The chance a new owner could buy the abandoned former White Plains Linen property on Highland Avenue seems more likely as the current owner of the property continues to fail to respond to a foreclosure case in court.
If a judge eventually orders a summary judgment in favor of the lender, JG Funding, the property could be up for sale.
Speaking in a January court hearing arguing against further delays in the case, an attorney for JG Funding told a judge “And yet my clients, who are now holding the bag on a mortgage on a vacant property, which they want to sell so they can get their capital, they are being dragged for six, seven months.”
JG Funding originally filed the foreclosure motion in June 2023, alleging that the borrower, Peekskill White Plains LLC, stopped making payments on the loan beginning in February 2023 and also hasn’t paid property taxes.
The purchases of the buildings in the square-block area were all made in the name of Peekskill White Plains LLC, a company created in September 2017 with an address of 320 Roebling St. in Brooklyn. Perl Weisz, an official with CW Realty, is listed as the sole member of the LLC.
JG Funding lent the money to Peekskill White Plains LLC, the Cheskie Weisz company that owns the properties, in December 2021.
CW Realty’s main office is located on Waverly Avenue in Brooklyn. The firm, with nearly 50 projects in Brooklyn and Queens, is led by CEO and founder Cheskie Weisz.
Case drags on for over a year over a ‘typo’
The foreclosure case became entangled in a legal mess when the original attorney for the borrower Peekskill White Plains LLC argued that the mortgage papers state the debt is only $275,000.
In defending against the foreclosure, attorneys for Weisz argued that because of a typographical error in the paperwork he only owed $275,000 instead of the $2.85 million and $650,000 recording on the loan documents.
JG Funding’s attorney responded that the borrower received nearly $3.5 million in the mortgage loan and owes that, not $275,000. “The two mortgages in question indisputably secure payment of $2,850,000 and $650,000 respectively, which are the principal amounts due under the mortgage notes,” the JG Funding attorney stated in court papers.
“Plaintiffs’ claim that provision in Mortgage I and II stating that said Mortgages only secured a lien in the amount $275,000 was a typographical error,” court papers allege.
“The substantial evidence submitted by Plaintiff not only clearly refutes Defendant’s contentions that the lien secured only $275,000 but clearly shows Defendant’s argument is frivolous, considering that the Mortgages, Guaranty Agreements, Estoppel Certificates, Assignments of Leases & Rents, Section 255 Affidavits, and the Loan Extension Agreement all state the Mortgages secure repayment of $2,850,000 and $650,000 respectively.”
Weisz attorney withdraws from case
David Berg, an attorney representing Weisz in the foreclosure, finally won permission from a judge to withdraw from the case after several requests.
In court papers, Berg wrote “Mr. Weisz stopped paying our firm’s legal fees and refuses to pay its current outstanding balance in the amount of $11,487.85 owed in this action and insists that we continue working for free.
“I have discussed the Defendants’ outstanding balance with Mr. Weisz on multiple occasions, and he explicitly stated that he did not have the funds to pay and would not pay our outstanding invoice or prospective legal fees in connection with our representation in this matter.
“Despite his refusal to pay our firm’s legal fees, Mr. Weisz expects us to continue working on his cases without compensation under the threat of a legal malpractice claim,” Berg stated. “Moreover, being that Mr. Weisz has threatened to sue our firm for malpractice if we do not represent him without compensation, there has been a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
No response to Council’s request for revised plan
In March of 2022, a representative of CW Realty’s financing partner made a presentation to the Common Council outlining the firm’s plan to redevelop the former White Plains Linen buildings.
He cited the need to restore the site. “I’m sure you guys know the existing buildings have been in disrepair for a really long time,” Daniel Martin told the Council that night. “Unfortunately at present it’s not a fun street to walk down. We’re a victim of graffiti regularly, there are often people attempting to break in.”
Martin told the Council that “… it is a very complicated site. The buildings there are in terrible shape.”
Council members expressed opposition to the height and scale of the proposed project. Eager to see the abandoned buildings cleared and a new apartment building rise in their place, they asked the developer to revise the plan and return.
Since then, no one from CW Realty has reached out to Peekskill planning department officials in response to the feedback from that evening.
According to records in the Peekskill Finance Department last year, a total of $151,682 in bills are outstanding to pay for both city and school taxes.
Weisz did not return a call from the Herald requesting comment.
