New Details Released on Planned 6th Ave. Condos in Greenwood Heights

SOUTH SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A developer with a legally checkered past is moving ahead with a new condo development on 6th Avenue in Greenwood Heights.

Shiraz Sanjana and his partner company, RNS Holdings, purchased 695-705 6th Ave. for $9.9 million, as reported earlier this year by the New York Daily News.

In April, plans were filed to construct a three story, multi-unit building on the property. According to New York Yimby, which has also published renderings of the building, the development will have 36 apartments. The overall development site is nearly 40,000 square feet, according to the city filings. An 18-spot garage is also planned.

In 2013, Sanjana was temporarily banned from the city's real estate market by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who investigated him for allegedly defrauding residents of another one of his projects, 161 E. 110th St. in Manhattan.

According to Schneiderman, Sanjana and his development partner, Joseph Scarpinito, "participated in an elaborate ruse intended to defraud homebuyers" and "submitted at least nine false filings to the Real Estate Finance Bureau in their attempt to skirt their obligations to deliver completed apartments to homebuyers and conceal the developers’ identities."

The goal, Schneiderman said, was "to walk away with $3.2 million of purchasers’ deposit monies, and pin all liability on Scarpinito’s 83 year-old mother, Nancy Scarpinit."

A message left Tuesday for Yanniny Ochoa, listed as an owner of the 6th Avenue property on city filings, was not immediately returned.

Pictured at top: 695 6th Ave. Image via Google Maps.