Suzuki horror homes still vacant

Here's another Sam Suzuki property in Flushing.

The courtyard to the old "Bowne Tree" apartments was filled in with this horror.

It's remained vacant for about a decade (now sporting broken windows) unable to obtain a valid certificate of occupancy because it violates NYC's fire code.

Note:
Suzuki is on public record for having contributed to John Liu's campaign.

Nice company you keep Mr. Comptroller Liu!

Suzuki sprung

From The Real Deal:

Embattled landlord Sam Suzuki was released from Manhattan Detention Complex on Friday after spending more than three weeks behind bars for refusing a judge's order.

A Bronx Housing Court judge ordered him behind bars on civil contempt charges for not making necessary repairs at 1585 East 172nd Street in the Bronx. He surrendered on June 24 and was released Friday, the city Department of Corrections website shows.

Hunter Property said in a statement that the firm was not the owner of the building, but was only its manager, and that management has now been changed.

"The courts wanted the names of the owners and investors of this property, but Mr. Suzuki would not disclose the information," the statement said.

Suzuki held without bail

From Crains:

Landlord Sam Suzuki turned himself in to the Bronx County Sheriff's Office and was transported to the Manhattan Detention Complex on White Street Thursday afternoon.

Last week, Mr. Suzuki was ordered to jail for civil contempt by the Bronx Housing Court for failing to make necessary repairs at a 49-unit apartment building he owns in the borough. The five-story building, located at 1585 E. 172nd St., has 691 open violations. Apartments in the building have collapsing ceilings, buckled floors and walls shedding lead paint. According to the court, “said incarceration shall continue until respondents comply with the July 20, 2009 Order or upon further order of the Court.”

According to a city spokesman, the Appellate Division did not issue the stay that Mr. Suzuki's attorney, Alice Belmonte, had filed for, so he surrendered himself. Ms. Belmonte could not be reached for immediate comment. Mr. Suzuki is currently held in the downtown Manhattan facility once known as the Tombs with no bail, according to a NYC Correction Department spokesman.

Suzuki sent to jail

From Crains:

Landlord Sam Suzuki was ordered to jail for civil contempt on Thursday by the Bronx Housing Court for failing to make necessary repairs at a 49-unit apartment building he owns in the borough.

The court said “incarceration shall continue until respondents comply with” an order that was issued last July to repair maintenance code violations issued by the city Housing Preservation and Development. The five-story building, located at 1585 East 172nd Street, has 691 open violations. Apartments in the building have collapsing ceilings, buckled floors and shedding lead painted walls.

“As Housing Court Judge Jerald Klein found, Mr. Suzuki's conduct displayed a flagrant disregard for and defiance of the Court's authority and his failure to correct the immediately hazardous and hazardous conditions prejudiced the tenants' rights and HPD's right to enforce housing standards in order to preserve decent and safe housing accommodations,” said HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero, in a statement. “It is regrettable that this has come to this pass, but the fact remains, no tenant should ever have to endure these conditions.”

Arrest warrant issued for Suzuki

From the NY Times:

The 49-unit apartment building in Bronx River has a tally of woes almost impressive in magnitude. It has 663 open violations. Its walls shed lead paint, rain seeps through collapsing ceilings, and cockroaches and rats scuttle across its buckled floors.

Now the building, at 1585 East 172nd Street, has another ignominious distinction. Fed up with the failure of the landlord, Sam Suzuki, to correct the violations and show up in court, a judge last week issued a warrant for his arrest, a rarity in housing court.

“Mr. Suzuki has treated the court with such disdain,” said Beatrice Hamza Bassey, a lawyer with Hughes Hubbard & Reed, which, with the Legal Aid Society of New York, is representing tenants in the case. “There’s abject squalor in the building. Inhumane conditions. No one should be living under those kinds of conditions.”

Mr. Suzuki said late Wednesday afternoon that he had not been served with an arrest warrant and that he would not comment on the case. He also said he was merely the manager of the building, although in the most recent document in the city register pertaining to the property, from May 2009, he said he was the “sole member” of the corporation that owned it.

Slumlord Suzuki held in contempt of court

From the Daily News:

Forcing tenants to live in squalor can sock a landlord with hefty fines, but in this case it could send the owner to jail.

Tenants of 1585 E. 172nd St. in Soundview went to court more than a year ago over collapsing floors and leaking, crumbling ceilings, black mold and rat infestations.

"They kept saying they would send someone to make repairs but they never did," said tenant association President Martha Castro, whose kitchen floor is slowly collapsing from numerous leaks caused by damaged water pipes.

Castro's building is part of the infamous Ocelot portfolio, 25 structures purchased by Ocelot Capital with inflated mortgages at the height of the real estate boom, and then abandoned to disrepair when the company went under.

