FiDi Building Plucked from Prodigy Scandal Sells for $64M

A Financial District property that was once part of beleaguered Prodigy Network’s crowdfunded portfolio has sold for $64.5 million.

A limited liability company snapped up 17 John Street from Vanbarton Group, which foreclosed on the 111,000-square-foot property in 2021 when Prodigy was in the midst of bankruptcy.

Public documents tied to the sale list an address for Housing Solutions, which provides furnished corporate apartment rentals. A call to the company went to voicemail. A source described the buyer as a high-net-worth individual.

Vanbarton did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the lawyer who signed the buyer’s mortgage agreement, Jason Herskowitz, declined to comment.

Prodigy had used the property as a co-working and co-living facility known as the Assemblage John Street before it was taken over by mezzanine lender Vanbarton in a deal valued at $83 million. A certificate of occupancy indicates that the building was more recently used for short-term rentals, according to Crain’s, which first reported the sale.

An Eastdil Secured team including Gary Phillips and Jeff Organisciak advised the seller.

The Assemblage John Street was among Prodigy’s most well known assets and a symbol of the company’s ability to attract retail investors to buy pieces of commercial property.

Prodigy was founded by Rodrigo Niño, a former real estate broker, who crowdfunded money from small-time investors largely in South America. He was able to raise more than $50 million of equity for 17 John Street.

But the project struggled to break even for about a year after it opened in April 2018. Prodigy turned the red ink to black in the second quarter of 2019, but income still fell below expectations.

About a year later, Niño died of cancer. The company continued to implode and investors filed lawsuits alleging they were misled about their investment returns. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy — liquidation — in 2021.