, sold a two-family house at 649 Washington Ave. on May 7 to Lionheart Holdings Group LLC for $80,000.
Local government’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) had found an illegal apartment in the basement of that building on April 4 and condemned it.
Jashari sold a second Hill property, at 78 Third St., to Lionheart Holdings for $120,000, also on May 7, according to the land records.
Dorjan Jashari’s holdings became a matter of public interest on Sunday, May 5, when an early-morning fire occurred at another property he had owned until recently at 150 West St. Tenants leaped out of windows for their lives in the fire. Two tenants were trapped in the house and died; four firefighters were injured. Officials said 16 people had been crammed into the house, which had been broken up into a rooming house apparently without permits or a residential license. Jashari had sold the building in March to a Bronx man named John Farrar.
Lionheart Holdings lists 91 Shelton Ave. in Newhallville as an address. A $102,600 mortgage document signed on May 10 for the Washington Avenue property lists the LLC’s principal as Menahem M. Lebenhartz. His attorney, Ben Trachten, said Lebenhartz is a local real estate investor. Lionheart has been buying other properties as well in recent weeks, including 38 Glen Rd., 600 Middletown Ave., and 432 Orchard St.
Hope this is not another slumlord to replace the old slumlord.