Camp Cramp

We'll start with the second story first, because a) it's shorter, b) it's important and c) you folks have short attention spans and may never get to it.

Officials schedule forum Monday on Camp La Guardia sale

By Chris MckennaTimes Herald-RecordJune 27, 2008

Elected officials have organized a public forum at the Chester Academy Monday night to let residents air their concerns about the proposed sale of the Orange County-owned Camp La Guardia property.

County Legislator Greg Townsend, R-Monroe, initiated the gathering and will conduct it with the Chester and Blooming Grove town supervisors and the Village of Chester mayor – the leaders of the three host municipalities.

Controversy has erupted since a county Legislature committee voted Tuesday to support an unusual offer to buy the property for $10.5 million – all paid up front. The bidder is a New York City apartment mogul with a shady reputation.


The full Legislature is supposed to vote on the offer Wednesday. But Townsend and Chester Supervisor Steve Neuhaus both say they will urge lawmakers to postpone the sale. Neuhaus opposes the offer endorsed this week.

NewsCamp bidder has bad rep

Mogul made Voice's list of 10 worst landlords

By Chris MckennaTimes Herald-RecordJune 27, 2008

The mysterious bidder with a stunning offer to pay Orange County $10.5 million up front for Camp La Guardia is an apartment mogul with a huge empire and a tarnished reputation.

County officials Thursday identified the man behind the recently incorporated Easy Equities as Jacob Selechnik, who was described in June 2006 in an annual Village Voice feature as one of the 10 worst landlords in New York City.

At the time, Selechnik had 15,260 housing-code violations on 110 properties, according to the newspaper. And that was an improvement over the 23,127 violations tallied two years earlier, the article stated.

Selechnik couldn't be reached Thursday at two Bronx offices with phone numbers listed in his name. His Long Island attorney, Mark Matiash, didn't return a call for comment.

His bid for the former homeless shelter and its 258 acres leaped to the front of the pack when a committee of county lawmakers voted 4-1 Tuesday to send Easy Equities' proposal to the full Legislature for approval next week.

What made Easy Equities' offer unique was its willingness to pay the full price up front, without waiting for building approvals — something unheard-of in commercial development. The three rival offers would have been paid off over a number of years.

But whether it can muster the necessary 14 out of 21 votes next week is far from clear. At least one lawmaker from the project area had turned decisively against the proposal Thursday after reading articles about Selechnik.

"I'd vote 'No,'" said Frank Fornario, R-Blooming Grove.

John McCarey, the county's real property director, said he couldn't comment on Selechnik's credibility as a landlord but could vouch for his financial security. He said he'd been told Selechnik owned 2,500 apartment buildings throughout the New York City metropolitan area.

"His financial statement is extremely solid," he said.

Meanwhile, a previous front-runner — the first of three in what has been a topsy-turvy competition for the property — pressed its case to the public Thursday with a half-page ad in the Times Herald-Record.

That developer is Mountco Construction and Development Corp. of Scarsdale. Its president, Joel Mounty, said in an interview that the company has raised its price to $12 million from $10.5 million and linked up with Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh to propose continuing education classes at the site.


The college addition was an effort to eclipse the second front-runner — a proposed 5,000-student university that had proved popular among legislators and local officials.