On September 13, 2022 a
Letter,Correspondence
was filed
involving a dispute between
Fairbridge Real Estate Investment Trust, Llc
F K A Realfi Real Estate Investment Trust Llc,
and
Brookview Town House Llc
A K A Brookview Town Houses Llc,
Carl Orsini
A K A Carlos M. Orsini,
Cor Holdings Llc,
David Raven,
George Lumber & Building Material Inc.,
John Doe Company Nos. 1-100,
John Doe Corporation Nos. 1-100
And,
Key Bank
As Successor By Merger To First Niagara Bank, N.A.,
Little Falls Garden Apartments Llc,
New York State Department Of Taxation And Finance,
Robinhood Properties L.L.C.,
for Real Property - Mortgage Foreclosure - Commercial
in the District Court of Montgomery County.
Preview
Kimberly Van Wormer, Esq.
ATTORNEY AT LAW
July 10, 2023
Hon. Felix Catena
58 Broadway
Fonda, NY 12068
RE: Fairbridge Real Estate Investment Trust v. Little Falls Garden Apartments, LLC., et al
Index No.: EF-2022-477
Dear Judge Catena:
This letter supplements the Receiver’s, Peter Sciochetti, Motion seeking, inter alia, the
approval of a 5% interim commission to be paid out of certain monies collected from HUD in the
form of back rent payments concerning the property at 759 East Monroe Street Ext., Little Falls,
New York (the “HUD property”). As stated during the recent Court conference amongst counsel
and the Court, Plaintiff consents to a 5% commission being paid to the Receiver out of the HUD
funds.
First, the Receivership involves three properties, in three separate counties, with numerous
tenants. The Receiver has spent an extraordinary amount of time fulfilling his obligations under
subject Receivership order. It is estimated that the Receiver spends at least 30 hours a week, but
often much more, working on this complex case.
Second, the Receiver has expertise and years of experience that have assisted in this case.
For example, the Receiver has an extensive background in commercial property management and
familiarity with HUD and managing HUD subsidized properties.
The funds that the Receiver seeks to distribute and out of which the requested commission
will be paid, were unanticipated funds that the Receiver has collected in fulfilling his duties. The
Receiver’s expertise allowed him to obtain back rent from HUD in an expeditious manner.
Typically, a property owner would have to hire multiple consultants at a high cost to achieve what
the Receiver accomplished on his own.
Third, the subject Receivership comes with unique challenges that have been compounded
by the contempt of the property owner’s representative, David Raven, which has resulted in
numerous emergency situations, which the Receiver has attended to promptly, in order to mitigate
negative effects.
PH: 518.866.8668 | MAILING: P.O. Box 174, Amsterdam, NY 12010
kim@kimberlyvanwormeresq.com
Kimberly Van Wormer, Esq.
ATTORNEY AT LAW
At the outset, Mr. Raven did not deliver any of the documents necessary for the Receiver to
manage the properties. The Receiver has requested these documents on multiple occasions, but
many documents have still not been produced.
For example, under the Receivership order, Mr. Raven was supposed to deliver the leases,
security deposit accounts and information, and direct payments he has received from the tenants of
the subject properties to the Receiver. For a long period of time, Mr. Raven collected rent from
some of the tenants, which made it difficult to ascertain which tenants owed rent and the actual
amounts due. This remains a problem to date.
Further, a number of events have transpired during the Receivership, that required the
Receiver’s immediate attention. The Receiver found that the employees were unpaid for months;
Receiver did not have access to security deposit accounts for tenants, the Receiver lacked
information how much each tenant had paid; the Receiver received cancellation shut off notices due
to unpaid bills, such as a water shut off notice, over this past weekend, an employee quit.
Mr. Raven has also directly interfered with the Receiver handling his duties by continuing to
contact or hire employees, vendors, and consultants without the Receiver’s knowledge and/or
consent.
Finally, the following is a list of some of the Receiver’s tasks to date: determine which
apartments were vacant; met with existing management; interviewed employees to determine which
employees would remain and which would leave; many of these employees were unpaid for the last
several weeks prior to the Receiver taking over the properties; Receiver repeatedly visited all three
properties, assessed the condition of the properties, and introduced himself to tenants and staff.
Receiver contacted HUD to have all arrears from 2020 brought current and spent an enormous amount
of time rectifying the issues that had caused HUD to suspend the payments in the first place. Receiver
brought all vendor invoices current. Receiver identified and secured insurance coverage for the
properties. Receiver promptly opened a bank account and established an online system for the payment
of rent. Hired legal counsel for all legal matters. Hired a HUD certified management company to provide
management services for the Little Falls Apartments.
For those reasons, the Receiver requests an interim commission payment of 5%.
Sincerely,
_______________________________
PH: 518.866.8668 | MAILING: P.O. Box 174, Amsterdam, NY 12010
kim@kimberlyvanwormeresq.com