Inside of a decade, multimillionaire Eric Hadar went from a small-time Realtor snapping up tiny, rundown Big Apple buildings to a superstar ty coon who shocked the in dustry in a mega-deal for the Citigroup Center in 2001.
But both before and after he assembled $725 million to buy the iconic blue-window skyscraper on Lexington Avenue, Hadar’s personal life was tanking from drug addic tion, a messy divorce and run- ins with the law.
Allegations made by his ex-wife in court records paint a picture in striking contrast to his career suc cess – one during which the hand some workaholic was at times pop ping 30 pills of a potent painkiller each day and impersonating a doctor to get the prescriptions he needed to fuel his habit.
That drug abuse led to an air-rage arrest on a flight from New York to Arizona, contributed to his falling into a coma, and set off a series of bizarre outbursts at his wife and mother over issues as innocuous as their cooking, according to a divorce complaint brought by his wife, Allison, in 2004.
Hadar, 43, hit rock bottom on Oct. 3, when he was busted for carrying a witches’ brew of illegal drugs on the Saw Mill Parkway. Yonkers police stopped him that afternoon for driving erratically and found a quarter-pound of cocaine, 703 OxyContin pills and 352 Xanax tablets in his car, according to a criminal complaint.
Following the arrest, he dried out at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to his criminal lawyer, Ronald Fischetti. Hadar is expected to transfer to a monthlong program at a drug-treatment facility.
“In our opinion, this could be something that will wind up being good for him,” Fischetti said. “He will lick this illness.”
The salt-and-pepper-haired CEO’s ascension began in 1993, when he formed Allied Partners with $500,000 in seed money from his father, Richard, a multimillionaire who made a fortune in a direct-marketing business during the 1980s.
Hadar’s first real-estate forays included the $900,000 purchase of a Lower East Side bodega. Eventually, he amassed an eclectic portfolio around the city, including the building that once housed Studio 54, a candy factory on Lafayette Street and 1 E. 57th St.
His crowning achievement was cobbling together an investment group to buy Citigroup Center in 2001.
He sold his share of the building for $100 million in 2006, but Allied Partners still holds multiple properties and is a major stakeholder in Terra Holdings, which owns the Brown Harris Stevens, Halstead Properties and Feathered Nest realty companies.
Both his defenders and critics of his aggressive tactics describe Hadar as a brilliant businessman.
“I can tell you that Eric Hadar is a man of enormous intellect and incredible talent,” said attorney Laurie McPherson, who represented him in his divorce. “He has incredible business acumen.”
As Hadar’s property portfolio grew, so did his power. He began shoveling huge amounts of money to the political campaigns of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Gov. Paterson and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
In this decade alone, he has given $317,950 to New York politicians and parties. Spitzer, the son of famed real-estate mogul Bernard Spitzer, reportedly helped steer Hadar’s largesse to Democratic campaigns in recent years.
While Hadar made the city his personal Monopoly board and courted new political friends, the charming Realtor was also squiring his future wife, Allison Denner, a stunning blonde who worked as an elementary-school teacher.
They had a storybook meeting in the mid-’90s. Allison, then 24, was supplementing her income as a waitress at an Upper East Side restaurant.
“A friend of Eric’s came into the bar, saw her and called Eric,” a source told The Post. “He said, ‘I just met your future wife.’ Eric came down and totally put the schmooze on.”
The two began to date seriously. Allison gave birth in April 1996 to their daughter, Anna, according the divorce complaint. The couple married in a religious ceremony in November 1998 in Key Biscayne, Fla.
But within two years, the relationship began to fray.
He suffered a seizure on March 16, 2000, while he and his wife were in their car heading to dinner, according to his wife’s divorce complaint.
Unconscious and mumbling about business deals, Hadar was rushed to a hospital. When he regained consciousness later in the evening, he admitted to hospital staff that he had taken 30 pills of Ultram, a prescription painkiller, earlier in the day and that he took that amount on a daily basis, the divorce complaint states.
The secret drug habit shocked Allison, but it would continue through the rest of their marriage. Hadar told her to accept it, saying, “If you don’t support my drug habit, I am not going to be able to trust or forgive you,” the divorce complaint claims.
To maintain his fix, Hadar allegedly used false prescriptions and purchases on the Internet. During one summer vacation in Nantucket in 2002, Allison’s complaint states, she observed her husband phoning a pharmacy and pretending to be a doctor in order to have a prescription filled.
Fischetti acknowledged that Hadar has a painkiller addiction that stems from two surgeries in 1997 and 1998 to correct back problems.
“Since that time, he has been addicted to some extent to painkillers,” said Fischetti, declining to get into specifics about the current charges against Hadar. “He is not a drug dealer.”
The addiction, coupled with an exacting personality, led to blowups with his family, according to his wife’s divorce complaint.
In one clash, Hadar berated her for cooking chicken thighs without the skin. Another time, he threw a heavy cookbook at his mother for not knowing how to cut a brisket.
During the marriage, he sought treatment for his addictions on more than one occasion, including around the time of the birth the couple’s second child, Ivan, in January 2003.
Despite his detox stints, his addictions prevailed and nearly claimed his life.
In July 2003, Hadar slipped into a seven-day coma after suffering a grand mal seizure during surgery at Roosevelt Hospital to remove a brain tumor. Doctors said the coma was caused by Hadar abusing sleeping pills before his operation, according to the divorce complaint.
The near-death experience didn’t get him to quit. Instead his habit and behavior worsened in the months leading up to his wife’s divorce filing in October 2004.
While traveling to his mother-in-law’s 60th birthday party that spring, Hadar was arrested at an Arizona airport because of “disruptive and aggressive conduct” on a flight from New York, the divorce complaint states.
Domestic disputes continued even after the divorce filing.
In November 2004, Allison called police to their $1.4 million Upper East Side apartment, claiming Hadar had pushed a refrigerator door against her during a verbal argument, according to a police report. No arrests were made.
While Hadar was going through the divorce, he also faced a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by a former business partner over the $200 million sale of 1 E. 57th St.
“It was a tremendous amount of pressure on him during that period of time. Whether that led to any health problems, I can’t say for sure,” his divorce lawyer, McPherson, said.
The last straw in the marriage followed a row at the couple’s apartment on Nov. 19, 2004. His wife absconded with their two children and informed him that he would not see them until their lawyers talked, according to court records.
Hadar then filed a civil suit in Manhattan Supreme Court, seeking custody of his children and exclusive occupancy of their home. He included her divorce complaint as an exhibit in that filing.
After a Family Court battle, Hadar and his wife agreed to 50-50 custody of their children. She lives in a home in Irvington, Westchester County, while he resides in a sprawling $7 million estate in the tony Westchester town of Bedford.
“Eric is a devoted father who has worked tirelessly to provide a good life for his two children, whom he loves deeply, and their mother,” Hadar’s father said.
“Eric is committed to recovery and resuming his full responsibilities as a father and business leader.”
jfanelli@nypost.com