Hey - remember this post from a short time ago? Well the Times Ledger has figured out what happened...The planned community, at the corner of Ninth Avenue and 115th Street, has slowly been taking shape since 2002, but sometime during the last year construction crews went silent. A stroll through the area reveals a grim picture: shattered windows and graffiti pock-mark half-finished buildings that tower over unmanned construction equipment, just feet from where children play outside identical row homes that were completed.
According to the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, between 2001 and 2003 the developer responsible for the project allegedly perpetrated an ambitious scheme geared at defrauding one of the largest banks in the country.
Benton Campbell, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said 60-year-old Thomas Kontogiannis and eight other men were indicted on conspiracy and bank fraud charges in June for allegedly attempting to finance Edgewater Estates and another development in Brooklyn by executing straw purchases on the homes planned for the development to obtain multiple mortgages on each property.
About a third of the development was never completed and shows no signs of getting underway anytime soon.
The Cervinos spent months on the property and said they completed tens of thousands of dollars of work to rehabilitate the coastline surrounding the property after Kontogiannis’ company had illegally tried to bridge an inlet between two portions of the development drawing fines from the state DEC.
James Cervino said that over the last several months, much of their work has been undone and anyone who purchased the property would have to complete $300,000 to $600,000 to meet state DEC standards.
6 comments:
These should be razed (at Kontogiannis's expense) and the land should be allowed to return to a natural state.
The last thing College Point needs is more construction. The town is already filled to capacity.
Kontogiannis is the developer behind the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal. He also built the pretentious "Malba Bay" development in the middle of Powell's Cove Park, in spite of widespread local opposition.
Kontogiannis must have friends in the DOB. How else can he obtain permitts resulting in bogus claims of subdivision of DHCR garden apartment complexs into condos & co-op without the Attny Generals approval. Dob has yet to answer tenants claims of illegal activity. Meanwhile several of the 2family dwellings purchased by straw buyers are currently in default since the indictment of Kontogiannis and Group Kappa Corp.Since the firing of the super for the complex the rear yards are unsecured and used as a parking lot where kids play and ball games take place.Strangers use area as shortcut. Ground floor residents are faced with real security problems.Kontogiannis's greed and corruption has gutted real development in Springfield Gardens. I hear that Wells Fargo is also foreclosing his office building at ONE CROSS ISLAND PLAZA. Funny they also hold the mortgage on our 2 family dwellings which are also in foreclosure.
Queens Block 13041 located in Springfield Gardens on 140 Ave + 141 Ave, 183 st + 184 st. Garden apartment complex buildings are sold by Group Kappa Corp & Thomas Kontogiannis as two family homes which several are currently in foreclosure. Halifax bought one and attempted to rewire heat and hot water to rent stabilized tenant to make her pay for heat & hot water to her unit,which stopped these services to adjoining buildings. Since 10/30/09 we have been without Heat & Hot water. Now emergency services must restore these services to the other buildings. The City is now in the process of taking over the complex due to no management of complex since the property managers have sold various buildings to straw buyers who think they own two family homes not a horizontial multi-dwellings. Jail is too good for them.
When I seperated from my wife I bought One of those houses in Edgewater Estates and the workmanship is crappy. The Main Sewer collapased and When I called the HOA (Home Owners Association)they refused to fix it. I had to obtain outside contractors to do the work. My Licensed plumbers found that they did not use "No Hub" piping and the pipe they used is not legal in New York City. since we opened the sidewalk abutting the house we also found the Rain Litter PVC pipe was not glued and also collapsed under the sidewalk.
The HOA also changed the BY-LAWS of without proper authority. According to (DOB) and (BSA)records as well as HOA By-laws the common area is to have 12 Visitor Parking Spaces and Two Handicap Parking Spaces. They Eliminated the many of the Visitor Parking Spaces. The 12 Visitor Parking spaces was one of the Main Reasons I chose to Purchase the property. I have complaioned to the HOA but it has fallen on death ears. If and when I have time I will be suing the HOA in regard to the impoper and illegal elimination of the Visitor Parking Spaces.
Why has the media ignore much of the Kontogiannis family story since the 2002 school computer scam involving Celestin Miller who was reported. The housing scams in Queens came to light in 2007 and ended in conviction of those involved. Kontogiannis had close ties to Duke Cunningham and was also a defense contractor.The media ignores this story that has affected the housing market in Queens.
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