A joint venture of Israel-based firms has purchased the Metropolis shopping center in Plainfield for $52 million after the 68-acre outdoor mall fell into court-appointed receivership.

Aviv Arlon Global Ltd., a joint venture of Aviv & Co. and Arlon Global LLC, announced the acquisition in a press release that Israel business website Globes reported on Sunday.

Former Indianapolis-based development firm Premier Properties USA Inc. invested $160 million in the 600,000-square-foot center, which opened in October 2005.

Premier’s founder, Christopher P. White, however, was sentenced in November 2009 to one year of home detention and three years of probation in connection with a $500,000 bad check he wrote as he unsuccessfully tried to save his real estate development company.

Metropolis is 81-percent occupied with 65 percent of its leases considered long-term, according to the news release. Anchor stores include fashion chains Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret and JC Penney, as well as bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc., DSW and Rave Motion Pictures.

“We’re continuing to develop real estate activity in the U.S., including the purchase, redevelopment and leasing of income-producing real estate,” Aviv & Co. Chairman Doran Aviv said in a prepared statement. “This is our second purchase of a mall, and this mall is double the size of the first mall, in Bonita Springs in western Florida.”

The mall brings in $9 million in annual rent, according to the press release.