A Pleasantville landlord has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to maintain control of two Yonkers apartment buildings he was ordered to sell four years ago.
Steve Edlund”™s 58 Bruce Avenue Corp. and 143 School Street Realty Corp. filed the petitions Sept. 10 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains.
He claims that Gary Dove of Staten Island, who won a Westchester Supreme Court judgment in 2016, is trying to force him to transfer the properties at below-market value. Thus, he needs “the breathing room afforded by Chapter 11 to enable ”¦ sufficient time to sell the properties at fair market value.”
The 58 Bruce Ave. property is worth $1.1 million, according to Edlund, and 143 School St. is worth $555,000, for a total of $1,655,000.
In 2016, Dove agreed to buy the properties for $2,115,000, according to a lawsuit he filed that year, and he made down payments totaling $211,500.
But when it came time to close the deals, Edlund didn”™t show up, and attempts to reschedule the closings also failed.
Edlund was trying to kill the deal, according to Dove”™s complaint, “in order to obtain a higher purchase price.”
Edlund did not respond to Dove”™s complaint and Justice Charles Wood issued a default judgment against him. The sales contracts would have to be performed, he ruled, or the real estate corporations would have to pay damages to Dove.
Edlund challenged the ruling, claiming that he was unable to answer the complaint because from 2012 to 2016 he was dealing with the deaths of his father and mother and helping his daughter with wedding plans.
“He has failed to offer a legally cognizable excuse for failing to timely answer the summons and complaint,” Westchester Justice Lawrence J. Ecker ruled in 2017.
Edlund appealed that decision and lost again last year.
On Sept. 9, Dove asked the county court to appoint a receiver to manage the apartment buildings and carry out the court”™s judgment.
Instead of complying with the judgment, Dove stated in an affidavit, Edlund”™s corporations have “engaged in a campaign of unsuccessful post-judgment motions and appeals designed to delay and prolong this matter.”
Meanwhile, he claims, conditions of the buildings have declined significantly.
The bankruptcy petitions were filed the following day.
Edlund owes Dove $338,000 on each property, according to bankruptcy records, and he owes Chase bank a total of $774,000 on the mortgages.
“The sale of one or both of the properties,” he claims, “will generate sufficient funds” to pay Dove.
The real estate corporations are represented by Goshen bankruptcy attorney Matthew Cabrera.
Dove is represented in the county court case by Brooklyn attorney Joseph J. Schwartz.
