Rockaway small businesses going away for little housing

 

 NY YIMBY

Permits have been filed for a six-story residential building at 181 Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens. Located between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Ocean Prom, the lot is one block north of the Rockaway Park-Beach 116th Street subway station, serviced by the A and S trains. Tom Lawlor under the 185 Beach 116th Street LLC is listed as the owner behind the applications.

The proposed development will yield 31,108 square feet designated for residential space. The building will have 35 residences, most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 888 square feet. The steel-based structure will also have a 30-foot-long rear yard.

35 units, 888 square feet? That's putting the little in the "little more housing" slogan from the City of Yes.

House Flipping Predators LLC

 

THE CITY

Three years ago on a wintry afternoon, JJ was sitting in bed in her Bushwick apartment when she heard a boom at the door. It sounded like an intruder was trying to kick his way in.

JJ, who is Black, peered through the peephole and saw three white men in suit jackets. She was afraid. They looked like detectives. 

“I opened my door, and I’m like, ‘How can I help you?’” recalled the 42 year-old mother of two, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.

That’s when, she said, one of the men introduced himself as “the new owner of the building.” 

“I’m like, what? Excuse me?” recalled JJ, who had moved in about seven years earlier and previously paid rent to the relative of a friend living upstairs.

The man told JJ she had a few months to move out. As she stood by bewildered, his two associates were already at work putting new locks on her door.

What JJ didn’t know was that months earlier a group of strangers had indeed acquired title to the house, just a short walk away from the bars and clubs popular with Bushwick’s newcomers. They’d found five far-flung heirs of the property’s deceased owner and convinced them to sell their fractional inheritances for a grand total of $35,500, according to city deed records. 

JJ’s home was not their only target. A new investigation by THE CITY has found 119 properties across the five boroughs acquired in part or in whole by companies operated by two brothers, Elliot and Joseph Ambalo, and their business partner Etai Vardi. This crew of speculators nab properties in gentrifying Black and Latino neighborhoods, where many homes are ripe for the taking because their original owners died without wills, leaving a network of dispersed inheritors who may not know the value of their partial shares. 

As THE CITY previously reported, similar rings amass partial shares to shake down longtime homeowners for money or to profit from forced home sales. But the Ambalo brothers and Vardi often capitalize on another method: using generically named LLCs like The Queens Foundation and Jackie 42, they find small, multi-family homes with minimal tenant protections, take over the properties by paying heirs low sums, then rush to evict the residents, clearing the path to flip the properties for many times what they paid.

This ring’s maneuvers, which have displaced dozens of longtime city residents, are largely legal. But in some of their transactions, THE CITY found evidence of possible fraud. One notary public based in California believes that her signature was forged on a deed-related affidavit that Vardi also signed. Four other notary publics across the country said they did not sign or recognize their purported signatures that appear in paperwork signed by Vardi or one of the two Ambalo brothers.

The Ambalo brothers and Vardi rebuffed THE CITY’s attempts to interview them at length in person and on the phone. In response to a detailed set of questions sent to them ahead of publication, Vardi shared a brief statement in an email on behalf of the ring.

“The purchase of fractional shares of properties is a long-standing, lawful business practice in the real estate industry,” Vardi wrote. “We have always and will continue to operate within the law and in an ethical manner.”

Of the 119 properties THE CITY identified, 34 have been the subject of eviction or removal petitions filed by the investors’ LLCs, which named 160 residents they wanted out of their newly acquired properties, according to court records. In 19 of these cases, the speculators failed to register their ownership with city authorities, a violation of New York City’s Housing Maintenance Code, before moving to evict tenants. 

In 29 of the 119 properties, city deed records show the investors completed a flip of partial home shares or entire properties. In all, they paid heirs and other property-holders nearly $4.8 million then subsequently sold the shares to new buyers for $14.3 million — a $9.5 million difference.

In many cases, the flips and displacement went hand-in-hand.

