Thursday, August 17, 2006
Single bidder for 20-acre East Ramapo parcel
The East Ramapo school district's controversial call for buyers for its vacant Wesley Hills property has drawn a single bidder.
American Investment Group LLC, a Brooklyn-based company, has offered to pay $7,350,000 for the 20.7-acre property that is adjacent to Lime Kiln Elementary School.
Reached by phone at his Monsey office yesterday, Michael Goldstein, who co-owns American Investment Group with Brooklyn resident Mendel Greenbaum, said that, if awarded the bid, the company would develop single-family homes on the parcel. Goldstein said that he has been involved in the development of single-family homes on other properties in Rockland County.
The company's bid was announced yesterday morning by school district attorney Stephen Fromson at the district's administrative building.
The district has previously stated that it reserves the right to reject any and all bids on the property. Fromson said the East Ramapo Board of Education would discuss the American Investment Group's application at next week's board meeting.
The company's bid is $850,000 over what the district set as its minimum acceptable bid. Its application included a bid deposit of $367,500. Conditions set by the district required that any potential buyers make a deposit amounting to 5 percent of the bid amount as part of a bid application.
Last week, Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said the town would be willing to pay $2 million as part of a join effort with the county and village buy the property. But St. Lawrence said yesterday that the town opted not to submit a bid because the district's asking price was too high. The property, he said, was assessed at $3 million.
"We're interested in trying to preserve the property, but we weren't going to bid over $6.5 million," he said.
The potential sale of the Wesley Hills property has generated controversy in the district, with many — including St. Lawrence — arguing that the land should be preserved as open space and as a place for East Ramapo students to study ecology.
"I would very much like to have that property left the way it is, to keep the tone of the neighborhood and the environment where you have groups of houses and free space," said Zelda Pepper, a village resident and a former East Ramapo teacher.
"We don't want an increase in density in Wesley Hills as has occurred in Monsey," she said.
The property is zoned as R-50, which requires 50,000-square-foot plots for single family homes.
Wesley Hills resident Ronald Steiner said he feared that development could pose a problem to neighborhood infrastructure. If so-called McMansions were built, he said, the land could "not support that kind of housing because of our water supply, the inadequacy of the sewers and the inadequacy of the roads."
Pepper said she worried that if the land is sold, its buyer would challenge its zoning and build a more dense development that would tax local infrastructure even more.
But Wesley Hills Mayor Robert Frankl sounded a more positive note about the property's prospective development and about American Investment Group.
"I'm sure they have plans to build a magnificently beautiful subdivision," he said. "I'm sure they're professional people and they know what they're doing and we're going to get along famously."
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/NEWS03/608170315/1024/NEWS08
The East Ramapo school district's controversial call for buyers for its vacant Wesley Hills property has drawn a single bidder.
American Investment Group LLC, a Brooklyn-based company, has offered to pay $7,350,000 for the 20.7-acre property that is adjacent to Lime Kiln Elementary School.
Reached by phone at his Monsey office yesterday, Michael Goldstein, who co-owns American Investment Group with Brooklyn resident Mendel Greenbaum, said that, if awarded the bid, the company would develop single-family homes on the parcel. Goldstein said that he has been involved in the development of single-family homes on other properties in Rockland County.
The company's bid was announced yesterday morning by school district attorney Stephen Fromson at the district's administrative building.
The district has previously stated that it reserves the right to reject any and all bids on the property. Fromson said the East Ramapo Board of Education would discuss the American Investment Group's application at next week's board meeting.
The company's bid is $850,000 over what the district set as its minimum acceptable bid. Its application included a bid deposit of $367,500. Conditions set by the district required that any potential buyers make a deposit amounting to 5 percent of the bid amount as part of a bid application.
Last week, Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said the town would be willing to pay $2 million as part of a join effort with the county and village buy the property. But St. Lawrence said yesterday that the town opted not to submit a bid because the district's asking price was too high. The property, he said, was assessed at $3 million.
"We're interested in trying to preserve the property, but we weren't going to bid over $6.5 million," he said.
The potential sale of the Wesley Hills property has generated controversy in the district, with many — including St. Lawrence — arguing that the land should be preserved as open space and as a place for East Ramapo students to study ecology.
"I would very much like to have that property left the way it is, to keep the tone of the neighborhood and the environment where you have groups of houses and free space," said Zelda Pepper, a village resident and a former East Ramapo teacher.
"We don't want an increase in density in Wesley Hills as has occurred in Monsey," she said.
The property is zoned as R-50, which requires 50,000-square-foot plots for single family homes.
Wesley Hills resident Ronald Steiner said he feared that development could pose a problem to neighborhood infrastructure. If so-called McMansions were built, he said, the land could "not support that kind of housing because of our water supply, the inadequacy of the sewers and the inadequacy of the roads."
Pepper said she worried that if the land is sold, its buyer would challenge its zoning and build a more dense development that would tax local infrastructure even more.
But Wesley Hills Mayor Robert Frankl sounded a more positive note about the property's prospective development and about American Investment Group.
"I'm sure they have plans to build a magnificently beautiful subdivision," he said. "I'm sure they're professional people and they know what they're doing and we're going to get along famously."
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/NEWS03/608170315/1024/NEWS08
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