New Haven Independent

A 2nd Chance On Lewis Street

by Allan Appel | September 8, 2008 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

nhilewis%20004.JPG Yang Bellacicco was on the phone to Southern China with news: She and her husband hope to bring new life to an historic oysterman’s house lost amid the ruins of a state representative’s real-estate business.

It was touch-and-go for a moment Saturday morning as the Bellaciccos went up against a “faraway bank” at a foreclosure sale for control of 13 Lewis St., adjacent to little Lewis Park on a sloping one-block road leading to Fair Haven’s waterfront.

The house was owned by State Rep. Jason Bartlett of Bethel, who has been shedding properties he’d bought in New Haven.

nhilewis%20003.JPG “This is not just for us, but for the future. Our family’s, and the neighborhood. Better we try to get it than some faraway bank.” That was Pete Bellacicco’s explanation and he, his wife Yang, here just two years from China, and their baby Angelina prepared for bidding to begin.

That faraway financial institution turned out to be Deutsche Bank, which foreclosed on Bartlet, who bought the house in 1998. An estimated 12 percent of all New Haven foreclosures since 2006 have been initiated by the German-based bank, making it harder for the city to start putting distressed properties in the hands of local people who can rebuild and/or reinhabit them.

The Bellaciccos already own a house blocks from Lewis Street, on Pine at Maltby. With neighbors there, they are vigilant about cleaning up and chasing away prostitution.

“Sometimes a bright flashlight works nicely,” Pete Bellacicco said. “Taking care of a neighborhood, revitalization doesn’t just come from downtown or Washington.”

Court-appointed attorney West Haven-based Daniel Lyons (pictured above) waited for the 11 o’clock hour Saturday to see if other bidders would show up. Meanwhile Bellacicco, who drives a truck for the Connecticut Food Bank, noticed the New Haven Preservation Trust medallion on the side of the building. “That’s good and bad,” he said. “Good because it shows the immediate neighbors care. The negative is that you have to go through zoning and all that to get permissions when we fix it up.”

nhilewis%20002.JPG A quick tour of the inside revealed that the piping had recently been swiped, but Bellacicco’s enthusiasm was not dulled. “We’re going to take out all this plaster and reveal the original brickwork on the inside. There are also some stained glass panes upstairs that we’ll uncover.”

If they get the house.

Pete Bellacicco said they were prepared to spend above $30,000 to fix the place up. Per the requirement, Yang Bellacicco handed a check for $13,500, or 10 percent of the appraised market value, to lawyer Lyons. When no other bidders showed up, Lyons opened the proceedings.

Deutsche Bank bid $76,000. Pete and Yang Bellacicco looked at each other. This was for their futures, and for their family, and for the future of the neighborhood. Pete had been quite eloquent about helping to keep his corner of Fair Haven away from absentee landlords.

Still, Deutsche Bank’s bid appeared to be a lot more money than they expected.

“What shall we do Yang?”

“What do you think?” she said

Baby Angelina said something, half English and half Chinese, but it did not appear to advance the deliberations.

“Can the bank bid higher if we make a bid?” Bellacicco asked Lyons.

nhilewis%20001.JPG “No, that’s the bank’s one and only bid: $76,000. Do I hear another bid?

“Can we think about it for a moment?”

“Sure, but that moment is almost up.”

Sweat was pouring down Bellacicco’s face, wet from the humid pre-hurricane air that had canceled, until the following week, a planned volunteer event to redo adjacent Lewis Park. With the help of the Lowe’s “Local Heroes” fund, the community was going to put in new slides, water equipment, pavers, fencing, and vegetation. The Bellaciccos liked that.

“Seventy-six thousand and one penny,” said Yang.

The lawyer repeated the number. “Are there any other bids?” When nothing but wind and birdsong replied, he said, “Congratulations.”

Yang Bellacicco immediately called her father in Southern China with the news. As they chatted across continents, Pete Bellacicco talked with Lyons about how to secure the property against trespassers until the deal goes formally through the court, likely within the month. The family plans to renovate and have the place available to rent by the spring.

“Foreclosure Can Happen To Anyone”

Reached by telephone, Bartlett (pictured) said he was happy how the foreclosure sale turned out.

His wish had come true, nice people, locals with a preservationist instinct had bought the house. “Well, there’s always a silver lining,” he said. “I’m very pleased.”

Bartlett said he is trying to divest himself of his last two properties and focus instead on politics and the nonprofit world. It’s there, he said, he can help people most. He was most recently in the news for co-chairing Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign in Connecticut; calling for the ouster of Joe Lieberman from the Democratic Party; and coming out as the first acknowledged gay African-American state legislator in the country. In 1999 and 2001, Bartlett ran the New Haven mayoral campaigns of Jim Newton and Marty Looney, respectively. He is currently running for his second term as a state representative from Bethel.

