BY BILLY GRAY

The Sixteenth Street Synagogue has enlisted Winick Realty Group to help it find a new home one month after the Appellate Court denied the 67-year-old congregation a stay of eviction, The Commercial Observer has learned.

Winnick Associate Director Joshua Siegelman and his colleague Jonathan Banayan are taking the assignment to heart as they seek landlords in the Chelsea and Flatiron neighborhoods to provide a new home for the Orthodox synagogue, which has been offering Shabbat, morning and afternoon prayer services in a revolving roster of temporary spaces since it was ordered to clear out of its former--and only--home at 3 West 16th Street.

As The New York Observer reported, the displacement stems from a protracted legal battle that pitted Steven Ancona--a member of the Sephardic Synagogue Magen David, a Sixteenth Street Synagogue affiliate that worshiped on the second floor--against Jack Braha, a Syrian businessman who in the mid-2000s became the sole owner of the building.

"They had an agreement where the synagogue understood they'd be there for eternity," Mr. Banayan said.

Although the courts weren't swayed by that interpretation of the deal, the synagogue does hope to put down new roots not far from its original home. "They've been in the neighborhood for many years," Mr. Siegelman said. "We're looking to consider the area between 8th Street and 23rd Street from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue."

"This assignment is near and dear to our hearts," Messrs. Banayan and Siegelman--both of whom are Jewish--said. "We hope to find a landlord who feels the same way."

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BY GUS DELAPORTE

The Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease patients and their families, has arranged a lease to relocate its headquarters from Akron, Ohio to New York, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The foundation closed a 2,205-square-foot deal at 341 West 38th Street, Scott Galin, principal at Handler Real Estate, said yesterday.

The foundation moved into the new space in mid-January, according to Florence Kranitz, president of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation.

Handler represented the tenant through brokers Peter Newman and Roseanne Lucarelli. The asking price on the space was $30 per square foot.

The organization was specifically looking in Midtown Manhattan on the west side, according to Mr. Galin. The search lasted approximately two months, he noted.

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BY AL BARBARINO

Members of the Battaglia family have sold The Fine Arts Building located at 232-236 East 59th Street for $34 million, the first sale of the building since the local investors purchased the building in the 1950′s, The Commercial Observer has learned.

The six-and-half-story building, located on the south side of 59th Street and between Second and Third avenues in Midtown East, features 75 feet of frontage along East 59th Street.

Its 47,000 square feet of loft showrooms are home to a number of prestigious European and American firms representing the luxury home furnishing and interior design industries, said Marcus & Millichap’s Kailin Zhu, who exclusively represented the seller, 232 Battaglia Realty LLC, with Tanya Siegel.

“The building is in the heart of the Design District where these industries still have a very strong presence,” Ms. Zhu said, adding that it’s very close to its “famous neighbor,” the Decoration & Design Building located around the corner at 979 Third Avenue.

The cast iron building is ideal for showrooms, as the loft spaces are absent of weight-bearing walls and supported by two columns, which are cast iron through the third floor and wooden on upper levels, she said.

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