Friday, July 25, 2014
East Ramapo completes school sale to yeshiva tenants
East Ramapo officials say they've finalized the sale of Colton Elementary School to their longtime yeshiva tenants, putting the district on track to make $10 million from real estate deals this year if a second sale closes as planned.
The $5.1 million sale of Colton, on Grandview Avenue in New Hempstead, closed after lengthy legal fights. One included a dispute with the tenants-turned-buyers that ended in the district agreeing to give them a $1.5 million credit for rent paid — even after a judge sided with the school board in its opposition to awarding rent credit because the tenants were in arrears on their rent. The sum was deducted from the original $6.6 million purchase price.
The sale was completed after consultation with state education officials, the district announced Thursday. The new owners are Monsey-based Bais Malka Congregation and the Hebrew Academy for Special Children, a Brooklyn-based religious school for children with special needs.
The transaction will generate "more than $5 million to help balance the school district's budget and address educational needs," according to an email statement from the district.
"This long-awaited and extensively reviewed transaction makes sense for the district," Board of Education President Yehuda Weissmandl said in the statement. "It clears the district of a continuing liability for the property and generates sorely needed revenues for public school programs."
The news comes after the board authorized the $4.9 million sale of Hillcrest Elementary School this month; it has yet to close.
Both deals are happening while East Ramapo is in the early stages of working with a special fiscal monitor the state ordered to examine the district's use of state and federal monies. The monitor, Hank Greenberg, hasn't spoken publicly since beginning his work in the district earlier this summer. State education officials didn't immediately return a request for comment.
The district's attempts over the years to lease and sell both shuttered public schools stalled as district critics challenged the transactions before the state education commissioner, claiming the Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic-dominated Board of Education undervalued district property as a favor to the yeshiva community, in which it has a special interest.
Transactions involving the two buildings are the focus of an ongoing state attorney general's investigation. Separately, hundreds of parent plaintiffs have also challenged them as part of their federal lawsuit against the district.
Hinting at the controversy, Weissmandl said the closing on Colton follows "confirmation by legal staff that all regulatory, procedural and other conditions were fully satisfied."
Hillcrest, meanwhile, is being bought by Congregation Avir Yakov of New Square, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that has leased it for several years. The appraiser selected by the school board to handle a previous sale — now canceled — faces felony charges; he is accused of taking a $5,000 bribe from Avir Yakov to falsify the property appraisal and get the yeshiva a lower price.
The initial sale of Colton in May 2011 was halted for a year and a half after a resident claimed that the $6.6 million selling price was less than the property was worth, but state Education Commissioner John King allowed the sale to move forward.
East Ramapo closed Colton in 2009 when public school enrollment was projected to decline — although it's grown significantly since then — and officials expected they could generate revenue by renting to the fast-growing yeshiva community.
The revenue stream turned out to be unreliable, with late payments from the yeshivas followed by the district lowering the rent to accommodate tenants' financial hardship.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/07/24/east-ramapo-sells-colton-school/13126357/
The $5.1 million sale of Colton, on Grandview Avenue in New Hempstead, closed after lengthy legal fights. One included a dispute with the tenants-turned-buyers that ended in the district agreeing to give them a $1.5 million credit for rent paid — even after a judge sided with the school board in its opposition to awarding rent credit because the tenants were in arrears on their rent. The sum was deducted from the original $6.6 million purchase price.
The sale was completed after consultation with state education officials, the district announced Thursday. The new owners are Monsey-based Bais Malka Congregation and the Hebrew Academy for Special Children, a Brooklyn-based religious school for children with special needs.
The transaction will generate "more than $5 million to help balance the school district's budget and address educational needs," according to an email statement from the district.
"This long-awaited and extensively reviewed transaction makes sense for the district," Board of Education President Yehuda Weissmandl said in the statement. "It clears the district of a continuing liability for the property and generates sorely needed revenues for public school programs."
The news comes after the board authorized the $4.9 million sale of Hillcrest Elementary School this month; it has yet to close.
Both deals are happening while East Ramapo is in the early stages of working with a special fiscal monitor the state ordered to examine the district's use of state and federal monies. The monitor, Hank Greenberg, hasn't spoken publicly since beginning his work in the district earlier this summer. State education officials didn't immediately return a request for comment.
The district's attempts over the years to lease and sell both shuttered public schools stalled as district critics challenged the transactions before the state education commissioner, claiming the Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic-dominated Board of Education undervalued district property as a favor to the yeshiva community, in which it has a special interest.
Transactions involving the two buildings are the focus of an ongoing state attorney general's investigation. Separately, hundreds of parent plaintiffs have also challenged them as part of their federal lawsuit against the district.
Hinting at the controversy, Weissmandl said the closing on Colton follows "confirmation by legal staff that all regulatory, procedural and other conditions were fully satisfied."
Hillcrest, meanwhile, is being bought by Congregation Avir Yakov of New Square, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that has leased it for several years. The appraiser selected by the school board to handle a previous sale — now canceled — faces felony charges; he is accused of taking a $5,000 bribe from Avir Yakov to falsify the property appraisal and get the yeshiva a lower price.
The initial sale of Colton in May 2011 was halted for a year and a half after a resident claimed that the $6.6 million selling price was less than the property was worth, but state Education Commissioner John King allowed the sale to move forward.
East Ramapo closed Colton in 2009 when public school enrollment was projected to decline — although it's grown significantly since then — and officials expected they could generate revenue by renting to the fast-growing yeshiva community.
The revenue stream turned out to be unreliable, with late payments from the yeshivas followed by the district lowering the rent to accommodate tenants' financial hardship.
http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2014/07/24/east-ramapo-sells-colton-school/13126357/
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