Contributor Joyce H. Newman
NEW ROCHELLE, NY (June 15, 2024) — You may have driven past the house at 89 The Esplanade in the Beechmont area of New Rochelle. It has been in and out of court for about five years due to the horrendous state of the property. The house sits on the corner of a residential intersection, facing million-dollar homes in each direction.
Since November 2023, the house has been wrapped, to cover up all the holes on most of the exterior created during previous asbestos abatement efforts by the City. But the wrapping is falling off, exposing a “Swiss Cheese effect.”
The chimneys look like they could crumble at any moment and are due for an inspection by the City in case they are unstable. Small children playing next door just a few feet away could be at risk. Not to mention their house close by.
After a neighbor complained that the building was not secure and could be entered easily by squatters through exposed windows, the City offered to inspect it and fix whatever was insecure, charging the costs back to the owner.
Last December the house did finally get a new roof, but it still is an eyesore, with alarming notices posted all over the front door. It was posted as “Unsafe” by the City way back in November 2020. Neighbors were thinking the bank would foreclose on the property.
No such luck.
The legal saga has continued in April 2024, when a mortgage foreclosure action was marked “discontinued without prejudice” by the Supreme Court of Westchester County. Apparently, a “loan modification” was reached.
According to Steven G. Sonet, an attorney who has been following the case, this can mean that “the parties — the owner and the bank — cut a deal to modify the debt owed to the lender as well as the terms of the repayment.”
The neighbors argue that the house should be condemned and then demolished given the damage to the entire structure, and given that it has been vacant and abandoned for so many years.
But Paul Vacca, Commissioner of Buildings for the City, says he structure “was not deemed unstable” years ago, so the city has not condemned it. He notes, however, that starting in 2021, the City did take the owner, Laura Fields, to court, so far to no avail.
Commissioner Vacca says that “allegedly, she (the owner) is waiting on funds to be released to complete the exterior of the structure.”
The owner was due back in court May 28, but the session was adjourned and the new case date is June 25.
Stay tuned.
Joyce H. Newman is an Emmy Award-winning environmental journalist, educator, and gardener. She holds a Certificate in Horticulture from The New York Botanical Garden and writes frequently for lifestyle, news, and gardening sites. She currently lives, writes, and gardens in New Rochelle, New York. She publishes here.