Melinda's executive security moving service

 

 

 NY Post

When it absolutely, positively has to get there … trust your bodyguards!

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz used members of her taxpayer-funded security detail to help her move to her new million-dollar digs — potentially running afoul of ethics rules, The Post has learned.

The borough’s top prosecutor was spotted wearing her gold DA’s badge on her hip last week as she carried four boxes of belongings to a black Ford Expedition parked outside the Forest Hills house where she’s been temporarily living since selling her former childhood home for $1.05 million in February.

She then climbed into the official vehicle and was driven about 1.2 miles by a pair of plainclothes NYPD cops to her new three-bedroom, 2-1/2 bathroom Colonial-style house, which city records show she bought late last month for $1.1 million.

The trip was one of four that The Post saw Katz, 56, and her detail make between her old and new homes Tuesday morning. Later in the day, Katz took part in an online Pride event sponsored by her office and appeared to be sitting behind the driver’s seat in the SUV, which had a row of clothes hanging from a rack visible in the rear.

On Friday morning, The Post also saw members of Katz’s security detail carry various items to the SUV from one of the homes while picking up her and her two kids. One cop made three back-and-forth trips, and the other made two. They carried stuff in their hands and in large black plastic bags.

Sources familiar with Katz’s routine told The Post that members of her security detail also had been hauling flat-screen TVs, groceries and dry cleaning around for her, as well as loading her sons’ bicycles and sports gear into an official SUV, driving the family away and returning several hours later.

Katz also regularly had her security detail show up at her home on weekday​ mornings in time for her to accompany her kids as the​ cops drove them to school, after which she returned home, dressed for work and left around 10 a.m., sources said.

 

Queens College president paid to not live in school's mansion

From the NY Post:

Queens College has let a historic $2.5 million waterfront mansion with sweeping views of Little Neck Bay stand empty for three years after its current president chose to live in his Westchester home while getting a $5,000 monthly housing allowance.

While Felix Matos Rodriguez collects $60,000 a year to live in his own house, the CUNY-owned Douglaston manse collects dust, used only sporadically for college functions.

Cuomo once lived like a king in a Queens mansion

From Curbed:

For the price of a Manhattan one-bedroom apartment, you could rent an entire Queens mansion that was once owned by Governor Andrew Cuomo—for a little while, anyway. The governor’s former home in Douglaston, Queens sold last year for $2.4 million, but it’s back on the market as a short-term rental, available from July to December. The price: $5,500.

Cuomo lived in the home with his former wife, Kerry Kennedy, for a few years in the 1990s before selling it in 1993 to join Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. It has the distinction of being the last place that Cuomo lived in Queens, his home borough—though it’s a far less humble place than the Holliswood home that his father, Mario, called home for many years.

The Cuomo house is part of the tony Douglas Manor enclave, a close-knit community where families tend to hunker down and stay a while. It has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, plenty of outdoor space, and close proximity to the waterfront.

Its current owners are Elias Roman, once the CEO of the now-defunct music-sharing app Songza, and his wife Sarah Jane. Fun fact: It may also be the “sister home” to a now-demolished Long Island mansion that served as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s inspiration for The Great Gatsby.

Queens realtors opposed to mansion tax

From the Queens Chronicle:

Some Queens realtors are not supportive of Mayor de Blasio’s proposed mansion tax, a policy City Hall is once again pushing that would create a 2.5 percent marginal surcharge on residences that sell for more than $2 million.

The mayor has said that the tax would raise more than $330 million in revenue yearly to fund rent subsidies for 25,000 low-income seniors. It would be a marginal surcharge paid by the buyer that would add to the existing 1 percent fee on sales reaching $1 million or above. Unlike the 1 percent tax, it would only be applied to the value over $2 million. (For example, a $3 million sale would have a $25,000 tax under de Blasio’s proposal in addition to the $30,000 required by the 1 percent tax.)

Long Island Board of Realtors President David Legaz called the mayor’s intention to fund low-income senior housing “laudable” but said that the cost should be borne “equally among New York City citizens.”

According to de Blasio spokeswoman Melissa Grace, the average price of a residence reaching the proposal’s threshold is $4.5 million.

“At a time when many of those buyers are likely to receive a significant federal tax cut, we believe it’s urgent they contribute more to help seniors in need,” she said.

Eight percent of New York City sales between 2014 and 2016 exceeded the proposed tax’s threshold, according to a report last week from the Independent Budget Office.
Most places that pricey are in Manhattan, although several Queens neighborhoods had sales north of $2 million last year: Forest Hills Gardens, Douglaston, Whitestone, Flushing and Astoria.

