Two Parcels At The Homesteads Sell For $20.7 Million

By Andrew Gorosko

The two parcels comprising the financially troubled Homesteads at Newtown age-restricted housing complex in Hawleyville have been sold to separate owners for a combined sale price of $20.7 million.

In a real estate transaction recorded June 3 at the town clerk’s office, HFS Newtown, LLC, of Bethesda, Md., sold the property at 166 Mt Pleasant Road, known as The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, to Newtown Senior Living, LLC, of Salem, Ore., at a price of $11.8 million. That ten-acre parcel contains a 95,000-square-foot, 100-unit Homesteads assisted-living building, which opened in April 2001. The building is occupied by elderly residents.

The real estate sale follows a property foreclosure against The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, and others, pursued by GE Capital Corporation in Stamford Superior Court.

In a separate real estate transaction recorded on May 17, Michael J. Daly, the trustee of the bankruptcy estate of The Homesteads Community at Newtown, LLC, sold property at 12 Pocono Road to Rolling Acres Developers, LLC, of Spring Valley, N.Y., at a price of $8.9 million.

That 50-acre property contains 12 age-restricted condominiums, which have never been occupied. Most of the 12 condos have been completed; several are partially constructed.

Rolling Acres Developers has transferred the ownership of that property to its sister company known as Bashert Developers, LLC, of Nyack, N.Y.

The properties at 166 Mt Pleasant Road and 12 Pocono Road abut one another.

Following the sale of the ten acres and the assisted-living building at 166 Mt Pleasant Road to Newtown Senior Living, 14 ownership shares of varying percentages, representing about 57 percent of the $11.8 million transaction’s value, were sold by Newtown Senior Living to various individual investors.

Town Tax Collector Carol Mahoney said this week that the sale of 166 Mt Pleasant Road resulted in $172,188 in revenue to the town. The buyer paid the town $163,985 in delinquent sanitary sewer assessments and sewer usage fees, plus $8,203 in delinquent personal property taxes, she said.

“We were very pleased,” Ms Mahoney said.

The town had previously sold tax liens on that property in order to recoup delinquent real estate tax payments, she said.

The Homesteads properties have the fourth highest town tax assessment at $11,849,990.

Several years ago, the town had started foreclosure proceedings against the 12 Pocono Road property due to delinquent real estate taxes and sewer assessments, after which the New Haven Savings Bank made approximately $1 million in overdue payments to the town, said First Selectman Herb Rosenthal.

Mr Rosenthal said the town had approved the Homesteads complex in the late 1990s, viewing the project as an age-restricted land use that would generate tax revenue for the town without the need for many municipal services.

“We are hopeful that the new owners [of 12 Pocono Road] will follow through with a plan that is beneficial to the town,” he said.

 Mr Rosenthal said he would oppose changing the zoning designation on the site from the current EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zone. Such high-density, multifamily housing is restricted to people over age 55.

Burt Dorfman, a spokesman for Bashert Developers, said June 8, “At this point, we’re evaluating all alternatives that are allowable” for 12 Pocono Road.

In 1998, The Homesteads received P&Z approvals to build 200 age-restricted multifamily units at 12 Pocono Road in the form of 162 congregate-care units and 38 condos. In 2001, The Homesteads modified its plans, receiving the P&Z’s revised approvals for 178 dwellings in the form of 132 congregate units and 46 condos.

The Homesteads eventually built 12 age-restricted condos on the property, but they have never been occupied. The condos never received certificates of occupancy due to the delinquent taxes.

Mr Dorfman said Bashert will develop the 12 Pocono Road site with age-restricted housing. He said he expects to meet soon with town officials to discuss the site’s future development. The 12 vacant condos on the site would be either renovated or demolished, he said.

The common driveway that leads to both properties from Mt Pleasant Road will continue to serve as the entrance/exit point for both 12 Pocono Road and for 166 Mt Pleasant Road, he said. The 12 Pocono Road site has an emergency entrance/exit to Pocono Road.

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said of 12 Pocono Road, “It’s very valuable property. I have absolutely no doubt that the property is going to be developed.” The property is well suited for age-restricted housing, she said.

The site formerly was a sand-and-gravel mine.

Paragon Residential Properties, LLC, of Southport, a firm that had sought town approvals in 2004 to build a 147-unit age-restricted condo complex at the 12 Pocono Road site, has dropped its plans for that work.