THE CITY 

 

Limited Liability Companies Associated with Joseph and Elliot Ambalo and Etai Vardi

135 STREET INVESTORS LLC

153 FOCH LLC

1847 NEREID LLC

19138 115 ROAD ASSOCIATES LLC

229 CLIFTON PLACE LLC

76 ROCKAWAY BLVD LLC

ACTION NO 37 LLC

ACTION NO 53 LLC

BERGEN STREET MANAGING PARTNERS LLC

BK 146 LLC

BK 950 LLC

BK AUTUMN 701 LLC

BK BEVERLEY LLC

BK DEVOE LLC

BK DEVOE STREET LLC

BK MACON LLC

BK ROSEDALE LLC

BK SARATOGA LLC

BK SHEFFIELD LLC

BLACKROCK EQUITY GROUP LLC

BLACKROCK REAL ESTATE GROUP LLC

BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE GROUP LLC

BROOKLYN GATES LLC

BX 1076 LLC

BX 1331 LLC

BX MULINER LLC

BX ROSEDALE LLC

EAST NEW YORK RLTY LLC

GILLESPIE AVENUE DEVELOPMENT LLC

GREEN BAMBA LLC

JACKIE 42 LLC

KINGS COUNTY FOUNDATION LLC

MACDONOUGH STREET DEVELOPMENT LLC

MANHATTAN FOUNDATION LLC

MN W 152 LLC

NEW YORK ASSET RECOVERY FOUNDATION LLC

NEW YORK ASSET RECOVERY GROUP LLC

NORTH BRONX VENTURES LLC

NORTH BUSHWICK VENTURES LLC

NORTH QUEENS VENTURES LLC

ONE EIGHTEEN 204 HOLDINGS LLC

ONE THREE SEVEN 24 HOLDINGS LLC

ONE TWENTY TWO HOLDINGS LLC

ONE ZERO FIVE 39 HOLDINGS LLC

QN 147 VENTURES LLC

QN 204 LLC

QN 48 LLC

QN NAMEOKE LLC

QN ST ALBANS HOLDINGS LLC

SOUTH BRONX VENTURES LLC

SOUTH JAMAICA HOLDINGS LLC

SOUTH JAMAICA HOLDINGS 2 LLC

STATEN ISLAND VENTURES LLC

THE BROOKLYN FOUNDATION LLC

THE EASTERN AND ATLANTIC FOUNDATION LLC

THE QUEENS FOUNDATION LLC

THE QUEENS FOUNDATION MMXX LLC

Mayor Adams benefited from his chief of staff's LLC dirty money

 

 THE CITY

In 2018, seven employees of two medical companies in New Jersey began donating thousands of dollars to the campaign treasury of then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

They worked for two companies — Ridgewood Diagnostic Lab and Interstate Multi-Specialty Group, both in Hackensack, and owned by Dr. Alexandr Zaitsev, who was among the Adams donors.

They each gave what was then the maximum amount, $5,100, or close to it, to the campaign account for Adams between April 19 and Nov. 29, 2018, Campaign Finance Board records show.

At the time, Adams had not officially declared he was running for mayor.

Ridgewood, Zaitsev and two other of the Adams donors are now defendants in a lawsuit filed by GEICO in September 2020, with the insurance company alleging they and other medical groups billed GEICO for more than $4.5 million in fraudulent claims.

The lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court and first reported by Bloomberg News, also lays out the two medical companies’ connection to Adams chief of staff Frank Carone, who was a part owner of two limited liability corporations that helped finance their launch.

The employees donated $40,600 to the campaign by the end of 2018.

They were all later refunded more than half of the money after the Campaign Finance Board made changes to the maximum amount for donations when a candidate takes part in a matching-funds program.

GEICO’s lawsuit alleges that Carone, along with his former law partners, father and son Howard and Jordan Fensterman of the firm Abrams Fensterman LLP, used limited-liability companies to advance money to Zaitsev and other medical companies as they waited for insurance claims to process.

After fronting the money, the LLCs would be paid back with interest when GEICO paid the no-fault claims, the company alleged in its suit.

The companies that fronted the cash to the medical groups, Financial Vision Group LLC and others with similar names, are owned by Zaitsev and Daniel Kandhorov, according to court documents.

Kandhorov, who lives in Queens, could not be reached for comment.

During his mayoral campaign, Adams opted to take part in the new 8-to-1 matching-funds program — which allows $2,000 per person, with city-funded matching dollars for New York City-based donors.

A spokesperson for Adams, Max Young, said that Carone had nothing to do with the contributions from the mostly Jersey-based donors.

“Mr. Carone was a passive investor in these LLCs, didn’t solicit these donations, never met the donors in question, and had no knowledge that they donated, then or now,” said Young in a statement.

 

Civic peeved about LLC's abandoned lot

Queens Chronicle 

What’s going on with the vacant lot on the corner of 154th Street and 11th Avenue in Whitestone?