What's become of Kew Gardens' Japanese House

You may recall the saga of the Kew Gardens Japanese House. When we last checked in back in November it had been hit with a stop work order. Above is a collection of photos which serves as a time progression of renovations made to the house. It's become unrecognizable.

Here's what a $3.3M beachfront home looks like

From Curbed:

A house that looks more like something you would find in Beverly Hills rather than in Queens has hit the market for $3.3 million. The extravagant home at 180 Beach 147th Street in Rockaway Park boasts a semi-circular, planted entrance leading up to an entryway with four huge Corinthian columns—and that’s just the beginning.

Deck collapses with 50 people on it

From the Daily News:

A gathering in Brooklyn turned into a nightmare as a deck on the second floor of a building collapsed, injuring 13 people early Sunday, witnesses and FDNY officials said.

The collapse happened at a building at Bushwick and Willoughby Aves. in Bushwick around 12:45 a.m., an FDNY official said.

None of the injured was seriously hurt.

As many as 50 people were on the deck when it buckled, the official said.

A Department of Buildings official was on the scene to inspect the deck. It was unclear why it fell in, officials said.

Maybe because it had 50 people on it?

Curbed features interesting Kew Gardens house

From Curbed:

This enormous (we're talking 10,000 square feet of space) Queens abode looks like something you'd find in the middle of the country, not Kew Gardens: It's situated atop a hill, with a set of stone stairs leading up to a rather lovely and spacious wraparound porch.

The interiors of the house itself are a bit dated, which may explain why the home has gotten a price chop recently. It was originally listed last February for nearly $1.6 million, but as of this week, it's down to a $1.499 million asking price.

Here's what $1.5 million gets you: seven bedrooms (including one with a colorful mural painted on the wall, should you want that kind of thing); a gut-renovated kitchen (with, inexplicably, a ceiling-mounted TV); a wet bar in the basement; and, per the listing, a "backyard as big as a private park." And hey, it's a lot cheaper than you'd get for the same space in Manhattan or Brooklyn.

I love it! But that headboard has got to go.

Meeks occupies mansion illegally

From the Daily News:

Rep. Gregory Meeks has been living in his 6,000-square-foot Queens mansion for nearly a decade — without city authorization.

He never got a required certificate of occupancy for the custom-built Hollis home, finished in late 2006.

A temporary certificate of occupancy, which he needed to get his mortgage, expired Jan. 4, 2007, and was never renewed, city records show.

The home has created controversy for Meeks.

He borrowed $624,000 to buy the $830,000 property and took out a $78,000 line of credit.

Then, in 2007, Meeks got a $40,000 “loan” from businessman Edul Ahmad that he said went to furnishing and other household needs. He made no payments on it and claimed to have lost the loan paperwork.

It was paid only in 2010 after the FBI began probing Ahmad, later indicted in a mortgage-fraud scheme.

The House Ethics Committee opened a probe after Meeks failed to report the loan. It dropped the matter after Ahmad refused to help.

To repay Ahmad, Meeks borrowed $60,000, taking out a mortgage with a company belonging to Democratic donor Dennis Mehiel.

Japanese house in Kew Gardens hit with SWO

From the Queens Chronicle:

The historic three-story Anglo-Japanese home that’s been crumbling for years due to neglect at 84-62 Beverly Road in Kew Gardens just became one pricey fixer-upper.

According to city records, the house was sold by Mun Chang, who first bought the home in 1973, to Beverly Kew Gardens LLC for $990,000 on Sept. 10, with the document being registered last Friday.

But a day before the registration, the home, which had been previously sealed with concrete and its windows boarded up, was hit with a full stop-work order by the Department of Buildings for work without a permit.

The next afternoon, the DOB issued a violation for continuing work in the face of the order, which carries with it a $5,000 fine.

Documents relating to the type of construction planned for the site had yet to be posted to the DOB website as of Wednesday afternoon, but the agency inspector who caught the stop-work order being ignored noted in issuing the violation that demolition appeared to be taking place and that five workers were seen inside when the official arrived.

Bayside mansion is a real doozy

From Curbed:

This is a house in Bayside (fittingly, the Queens neighborhood that once gave an architecture award to this building). It is, according to the listing, "Newly Custom Built Contemporary With Finest Materials." It is...something. Rather than try to describe it as a whole, we're just going to list some of things in it:

· many white leather couches
· a recording studio
· a bedroom with multicolored recessed lights
· a bedroom (the same bedroom, in fact) with three fur throw rugs
· an elevator
· whatever that foyer is
· probably eight quarries' worth of marble
· a seven-by-seven grid of windows that takes up the entire middle third of the facade
· a Dali-esque melting clock

This house is asking $6.5 million, and by god, it should get it.

