A state judge is overseeing the forced sale of two apartments at the Dakota, the prestigious co-op on West 72nd Street and Central Park West. The apartments, including one with a view of the park just above the treetops, are owned by Alphonse Fletcher Jr., a hedge-fund manager whose main investment fund filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. Also on the block are two storage rooms owned by Mr. Fletcher. More:A Co-op Conundrum At a hearing on Wednesday in Manhattan, state Supreme Court Justice Anil C. Singh asked a lawyer for the Dakota to provide the names of three brokers, one of whom would be picked to conduct the sale, intended to raise money to satisfy creditors. Court-ordered sales in the white-glove world of high-end co-ops are rare but not unknown. In 2013, a 15-room duplex apartment at 770 Park Ave. was sold by the U.S. Marshals Service for $17.75 million. The Dakota, which opened in 1884, dates to an era when most wealthy people lived in townhouses and had to be coaxed into apartment living through high ceilings and lavish woodwork and mantels, said John Burger, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens.
“The building is the most requested buy in New York,” said Dolly Lenz, another broker active in the Dakota. The apartments were valued together at the hearing at $10 million to $20 million. The decision to sell Mr. Fletcher’s apartments comes only a few days after another state judge dismissed a racial-discrimination lawsuit filed in 2011 by Mr. Fletcher against the Dakota co-op and individual board members. Mr. Fletcher served as president of the Dakota board between 2006 and 2009. He now lives in San Francisco and is the husband of Ellen Pao, who this year lost a sex-discrimination suit against her former employer, venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The Dakota co-op is among Mr. Fletcher’s creditors. According to court papers, it is seeking any unpaid maintenance, a $285,640 assessment for roof and facade repairs, and at least $2.48 million in legal fees. Other creditors include a group of Fletcher investors and funds once managed by Mr. Fletcher. They won a court order in June attaching $50 million of his assets pending a calculation of actual damages after a court found he had defrauded investors. In the past, Mr. Fletcher has denied any wrongdoing. A lawyer for Mr. Fletcher, Andrew Lavoott Bluestone, participated in Wednesday’s hearing but later declined to discuss Mr. Fletcher’s affairs. Mr. Fletcher didn’t respond to a request for comment. Mr. Fletcher’s main apartment, with windows facing the park, has 2,600 square feet of space. He paid $1.375 million in 1993 for it and a storage room. In 2010 he sought to buy the apartment next door for $5.7 million so they could be combined, but was turned down, triggering his lawsuit. Write to Josh Barbanel at josh.barbanel@wsj.com This article originally appeared on The Wall Street Journal.