Condo building to be auctioned

A Ridgewood building described by residents as an eyesore is becoming a “black eye” for everyone involved with it.
The condominium project located at 71-13 60th Lane, which has been stalled for approximately two years, was foreclosed and then auctioned off on August 5 at the Queens Country Supreme Court in Jamaica. The building was initially slated to become more than 50 condos, but it currently stands unfinished in one of the neighborhood’s busiest areas.
“I look out the back of my house and I see this building boarded up,” said Charles Ober, the vice president of Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association. “It detracts from the overall value of the neighborhood.”
The incomplete edifice, which is a former knitting mill, was owned by Ridgewood Equities LLC prior to the auction. According to Ober, the managing partner of Ridgewood Equities is Ari Chitrik, who is also the proprietor of Meserole Equities LLC. Chitrik’s family reportedly owns a diamond company in Manhattan, and his grandfather was the well-known Lubavitcher Rabbi Yahuda Chitrik, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 106.
Chitrik, who also goes by the name of Aaron Purec, said he does not own the building, and he refused to comment further regarding his involvement. Despite his denial, Chitrik’s signature appears on the notice of foreclosure and on two mortgages taken out on the building, a $4.4 million mortgage in 2006 and a $7.2 million mortgage in 2008.
Based on the foreclosure document, the development has roughly 13 unpaid lien holders, including the State of New York Department of Taxation and Finance and the New York City Environmental Control Board. The other liens are held by contractors who were unfortunate enough to perform a job in the building.
“I called Ari all the time, but he kept saying he would pay and telling me all these different excuses,” said Serge Pisman of Mercon Contracting. “Then I called him about six months ago and he said he was bankrupt. He told me he can’t pay me because he’s bankrupt. I know he’s a diamond dealer so I asked him why he didn’t sell some blood diamonds and pay off his contracts.”
Pisman received a $60,000 mechanical lien for the plumbing, heating and sprinkler work he completed in the building. Due to fear that he may never receive payment, he is consulting his attorney and deciding whether to pursue legal action.
Along with liens, the building has $644,207 in unpaid property tax charges. If the payments are never made, the city will sell its lien on the building to compensate for part of the overdue charges. Owen Stone, a representative of the New York City Department of Finance, admits the city may never retrieve the full amount due.
The project has also had 44 complaints and 49 Department of Buildings (DOB) violations, 30 of which are still open, filed against it.
Beyond its obvious financial pitfalls, the building is also a threat to neighborhood morale and safety.
“I’m concerned that it could bring down property values,” said Ober. “Also the security is not that great. The plywood fencing has fallen down and kids can get in there and get hurt. The longer the property stays vacant, the chances that some of the local kids will get in trouble increases.”
Ridgewood residents echoed Ober’s sentiments, emphasizing the building’s detrimental effect on the aesthetics of the community.
“It is a shame that it is abandoned like this,” said Rita Umland, who has lived in Ridgewood for 48 years. “It is an eyesore with all these wooden boards around it, and I’m not happy living next to it. There are also rats running through it. It does not belong in Ridgewood.”