PITTSBURGH — An Allegheny County judge has approved an $8.85 million deal by a consortium of charities to buy Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

Judge Lawrence O’Toole’s decision Tuesday came a day after he held up the sale amid a security firm’s claim it was owed $245,000 for past services.

The sale averts foreclosure on the five-year-old center named for the late, black Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Pittsburgh native.

It’s been shuttered for nearly a year due to attendance and financial woes.

The security firm objecting to the sale argued it was being shut out of back pay while a court-appointed receiver and her assistants were being paid $590,000 and union stagehands last week were paid more than $33,000 they were owed.