Jamaica Estates house: cool or crap?

From Curbed:

At first glance, this four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Jamaica Estates is all harsh angles and clashing colors and dissonant window sizes. But open the door. Take a good, hard look at its incredibly shiny interiors, which tell another story. A more aggressive story. Probably a story from a decade that has passed. Fancy a grand piano and a sunken dance floor? A pool table and fully stocked bar in a basement den of debauchery? A black- and red-tiled hot tub, sauna, and steam room set-up? Mirrored walls galore? All of the above can be yours—for a mere $1.69 million.

Forest Hills mansion tops $3M

From Curbed:

This 5,000-square-foot mansion in Forest Hills, Queens was built in 2006, after the owners' previous home was destroyed in a fire. As traumatic as that experience must have been, it did afford them the opportunity to design their dream home from the ground up, and the property now sports five fireplaces, radiant marble heated floors, built in speakers, occasional soaring vaulted ceilings, and various outdoor spaces including a balcony, terrace, garden, and patio. Relisted a week ago, it's now asking $3.289 million.

Council Members think upzoning and tax breaks will create affordable housing

From the NY Observer:

Nearly two dozen City Council members are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to dramatically shift the city’s current affordable housing model ahead of a major speech he’s expected to deliver later this week outlining his plan to create and preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade.

Twenty three members have signed onto a letter, which was sent earlier this morning, endorsing a model that would provide 50 percent market rate and 50 percent affordable housing in new housing developments—a far higher rate than the 80 percent market rate and 20 percent affordable model that is currently typical in the city.

“Replacing the ineffective 80/20 model with one that maintains a higher percentage of affordable units, like the 50/50 model, would create and sustain a much greater quantity of real affordable housing for low-income and moderate-income households,” they added. “It’s a smart, progressive reform that will give city taxpayers a better return on their investment in affordable housing while still enabling developers to reap profits and trade unions to access good jobs.”

Here's the key line from the letter:

The city should use up-zoning, tax abatements, subsidies, and other tools to strive for real affordability in every new housing development.

The only Queens Council Members to sign onto this are Crowley, Dromm, Lancman and Reynoso.

Meanwhile, DeBlasio's looking at a mansion tax.

Oy vey! Such an eyesore!

From the Daily News:

Convicted felon Mayer Goldberger, 50, took a timeout from his work release program to fight the foreclosure of a half-built mansion owned by his mother.

The building, a hulking monstrosity at 1670 42nd St. in Borough Park, has been plaguing neighbors since construction began 10 years ago, but now it will be auctioned on Thursday.

Neighbors have filed nearly 50 complaints with the city since 2004, and the Department of Buildings halted the construction in 2008. Among the problems with the 10,000-square-foot structure was a fourth floor that wasn’t part of the permits.

The quadruple-decker is technically owned by Goldberger’s feeble mother, but the son filed a shoddy bankruptcy case in November, trying to hold off the lenders who are looking to collect $2.8 million in loans and fees. The case was tossed on March 7.

An appraiser estimated the building’s value to be about $1.8 million.

Staten Islanders trying to rescue sad landmark

From DNA Info:

The Friends of Abraham Manee-Seguine Homestead started a petition this month asking Mayor Bill de Blasio to buy the home — which has a large hole in its roof and a crumbling chimney — from owner, Leonard Tallo, in order to restore it.

"It's in relatively good condition, it just needs some work," said Nick Matranga, 43, who started the group and petition. "It needs somebody to invest money to shore up the structure."

Tallo was sued in April by the Landmarks Preservation Commission because he failed to repair the historic home at 509 Seguine Ave., which was built in the 1670s. He blamed part of the damage on Hurricane Sandy, according to court papers.

Tallo said several engineers have told him that the house cannot be repaired and would need to be demolished, and the majority of the damage happened before he bought the structure in 2009.

"The damage didn't happen on my clock," he said. "They really put the whole burden on me."

Tallo's lawyer, Anthony Lenza, found an emergency declaration filed in 2008 by the Department of Buildings that said the house needed to be demolished. That was later rescinded.

Tallo said that was hidden from him when he bought the home.

"I bought it with a set of plans and it was to restore that house and build three houses," Tallo said.

It doesn't get much worse than this

From the Queens Chronicle:

James J. Shevlin, born in 1863 and a son of Irish immigrants, joined the NYPD on Oct. 16, 1886. A rising star in the department, he advanced himself to captain of the old 279th Precinct in the Rockaways.

