A community in the Bay Ridge neighborhood is feeling optimistic about the new ownership of their building.

The announcement came from the American Asians for Equality (AAFE) after residents of 345 Ovington Ave. say they were victims of fraud in 2022. The group says that the developer of their building stole millions from prospective tenants by selling them nonexistent condos and never handing them deeds despite collecting monthly payments.

“We are happy to say as of the end of May, AAFE was able to acquire this building and work with the tenants towards affordable co-op ownership," said AAFE's president Thomas Yu. "I don’t think there’s anything that resembles this that’s happened before in the city so we had to work with them and think outside the box."

The Housing Preservation and Development agency provided the following statement to News 12:

“We are happy to have the opportunity to provide financing to AAFE to renovate 345 Ovington and support the residents who were defrauded by the prior owner to become cooperative owners."