In a move to ward off foreclosure, a luxury condo developer has turned the units intended to sell for more than a quarter million dollars into a homeless shelter with the help of a New York-based nonprofit.

The Brooklyn units come complete with granite counter, terraces, marble bathrooms and walk-in closets, according to the New York Daily News, and the city is paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars per month ($90 per unit per night) to house homeless families in the city.

"City officials said the condos - which couldn't attract buyers in the fizzled housing market - are part of an effort to help an "unprecedented" number of homeless families who have ended up on the street because of the tough economy," according to the report.

It's the first time luxury condo has gone homeless shelter, according to Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. Avi Shriki, the developer of the project, says leasing the building for the next 10 years to the Bushwick Economic Development Group, a non-profit homeless shelter group, was the best Plan B he could find.

He can pay the mortgage with the deal and still keep the building, instead of going into foreclosure.

Published: June 29, 2009

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Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.