The Burton Towers building at 36 Cerone Place.
By Nancy Peckenham
The tug-of-war over the future of Burton Towers heated up Tuesday when councilwoman Christine Bello filed suit against the Newburgh Housing Authority, asking a judge for a temporary restraining order.
Bello, who filed the suit as a private citizen, not as a member of city council, says that she is concerned because the Housing Authority appears to have voted in an illegal meeting to align itself with Wilder Balter Partners in its quest to take over the troubled Burton Towers complex. “I am upset when any entity operates in the dark, behind closed doors,” Bello said on Wednesday. “They voted over the phone and all kinds of stuff like that and as a resident of the city, it is offensive to me.”
Councilwoman Bello recalled that when the city asked for proposals from developers interested in owning and renovating Burton Towers, Wilder Balter submitted a proposal which did not include the NHA. She said they received a second joint proposal which included the NHA as a partner after the July 28, 2011 deadline. On August 11, the city council voted unanimously to select Mountco Construction and Development to take over Burton Towers and last week Mayor Nicholas Valentine, councilwoman Bello and state Senator Bill Larkin showed their support for Mountco in front of a group of tenants who also said they want Mountco to come in restore services to the building.
Both the Housing Authority and the city have the right to purchase Burton Towers for $1 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will then waive the repayment of more than $2 million outstanding on the building’s mortgage. However, as long as both are vying for the property, neither one will be allowed to get it and it will go to auction where the winning bidder will have to pay the $2 million.
Repair work was underway on Monday on the broken elevators in Burton Towers.
Foreclosure Auction Set for Friday
The two parties, Bello and the Housing Authority, are scheduled to appear before a surrogate court judge in Goshen on Thursday. If the judge issues a restraining order, it could cloud the foreclosure auction of Burton Towers, now set for Friday.
Newburgh Housing Authority chairman Charles Woodard says that the agency intends to bid on the property together with its partner, Wilder Balter. Councilwoman Bello says the city will not bid because it doesn’t have any money. She did not comment on whether the city’s chosen developer, Mountco, would be bidding.
Meanwhile, the Housing Authority and Wilder Balter came into Burton Towers this week to begin repairs on the two elevators that serve the 126 apartments in the building, a HUD-subsidized property that is home to elderly and disabled residents. Woodard said in a press release that the repairs are being done as a “good faith” effort, and “without any assurance that we will ultimately acquire the building.”
The Housing Authority’s attorney Alan Lipman was not available to comment on Bello’s law suit but Bello did have something to say about the elevator repair, questioning whether the work was being done through a bidding process.
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