Ira Shapiro, the developer who became the poster boy for boom and bust, is back in the game.
Shapiro notoriously defaulted on hundreds of millions of dollars in loans on One Madison Park, before vanishing from the real estate scene. But now he is working as a consultant on a high-profile condo conversion near Central Park, sources told the New York Daily News.
He is working with Brooklyn developer Joseph Brunner to convert a landmark church at 361 Central Park West into condominiums. Brunner paid $26 million for the site last month, according to the Daily News.
And while Shapiro doesn’t have any of his own money in the deal, he is using the project to eventually begin developing his own properties again. Once his remaining debts are paid and he settles still-pending claims, he says that he hopes to working on a project of his own by next year. [NYDN] –Christopher Cameron