That’s the question President of the Greater Whitestone Taxpayers Civic Association and Community Board 7 Member Kim Cody has been asking since Lot 74 was last occupied in 2010.

Cody said that members of his civic have inquired about the lot, as well. “People are asking, ‘What’s going on with the property?’ over the years. All the sudden, it started overgrowing with weeds,” he told the Chronicle. “They go down there and check, and then they see this pile of junk in the middle of the lot.”

The site, which spans two addresses on the block, 11-10 and 11-12, was previously occupied by a fruit market and a deli, Cody said. Though the building on the lot was not demolished until roughly 2019, the lot itself has been fenced off since 2015.

The fence seems to have been ineffective. “Kids were still going inside the lot and stuff like this doing what teenagers do,” Cody said. “They were drinking and whatever the possibilities were coming apart.”

When the temporary, fabric fencing ultimately became tattered as a result of several storms, a chain link one was installed in 2019. Since then, no further construction has occurred, despite rumors that speculated otherwise.

Meanwhile, Tax Block 4538, Lot 74, has continued to deteriorate, and upset surrounding the site has only persisted. Cody said. “People would call up the civic association [and say], ‘We’re worried about rats or raccoons in there,’ and stuff like this,” he said. “There’s a public school right up the block, and it’s a commercial area, there’s delicatessens there and stuff, Chinese restaurants — there was a lot of concern about what was going on with the property.”

The property in question is, according to the Department of Buildings, owned by Andrew Lester of 11-10/12 154 St. LLC. Lester is currently the senior vice president of construction at Wharton Properties, a Manhattan-based, commercial real estate company.

Homeless service provider forms LLC to take over Trump golf course

 

 THE CITY 

 While Donald Trump battles Bill de Blasio over the mayor’s decision to dump the former president as operator of a Bronx golf course, the city is playing through — proposing a new firm to run the Ferry Point links.

A notice published Monday shows a company called Ferry Point Links LLC is set to be awarded a 13-year Parks Department deal to take over the Jack Nicklaus-designed 18-hole course at the foot of the Bronx-Whitestone bridge.

A firm incorporated under that name in late August, state corporation records indicate — sharing both an executive’s name and address with one of the city’s biggest homeless shelter operators, CORE Community Services.

An attorney for the former president vowed to fight the city — and the proposed new golf course operators — for control of the links, charging Trump is a victim of “political retaliation.”

A spokesperson for the city Department of Parks and Recreation said that CORE will be teaming up with Bobby Jones Links, an Atlanta company that will be “managing the operation of the concession.” CORE Community Services did not respond to requests for comment Monday, and Bobby Jones Links was not immediately reachable.

According to the notice posted in Monday’s City Record, Ferry Point Links, LLC will pay a minimum of $300,000 a year to the city — or a share starting at 7% of the gross proceeds and gradually escalating to 10% by year 13, whichever is higher.

Those terms are slightly more favorable to the operator than those granted to Trump in 2012, in a 20-year deal struck to salvage a troubled project. Trump also committed $10 million to build a clubhouse.

Queens City Council crony acts as proxy for Brooklyn City Council crony to approve luxury public housing tower in her district

  

Brooklyn Paper

 The City Council moved to approve the controversial 840 Atlantic Avenue rezoning this week, despite its failure to gain support from Community Board 8.

The City Council Land Use Committee voted to approve the application — which will allow for an 18-story building on the corner of Vanderbilt and Atlantic Avenues in Prospect Heights that currently hosts a McDonalds drive-through — on Sept. 13, leaving only the full City Council to vote before it’s written into law. 

An updated version of the proposal was presented to and approved by the community board’s land use committee on Sept. 2. The latest version of the proposal reduces the number of affordable units to about 54, but cements their affordability at a deeper level under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program at option 3. It also reduces the building’s bulk by about 10 percent. 

The proposal to erect a dense mixed-use building at the corner of the two heavily trafficked thoroughfares was rejected numerous times by the boards land use committee, and by Borough President and would-be mayor Eric Adams, who requested a less dense alternative be proposed.

Committee members repeatedly raised concerns that the development was out of step with the long-planned M-Crown rezoning, which seeks to rezone the industrial corridors of Prospect and Crown Heights for development while retaining jobs in the area. The developer, Atlantic-Vanderbilt Holdings LLC, was asked by board members to resubmit their application.

Community boards play an advisory role in the Uniform Land Use Review Process, but they must officially weigh in before a project can move forward. 

