Longwood Towers to hit auction block

Nearly 200 luxury condos will hit the auction block next month at Longwood Towers in another big blow to the Boston area’s battered real estate market.

The foreclosure auction, at which 196 units in the Brookline development will be sold as a single block, is the largest of its kind to date during the current real estate market downturn.

The lender, New York-based iStar Financial, plans to bid on the property at the auction through a subsidiary. If successful, the firm would then complete renovation work on Longwood’s three residential high-rises, the company said in a statement, where units are priced anywhere from the low $300,000 range to $1.5 million.