Castro's building and five other Ocelot properties were transferred to Hunter Property Management, owned by Sam Suzuki, who made the Village Voice's list of the city's 10 worst landlords. Two of the buildings are on the city's list of 100 worst-maintained buildings.

The tenants' lawsuit dragged on until last month, when Hunter's lawyer quit the case and was never replaced. With Hunter a no-show at a hearing at the end of March, the judge held both Hunter and Suzuki in contempt of court.

Unless the landlord makes the necessary repairs, the judge could go further at a hearing at the end of this month and issue a civil imprisonment order against Suzuki.

RKO Keith's new owner named one of city's worst landlords

From the Village Voice:

[Sam] Suzuki, who grew up in Queens, began his career in real estate on the banking side, first with Dime Savings Bank and then at Citibank. In 1993, he founded (and, until recently, controlled) the Vintage Group, which claims to manage more than $300 million worth of real estate, including Chelsea condos. Suzuki is also a prime developer in Flushing. In 2005, he landed on the list of "Outstanding Asian Americans in Business." In 2007, the Lubavitchers' Chabad of Port Washington gave Suzuki its "Community Service Award"; he was the only non-Jewish honoree.

Records indicate that Suzuki, through a newly created entity called BXP1, did apparently acquire six of the buildings—he and Hunter attorney Alice Belmonte are listed on the deeds as the buyers. Rachel Arfa's attorney, David Katz, tells the Voice that Suzuki and Belmonte were the only representatives of BXP1 at the closing. But Belmonte says Suzuki is only managing the buildings—and she won't name BXP1's principal or investors.

This past November, two of the six properties taken over by BXP1—1640 and 1636 University—popped up on the city's worst-violations list, and not because one of the stairwells reeks of cat piss. They hadn't been on the list the year before, when Ocelot still owned them, but since Suzuki came onboard as a manager, residents have filed more than 300 complaints with the city.

Another shady developer to own the RKO Keith's

From the Daily News:

A Manhattan real estate investment firm close to snagging the drama-plagued RKO Keith's movie palace already faces heat from Flushing leaders over a construction just blocks away.

Sam Suzuki of Venator Capital LLC, which is reportedly buying the historic theater, built rowhouses in 2000 that blocked Fire Department access to an apartment complex at Bowne St. and 38th Ave., locals charge.

The city Buildings Department will try to send an inspector to check on the complaints at the Bownetree rentals, said agency spokeswoman Carly Sullivan.

Preservationists fear Suzuki will continue a decades-long saga at the RKO Keith's. The city revoked the permits of its notorious former owner, Tommy Huang, in 1990 after he let crews bulldoze its landmarked grand staircase.

"A little red flag just went up in my head," said Jerry Rotondi, 67, of Flushing, who has fought for two decades to save the 1928 theater on Northern Blvd. at Main St.

Officials at Community Board 7 seemed uneasy about Suzuki owning the RKO Keith's.

"If we're going to sell something to this guy, I want to make sure he doesn't build something like he built" at Bownetree, said board chairman Gene Kelty.

The board's district manager, Marilyn Bitterman, called the Bownetree rowhouses "awful."

"The RKO Keith's has been like a cancer in downtown Flushing forever," said ex-Queens Borough President Claire Shulman.

Well then, Claire, you and the Keith's have a lot in common!

RKO Keith's of Flushing to be sold

From The Real Deal:

A Midtown-based real estate investment firm is in negotiations to take control of the troubled RKO Keith's Flushing Theater from Boymelgreen Developers by the end of the year.

Ventor Capital has agreed to purchase a $20 million note secured by the Flushing, Queens property located at 135-27 Northern Boulevard from Doral Bank, said Sam Suzuki, a principal with Venator, ultimately giving the company full control of the theater.

Investors affiliated with Venator are active in the Bronx as well, where they are in contract to buy 16 mostly rent-regulated apartment buildings owned by Ocelot Properties, after buying six earlier this year.

The RKO Keith note purchase would be followed by a so-called friendly foreclosure in which Boymelgreen would sign over the deed to the new owner without a protracted court proceeding, Suzuki said.

Flushing megacrap still vacant

A Flushing building, which has sat vacant for years, remains empty despite being approved recently by the Department of Buildings, after having earlier been deemed illegal.

Flushing Building Stays Empty Despite Approval

The DOB did in fact find that the “application does not comply with the legal requirements for approval,” and informed the applicant, Sam Suzuki of Suzuki Associates Ltd., of its objections. Suzuki revised the plan and it was approved in November.

No application has been submitted for a Certificate of Occupancy yet, according to the DOB.

The building, located at 143-17 38 Ave., has been a subject of controversy since construction began in 2000.

Work stopped when the DOB issued two violations and a stop work order in the late summer of 2000, for failure to provide proper protection at the sides of the excavation site. Fines for both violations are still overdue, according the DOB Web site.

In December 2000, three violations were issued for performing construction without a permit, but were later dismissed.