The exact identity of Atlantic-Vanderbilt Holdings LLC remains murky, though Simon Duschinsky of the Rabsky Group development firm is known to be a passive investor in the project. 

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, Councilmember Laurie Cumbo, who represents the area and has the most influence over land use decisions, brokered a meeting between select committee members and the developer, which led to the most updated version of the proposal being presented to the committee and approved. 

Neither Cumbo nor any of her staffers participated in the meetings, which were attended solely by committee members and representatives for the developer, according to the source.

A statement read by City Council Land Use Chair Francisco Moya during a Sept. 10 meeting of the land use subcommittee indicated her support, though Cumbo has not attended any of the public meetings regarding the project. 

“840 Atlantic Avenue presents a rare opportunity to secure truly affordable housing and an affordable long term home for the beloved arts organizations and job-generating commercial space on a site that is currently home to only a parking lot and fast food restaurant,” the statement reads. 

A representative for Cumbo did not return a message seeking further comment. 

 

South Brooklyn Assembly Member makes blunt statement about de Blasio's homeless housing policy

  

Shorefront News

 Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) will expose that homeless shelters are a business, not a service for the homeless population.

“The taxpayers are paying for this and De Blasio has no plans to make it better. The number of homeless New Yorkers has spiked past 60,000 since 2016 and it’s the highest since the Great Depression. Many shelters are run by not-for-profits. It is painfully obvious that the homeless crisis is only getting worse. People choose to remain on the street because conditions in city-funded shelters are awful and those who need supportive services, including mental health and treatment for addictions, get little or no help. No one has taken a look at how the locations for new shelters are selected, flipped, and developed by a web of third parties, LLC’s and companies that ultimately pass the cost on to taxpayers. Instead of providing permanent solutions for the homeless crisis such as subsidized or supportive housing, these shelters have become little more than businesses that provide an opportunity for developers to make a profit,” Colton stated.

“The community is concerned about this institutional structure that is planned for a residential neighborhood. We know nothing about this shelter planned for 2147 Bath Avenue in Brooklyn, only that approximately 150 single males will be residing there. There are questions about whether or not the planned homeless shelter will be in compliance with the building and zoning codes.  The city must build affordable housing to serve the needs of low-income families and supportive housing for those who need addiction or mental health services. Section 8 must reopen, and vouchers must be issued to the ones in need. Building more homeless shelters is not a solution,” Colton added.

Rep. Maloney proposes bill for more LLC transparency

 

QNS

 

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is pitching a bill on Capitol Hill that will put an end to shell companies across the United States, and possibly alleviate some of the issues facing everyday New Yorkers in an inflated housing market.

The main objective of the bill, however, is national security exemplified in the history of 650 Fifth Ave., once owned by the Iranian government and used to launder money for the benefit of terrorism groups.

“It’s not owned by the government of Iran anymore. It’s owned by a private U.S. company, but for many years, Iran was able to circumvent U.S. sanctions and launder their money, right here, in the US financial system,” Maloney said. “Now, people ask how did they do this? They used two anonymous shell companies, both formed here in the United States that hid their ownership. Fortunately the era of anonymous shell companies is almost about to end.”

Some progress made by abandoned house dumping ground in Jamaica

 

Queens Chronicle

Within days of the Chronicle paying another visit to one of Jamaica’s more infamous eyesore properties, there was some limited action taken on behalf of neighbors who have been living with the abandoned house and frequent dumping ground for nearly nine years.

But just how long the corner property and its boarded-up house at 107-58 164 St. will remain clean or if the city will take any further action remains to be seen.

“There was cleanup,” neighborhood advocate Pamela Hazel said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “They cleaned the yard. A big red couch I saw last time I went by was gone. I hope it stays that way.”

The Chronicle on Oct. 1 took several photos of the property. Trash was strewn throughout the front yard, as per usual. The seemingly omnipresent pile of dumped trash and debris in the backyard also was there, though the red couch, tree limbs and brush were a different and larger pile than the Chronicle photographed back in June.

While the building is under a full vacate order following a fire last winter, clean, sharp holes have since been cut in some window boards and walls, cuts that from the sidewalk appeared to be sharp and precise enough to have been made by hand or power tools.

The paper last week forwarded the photos, along with others from June, from November 2016 and from 2013, to the city’s Departments of Buildings, Health and Mental Hygiene, Law and Environmental Protection seeking comment as to what possibly might be done to find a permanent solution.

Emails also went out to the offices of Mayor de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans), Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and state Attorney General Letitia James.

