Infamous Developer Could Demolish 3 Park Slope Buildings: Permit

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A scandal-plagued developer wants to demolish part of a Park Slope block where he's already stirred up controversy, according to recently filed permits.

Harry Einhorn owns all of the buildings on the west side of Fourth Avenue between Warren Street and St. Marks Place, property records show, and (according to plans filed with the city) he wanted to tear down three of them — 87, 89, and 93 Fourth Avenue, which house medical supply stores, a French-immersion daycare, and a handful of apartments.

Einhorn is a familiar, albeit infamous, name in Brooklyn, especially on this stretch of Park Slope; in 2014, Einhorn and his father, Victor, bought a walkup on the corner of Fourth Avenue and St. Marks in order to kick-out longtime tenants and build a condominium (a plan for which demolition permits have been filed, but not yet approved).

The father-son development team is also known for serving eviction papers to a Williamsburg day care and senior center on Christmas Eve, and allegedly refusing to pay a $1 million brokerage fee on a commercial building.

Victor Einhorn was also convicted of an $8 million fraud in 2002 by a judge who noted his "history of deceit" and "blatant" law breaking, The New York Times reported.

The duo hasn't made headlines in several years, but it appears that during that time Einhorn junior has been planning his most recent Fourth Avenue demolition plan.

Einhorn filed permits to teardown all three building at the end of 2019, and the recently-filed Jan. 28 permits appear to be a continuation of that request — which was never initially granted approved by the Department of Buildings.

While it's clear that the developer wanted to build a condominium on this block in the past, it's unclear what exactly would be built in place of these buildings, since no new building applications have been filed as of Feb. 11. Patch reached out to Einhorn to learn more, but he did not respond.

Reached for comment, an employee at the French-immersion daycare located at 93 Fourth Avenue, said that the business had just learned about the demolition plan but would not answer further questions. An employee at the medial supply stores declined to comment, too.

The Fourth Avenue demolition plan, while a long-time-coming for this row of buildings, would hardly be new for the corridor in general.

Fourth Avenue has been in a near-constant state of construction since the early aughts, when a decades-long rezoning effort went into effect.