Whitestone parcel eyed as parkland

From the Queens Chronicle:

A northeast Queens lawmaker wants new greenery to be planted at an abandoned lot in Whitestone.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) made the pitch in a letter to the Parks Department and Tower Capital Management — a company that hired an attorney to force a sale of the property after the city hired it to manage the lot’s lien and collect taxes owed on the site. He requested that the 7,1000-square-foot derelict site at 24-19 Francis Lewis Blvd. be transformed under the city’s Greenstreets initiative, which would result in it being changed into a green space with shrubs, trees and ground cover made for capturing stormwater.

The site, which is owned by the New York City Tax Lien Trust, did not sell at an auction in September, though it will be available again on Jan. 20.

Partially collapsed Woodhaven building to be demolished

From the Daily News:

The city is set to tear down a partially collapsed Woodhaven building, more than a year after bricks from the neglected eyesore cascaded onto the sidewalk and created major problems for a pair of bedrock neighborhood institutions.

The former furniture store at 78-19 Jamaica Ave. forced out the senior center and, more recently, temporarily shut down the ambulance corps housed next door.

The city Buildings Department has been trying to force George Kochabe, the head officer of 78-19 Jamaica Ave. LLC, to make repairs. When he failed to show up in court last week, the Buildings Department decided it was time to take action.

Demolition will be handled by a contractor hired by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which will then bill the owner for the work.

If he fails to pay, the city will place a lien on his property, according to an agency spokesman.

Vacated Kew Gardens mansion hides a sinister past

Took a stroll down Park Lane South in Kew Gardens recently and stumbled upon this mansion that looks like it hasn't been kept up in quite some time.

Upon researching the history, it became apparent that the house was being operated as a transient hotel/SRO and was vacated by DOB in 2010. The owner pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges in 2009, and although there was an order for the Feds to seize the property, it's still in Irina Khaimov's name with a lien on it in the ACRIS system. There also is more than $100,000 in outstanding fines owed on the property for various violations.

As the site in question is in ownership limbo, the neighbors get to look at this unkempt lawn, and God knows what the inside of the place looks like since it doesn't appear to have been sealed. Goodbye, property values.

Park Lane South used to be one of those grand palace-lined thoroughfares that you could just picture people of means strolling along on a Sunday morning.

Welcome to the new Kew Gardens.

Property liens for sidewalks damaged by street trees

From Bayside Patch:

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, joined Little Neck residents on Thursday to protest the city’s policy of placing a non-monetary lien on several local properties that had received sidewalk violations for damages for which they were not responsible.

Several Little Neck residents were handed violations a few months ago that they felt were unfair since the majority of the damages are small cracks that are in line with cracks on the streets and uplifts caused by city tree roots.

While the residents are not personally responsible for any of the damages, a non-monetary lien will still be placed on any property with a sidewalk violation, which will come up on a title search of that property, Avella said.

The lien is removed once the condition is corrected either by the city or the homeowner. But if the homeowner is selling the property, they would likely have to put extra money in escrow prior to the closing to compensate the buyer for any potential repair cost for an outstanding violation.

“What the city is doing here is simply unacceptable,” Avella said. “Most of the small deficiencies in these sidewalks are being caused by city property, whether it is a city tree or street. Yet the city feels the need to not only sock these homeowners with violations, but to also place a non-monetary lien on their property.”

Avella said the rule seemed like an attempt by the city to skirt its responsibilities by pressuring homeowners into repairing the sidewalk, even though they are not responsible for the damages.

Purves Street lot for sale (hooray?)

From The Real Deal:

A development site in the Court Square area of Long Island City is slated to hit the foreclosure auction block May 17 with an outstanding lien of $38.54 million.

The residential development site, at 44-30 Purves Street, was formerly controlled by developer and landlord Baruch Singer and investor David Weiss, who financed a residential project at the site in 2006 with a $13 million mortgage-backed loan from G3-Purves Street LLC, an entity which appears to be linked to Goldman Sachs.

The lender filed to foreclose on the property last year after Singer and Weiss reportedly broke the terms of their non-recourse loan agreement with G3 by failing to pay $90,000 they owed in real estate taxes and several other liens against the property.

Baruch and Weiss acquired the property for $9 million in 2006, public records show. The duo also appears to have purchased an adjacent site for $5 million; that site is subject to the same foreclosure action. They listed the property for sale in 2007 with a broker team from Pinnacle Realty but failed to find a buyer before losing control of the site.

You may recall Purves Street from previous posts with assistance from Miss Heather.