The Department of Buildings, where records show complaints about the property were first filed in 2012, said in an email Tuesday that inspectors had visited he property since Friday.

“Our inspectors did find excessive debris in the yard of the property, and a short garden wall around the property that was in a state of disrepair,” the email said. “As a result we issued two violations to the property owner for failure to properly maintain the property.”

City tax records list the owner of the property as Resource Capital Group LLC with an address of 99 Wall St. in Manhattan.

City O.E.M. is letting an LLC profit from housing homeless people,released prisoners and frontline workers in hotels

THE CITY

In recent weeks, the city has placed hundreds of vulnerable homeless shelter residents, frontline hospital workers and recently released Rikers Island inmates into hotel rooms to help contain the spread of COVID-19.

And every time one of these temporary guests check in, a company down in Texas pockets a $27 per room, per night fee.

The firm, Crewfacilities.com LLC, also bills the city $18 for every breakfast, $19 for every lunch and $34 for every dinner provided to the guests, according to records obtained by THE CITY.

And then there’s the actual hotel rooms. The city Office of Emergency Management blacked out the room rates spelled out in Crewfacilities’ contract, arguing the information was protected from public disclosure as a “trade secret.”

But according to an unredacted copy of a related document obtained by THE CITY, nightly room rates range from $128 for a room in Queens to $163 to spend the night near Times Square.

A review of Hotel.com Thursday showed much lower rates available at struggling hotels all over the city. A Hilton Garden Inn in Tribeca, for example, was offering a discounted rate of $89 per night, while rooms at a Best Western in Herald Square were going for $75.

So far, taxpayers have shelled out about $15.5 million for more than 8,600 rooms booked by Crewfacilities in hotels around town. That includes the per room, per night fee and the thousands of meals for guests who request them at the rates set by Crewfacilities’ contract.

In an interview with THE CITY Friday, Councilmember Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), chair of the city contracts committee, questioned Crewfacilities’ $27 per room, per night fee, noting that the industry norm for such a booking fee is typically 10% of the room rate. That would come out to $12 to $16. As of last week, Crewfacilities had charged $2.5 million in these fees.
 

Kallos called on OEM to cancel the contract, estimating that between the $27 fee and the $71 per-day meal charge, Crewfacilities could be charging taxpayers $3,000 per month — above the cost of hotel rooms — for each guest.

“At the height of the pandemic we were desperate for hotel rooms and we got ripped off by a contract with $27 overhead,” he said. “We can and must do better by cutting out the middleman and going directly to the hotels. We can use the savings to fund essential services for youth and seniors this summer.”

As for the cost of an $18 breakfast, he added,  “That better be one fancy breakfast. If it’s $18 for a bagel and coffee, that’s expensive even for New York City.”

A few days ago it was revealed a company from Texas got a contract to build a hospital that was never used, now we got another Texas firm profiting from a pandemic.

What is up with these Texas connections? Could this be tied anyway to de Blasio's farcical presidential run last summer when he was traversing the nation for donations to his PAC's?

LLC slumlords lets Far Rockaway building rot

CBS NY

LLC's are now required to reveal their identities in New York

Daily Freeman


People who control limited liability corporations (LLCs) that own residential rental properties in New York state can no longer hide their identities.

Sen. James Skoufis, D-Woodbury, and Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D-New City, announced this week that their legislation requiring the disclosure of such LLC operators' names has been signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Under the new law, which takes effect immediately, LLCs that own residential properties containing one to four units "will now be required to share the names and contact information for all owners, managers and agents associated with the company at the time of a real estate transaction,” the legislators said in a prepared statement.

“Currently, it is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the true ownership of anonymous LLCs, leaving municipalities with no person to hold responsible for code violations, illegal building or fines,” the statement continued.

Until now, a limited liability corporation buying, say, a residential property at 1234 Main St., had been allowed to identify itself only vaguely, such as 1234 Main Street LLC.

Skoufis, whose Senate district includes parts of Ulster, Orange and Rockland counties, said the new law “will rip the mask off of these anonymous LLCs that continue to purchase massive amounts of real estate in the Hudson Valley."

“Neighbors have a fundamental right to know who owns the home next door to them,” Skoufis said. 

“Likewise, municipalities are desperate for this disclosure when they seek to hold property owners accountable for ... violations."

 

London Lennie's owners are selling their property

 

QNS


The latest catch of the day for real estate developers in Queens could be the site of London Lennie’s Restaurant in Rego Park.