Shevlin built this mansion, originally numbered 453 Hillside Ave. With his wife, Mary, he raised eight boys — Thomas, Matthew, Eugene, Joseph, Gerard, John, Harold and Charles — in this home. His last child was a girl they named Mary. He even took in his mother- and father-in-law, Matthew and Nora Kett.

Once Hillside Avenue was zoned commercial east down to Hollis, these grand homes were doomed. Few remained when stores started to dominate the area. The price of commercial real state outweighed the value of these grand homes. But the Shevlin Mansion remained, though hidden.

Developer yuppifying old Bushwick mansion

From Wyckoff Heights:

An enlargement application has been filed for 1002 Bushwick Ave, a large residential building constructed in 1887 as the home of Louis Bossert, a wealthy Bushwick businessman. Later used as the headquarters for the Arion Singing Society, and more recently “to host international volunteers for a local nonprofit,” the property was purchased by a Williamsburg developer in March of 2012 for $1,300,000.

This is the second enlargement for the building since 2012. The first, which was signed off in October, added 2,300 square feet and converted the building to multifamily residential use with 20 apartments. This new application proposes to add a fourth floor to the building, maxing out the FAR and increasing the number of dwelling units to 35.

Isn't it ironic that the people funneled into Bushwick to "save" it are actually destroying what charm it has left? This is a landmark-worthy building that's about to be crappified.

Mansion rented out as illegal hotel and concert hall; DOB sees nothing

For some really strange reason, the following landed in my inbox last week:

from: newyork.undiscovered.talent
to: queenscrapper@gmail.com
date: Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 2:48 PM
subject: Attn: New York Musician/Singer perform in New York's biggest mansion!

My company is partnering with a large New York Real-estate developer who owns New York's largest mansion it is a 10 million dollar estate! His vision is to rent out this mansion for music events. Here is a link to the location http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p298342. Our company organizes large scale showcases where local musicians/singers can perform in this mansion. We offer musicians/singers 3 major benefits:

*The opportunity to perform in New York's largest mansion a 10 million dollar estate! The developer we are working with also owns other estates through out New York and nationwide as well. You will have the opportunity to perform at all of these multi million dollar estates. Why is this important? When a music industry executive sees you perform in a crummy bar with few people in the audience they will not take you seriously no matter how talented you are. Music is a business and every time you perform you are advertising your brand. The question is do you want to advertise your brand in a crummy bar with no one there or a 10 million dollar mansion with a sold out crowd? As we grow we are also interested in renting out famous concert halls, broadway theaters etc. in New York and you will also have the chance to perform there as well.

*We will always have a guaranteed large audience because we invite so many people to attend our events such as other local performers, business sponsors, press, music industry executives and other guests. This is an amazing networking opportunity to meet many important people in the music industry and promote your music in a large way! You can even sell your CD's live at the event!

*It is not required but If you have an entrepreneur business mind we also have a way for you to make a large monthly income just to refer other musicians/singers into our network. You do not need to know a lot of musicians/singers we will show you how easy it is to find musicians/singers online. You do not have to sell anyone or even talk to anyone we do all of that for you. You will make money every month just to generate leads for our network, it is that simple. If you see the big picture of our network you will realize there is no other opportunity for local musicians/singers out there like this and our network can grow very big and you can benefit big time!

To join our network there is a small fee of $30 per month but there is no contracts. You can participate for 1 month or every month the choice is yours. I understand many musicians/singers do not want to pay to play but this is a different situation. This is a 10 million dollar mansion we are talking about with a guaranteed packed audience, this is worth a small $30. You will even enjoy wine and chef prepared hors d'oeuvres as well.

No money is due right now if you are interested all you have to do is reply to this email with "Reserve a spot for me". We need your name, cell phone number or home number and your email to reserve a spot. We will email you a link to the location for your review. Once we have all of the acts and sponsors lined up we will meet in Manhattan to answer all of your questions, discuss dates and at that point the $30 will be due. Our goal is to book the mansion for mid November before thanksgiving.

As this sounds like quite a ridiculous scam, I decided it was worth looking into. I tracked down the address of this property - 283 Nugent Street in Staten Island. There have been multiple complaints about this property dating back to 2011.

