A brownstone at 118 West 76th street that had become a virtual rat clubhouse after sitting empty for decades has finally sold for a whopping $6.6 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. As we reported last year, the building had been driving neighbors nuts for years because owner Diane Haslett-Rudiano would not sell it or rehabilitate it. They even started a Facebook group to beg someone to “Save 118 West 76th Street.” Haslett-Rudiano had purchased it for $5,000 in 1976.

But at the prodding of Borough President Gale Brewer, she finally unloaded it to a developer who plans to restore it and sell it as a single-family mansion.

The buyer of the property was an investment group, Holliswood 76 LLC, headed by Dana Lowey Luttway, a developer and daughter of U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D, N.Y.).

Ms. Luttway said that while the home’s exterior “was a disaster,” its shell was structurally sound. “We have plans drawn up and are ready to go,” she said. “We want to make it a gorgeous new addition to the neighborhood.”

Luttway is known for her skill at flipping upscale townhouses.

Haslett-Rudiano told the Journal that she had held onto it for so long for sentimental reasons:

Ms. Rudiano said she didn’t sell the house for many years because she had an emotional attachment to it. She said her late husband, Jean, had “a lot of plans of trying to do something with the house” and dreamed of living there and renting out part of the space.

Haslett-Rudiano also appears to have sold another eyesore building that Brewer said she owned at 44 West 73rd street (although property records indicate it was owned by someone named Lois Voyticky). City property records indicate that the property is now owned by Kojo Global Property Development, a company based on Wall Street. No sale price was recorded. The deeds recorded in city property records are confusing, because multiple parties appear to have controlled the property before the sale. The building had quietly gone on the market earlier this year, asking $5 million.