An advertisement on the real estate website Zillow that surfaced on May 23 listed the beloved eatery at 63-88 Woodhaven Blvd. as being “for sale or lease” with a $6.5 million price tag. Salvatore Crifasi of Crifasi Real Estate is handling the transaction.

Even with the site being on the market, London Lennie’s remains open for business, serving luxurious seafood lunches and dinners to hundreds of guests each week.

The Zillow description notes that the one-story property is “a rare development site.” The restaurant itself occupies 6,000 sq. ft. of the 10,700 sq. ft. lot, but the existing residential zoning and commercial overlay could allow a developer to erect a more than 22,000 sq. ft. building — nearly four times the size of the existing eatery.

“This redevelopment opportunity provides developers the ability to capitalize on tremendous demand in an area with a scarcity of developable [sic] land,” according to listing, which indicated that it could be perfect for a “mixed-use project with the potential to include … medical, retail, residential, community facility, hotel and/or office.”

The restaurant’s owner also owns the property through a holding company listed on city records as RP Seafood LLC. Crifasi told QNS the owner is keeping his options open about whether to sell the restaurant and its property, or lease the building to a tenant for uses other than a restaurant.

Phantom landlord terrorizes tenants by weaponizing construction

CBS NY

An apartment battle in the Brooklyn between rent-stabilized tenants and their landlord is getting heated.

Residents claim they’re being forced out with a construction nightmare and now they’re fighting back.

CBS2 first told you about the tenants at 97 and 99 Clay Street last week. They claim their landlord is using construction to harass them in an effort to drive them from their rent-stabilized apartments.

They add they’ve enduring leaking ceilings, construction debris, and the threat of rats in their building. Now they’re rallying for their rights.

 The owners are sidestepping accountability,” tenant George Manatos said.

The property is run by a company called “Perfect Management,” under LJC Towers LLC, but the address leads to this shipping store filled with non-descript mailboxes.

“You can’t talk to a mailbox, there’s no one to talk to and they don’t want you talking to them, they don’t even want you know who they are,” Williamsburg resident Phil Smrek explained.

Smrek says he endured the same kind of abuse and knows the game landlords play all too well; especially when it comes to construction violations.

“I’ve seen them pay the fines like parking tickets, $5,000, $10,000… when you’re talking about $20 million  properties, a $5,000 fine is nothing so there has to be actual prosecution and prison time for these landlords.

CBS2 reached out to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development which investigates tenant harassment. The agency said it rejects “mail drop addresses” like this location.

“Many times they have the buildings listed under DOB with one owner and under HPD with a different owner. They drop letters in their last names, they change their spelling, it’s very shrouded, they’re under LLC’s.

CBS2 checked the address for LJC Towers LLC on the HPD website; it’s not at Lee Avenue where they claim, but a building on Manhattan Avenue that says Perfect Management on the door.

CBS2’s Valerie Castro rang their buzzer to ask some questions, but while she was waiting they turned the lights out.

 This is where I got my internet handle from.

Why LLCs dominate real estate

From The Real Deal:

Since becoming legal in New York State in 1994, LLCs — hybrid entities that provide a shield against liability and offer several tax advantages — have become one of the most dominant ways to buy property in the city.

A new analysis of recorded sales by The Real Deal shows that 7,319 real estate deals in the five boroughs in 2018’s first half involved an LLC. Among commercial properties, that accounts for 65 percent of all sales across the city and 71 percent in Manhattan, up from 30 percent and 49 percent in 2003. And in Manhattan’s luxury residential market, 72 percent of condominium sales over $10 million involved an LLC in the same time span — up from 20 percent 15 years ago.

The overall share of LLCs in New York property deals, meanwhile, has steadily risen for more than two decades, as they’ve ascended to become the real estate industry’s favorite investment vehicle.

Though the use of these shell companies is mostly driven by legal and tax benefits in the commercial realm, a common motivator in New York’s posh residential sector is invisibility. Anonymous ownership allows wealthy foreign buyers, celebrities and now even embroiled politicos like Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort to fly under the radar when buying luxury homes.

But while LLCs let investors safely accumulate more assets and block creditors and others from going after their holdings, that has come with some notable social costs.

Among other red flags, federal law enforcement is increasingly tying international money laundering to the use of shell companies and real estate. And anonymous spending on elections has increased over the years, particularly in New York, where a campaign finance loophole allows real estate and other business owners to make virtually unlimited political contributions by using LLCs.