11/10/2011 ILLEGAL CONVERSION A PRIVATE HOME INTO A HOUSE OF WORSHIP ALL DAY. AS PER CALLER TOO MANY PEOPLE. TOO MANY CARS BLOCK THE STREET.
11/22/2011 NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION. NO EVIDENCE OF HOME BEING USED AS A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. NO VEHICLES ON PREMISES. NO VIO WARRANTED

11/14/2011 CLR STS THE ONE FAMILY PD AT ABOVE ADDRESS IS BEING ADVERTISED AS A VACATION HOME WITH DAILY, AND WEEKLY RATES WITH MAID SERVICE
11/22/2011 NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION. NO EVIDENCE OF SIGNS OF HOME BEING ADVERTISED FOR BUSINESS NO VIO WARRANTED

05/10/2012 THEY ARE RENTING OUT THE SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE AS IF THIS IS A HOTEL
05/14/2012 COMPLAINT UNSUBSTANTIATED BASED ON DEPARTMENT RECORDS. DUPLICATE COMPLAINT#5097732 FILED

05/10/2012 THE HOME IS BEING RENTED OUT ON A SHORT TERM BASIS, EVERY WEEKEND AND A WEEK AT A TIME. IT IS ADVERTSED ONLINE HOTPADS.COM/VACATION-RENTALS/283-NUGENT-STREET-STATEN-ISLAND-NY-10306
05/14/2012 COMPLAINT UNSUBSTANTIATED BASED ON DEPARTMENT RECORDS. DUPLICATE COMPLAINT#5097732 FILED

05/11/2012 ILLEGAL CONVERSION OF ONE FAMILY DWELLING BEING RENTED AS HOTEL LESS THAN 3 STORIES
06/25/2012 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. NO ACCESS. LS-4 POSTED

12/21/2012 1 FAM HOUSE IS BEING RENTED OUT FOR PARTIES FOR A FEW DAYS AT A TIME FROM $7,500. THEY HAVE DAILY & WEEKLY RATES. THEY ADVERTISE ON LINE AS WELL. PLS INVESTIGATE
04/23/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. RANG BELL NO ONE HOME NO ACCESS LS4 POSTED

03/22/2013 ILLEGAL CONVERSION
05/30/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. COULD NOT GAIN ACCESS INTO BUILDING LS4 POSTED

04/10/2013 SINGLE FAMILY HOME BEING RENTED OUT AS A HOTEL ON RANDOM WEEKENDS,THEY ALSO RENT THE PROPERTY OUT FOR EVENTS LIKE PARTIES,BABYSHOWERS ETC... AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH,THEY ARE GETTING READY FOR AN EVENT.
04/10/2013 ADMINISTRATIVE CLOSURE. PENDING DUPLICATE COMPLAINTS REFER TO #S 5101659/5103104

05/07/2013 ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL/MANUFACTURING USE IN RESIDENTIAL ZONE
07/30/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. NO ACCESS LS4 POSTED

10/19/2013 ILLEGAL RECORDING & VIDEO BUSN VIOLATING ZONING LAWS; COMMERCIAL TRUCKS PARKED IN FRONT
(Still open.)

I forwarded the information over to my "anonymous Staten Island crapcatcher", as said individual prefers to be called. Here's what was uncovered thus far:

"I see a 2 million adjustable rate mortgage in 2007, with another 400,000 at the same time at 13 1/2% with Lopa as the borrower and obligated to occupy the property as primary residence... His mommy co-signed. OOOH- trained by NYS SBDC; he and his brother wanted to become real estate operators, and were taught how to locate funding...classic crap. Brother, btw, operates a "contracting" business, in that he pushes his "designs" but is not licensed to design structures - i.e. neither an architect nor an engineer. He uses the "Dora the Explorer" CAD program... I'm sure there's more: dig deep enough, he's related to Vallone, I'll betcha."

- Your anonymous Staten Island crap-catcher

(Note how individual's father worked for the city...)

This house is currently in Council Member and Borough President-elect James Oddo's district. I'm sure he'll be on this like white on rice.

One expensive piece of real estate

From the Daily News:

For $30 million, this Mill Basin mansion comes with everything and the kitchen sink. Four of them, actually, plus a dock for a dozen boats.
The most expensive Brooklyn home ever — asking twice as much as anything else on the market — it sprawls some 23,000 feet between a main house and guest house with 257 feet of Jamaica Bay frontage.

The 10-bedroom, 15-bath property is the 17-year passion project of Galina Anissimova, ex-wife of Russia’s 38th richest man, a shadowy minerals baron.

Her broker, James Cornell of The Corcoran Group, said she probably spent more than $30 million transforming the place .

“It’s perfect,” Cornell said. “It’s the highest quality everything I’ve ever seen in 24 years in the business.”

Perfection includes garage space for seven cars, a circular meditation room inscribed with signs of the Zodiac and a 1,000-square-foot outdoor pool — larger than many Brooklyn apartments — beside which sits a gigantic gazebo with room for 50 guests.