PITTSBURGH — A judge has approved plans to sell the bankrupt August Wilson Center for African American Culture to a New York developer that wants to put a hotel on top of the downtown Pittsburgh building.

Judge Lawrence O’Toole signed an interim order Tuesday that will allow 980 Liberty Partners to study whether the 200-room hotel is feasible. Liberty Partners had previously bid $9.5 million for the property, but the sale isn’t final.

The center is named in honor of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. It opened in 2009 and hosted concerts and other cultural events, but was hampered by construction costs and poor attendance.