As an entrepreneur, Bartlett said, he had been overextended trying to make a restaurant in Hartford work and manage his New Haven properties at the same time the economy tanked. Then a bad tenant trashed 13 Lewis, he said. The contractor called in to fix it up left work undone. It ended up worse than before. The restaurant had unanticipated mechanical and structural problems. He didn’t have the liquidity to make repairs and mortgage payments on 13 Lewis.

“You’re an entrepreneur, you take a certain amount of risk,” Bartlett said. “The economy is not in your control. Foreclosure can happen to anybody. I had to let it go.”

Bartlett said he specifically decided he would not serve on state legislative committees addressing the foreclosure crisis. “For me to take a position in this area, even though I’m one of the casualties now, I don’t want people to question my motives, to say I’m personally benefiting.” Bartlett serves on the Human Services; Education; and Finance, Revenue and Bonding committees.

Bartlett said had considered not running for reelection this year due to his financial problems. He decided to be open about them; he referred to the matter in his reelection announcement.

To supplement his $28,000 state rep’s salary, last week Bartlett took on a full-time job as development director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization for black LGBT people.

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• Foreclosure Attracts New Breed of “Specialist”
• In Foreclosures, Judge’s Hands Tied
• Home Saved From Foreclosure. Cycle, Too
• A House For Precious?
• Deutsche Bank Grabs Dixwell Condo
• Reluctant Bidder Snags F. Haven Bargain
• Well, There’s Always Powerball
• Neighbors Retrieve Home From Bank
• Somebody Has Plans For Bassett Street
• Foreclosed, the Khennavongs Leave the Santanas
• Foreclosure Steal May Be Too Good
• 2nd Foreclosure in 3 Months Dims Bright St.
• After Foreclosure, W’ville Owner Still Hopes To Sell
• He’s Not Buying, Yet
• Quiet Foreclosure on Porter Street
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
• “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
• Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
• Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
• “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
• WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
• Megna’s “Blood Boils” at WPCA Tactics
• Goldfield Wants WPCA Answers
• 2 Days, 8 Foreclosure Suits
• WPCA Goes On Foreclosure Binge
• A Guru Weighs In
• WPCA Targets Church
• Subprime Mess Targeted
• Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
• She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
• Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
•“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
• Struggling Couple Sues Over “Scam”

The following links are to various materials and brochures designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

How to prepare a complaint to the Department of Banking; Department of Banking Online Assistance Form; Connecticut Department of Banking, Avoiding Foreclosure; FDIC Consumer News; Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc; Connecticut Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.

For lawyer referral services in New Haven, call 562-5750 or visit this website. For the Department of Social Services (DSS) Eviction Foreclosure Prevention Program (EFPP), call 211 to see which community-based organization in the state serves your town.

Click here for information on foreclosure prevention efforts from Empower New Haven.

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Comments

Posted by: robn | September 8, 2008 2:49 PM

Honest querstion which can maybe be enswered by real estate types. If Deutceh bank owns the property via foreclosure, why are they bidding on it? My instinct tells me its a scam, but then again, isn't this just the same as setting a minimum bid?

Posted by: Original JP | September 8, 2008 7:21 PM

Deutsche Bank bids on it to recover what it is owed. The bank typically bids the outstanding balance on the note, in this case $76,000. No scam, just a business trying to survive. It is interesting to note the frequent mentions of Deutsche Bank in these foreclosure articles. They seem to hint at some sinister motive on the bank's part. It is especially cynical in this case given that it is an investor who bought this property--not some down on its luck laid off blue collar worker. Big banks are not evil, rather they need to be paid back what they are owed.

Posted by: Esbe | September 8, 2008 8:30 PM

Robn -- in a foreclosure, the bank doesn't just get to suddenly "own" the house. Rather, they are forcing the sale of the house so that they can get some or all of their money back. If the house sells for more than is owed, the original owner gets to keep the extra money. That hardly ever happens. If the house sells for less than the amount owed, then the bank is stuck with a loss.

The bank bids in the foreclosure auction to keep the house from selling for a very small amount of money. Often, they bid the amount of the mortgage, although they are getting more realistic recently and sometimes bidding less.

For the town, the problem is that non-local banks have trouble maintaining and marketing the house in those many cases when they end up stuck with it. Sometimes, the house ends up vandalized and nearly worthless. Everyone loses -- the original owner, the bank and the neighbors.

I am still confused and frustrated as to why banks don't do a better job of hiring some local firm to maintain their foreclosed housing stock .... or else just let the houses go for less money in the first place.

Posted by: -fairhavener- | September 8, 2008 11:12 PM

"...The negative is that you have to go through zoning and all that to get permissions when we fix it up."

Not so. This is not a local historic area. If it was, then you would have to abide by more rules. But, please don't mess up a beautiful old home. I can't believe it made it this long in Fair Haven.

Posted by: Walt | September 9, 2008 10:03 AM

Even at $76,000 the purchase is very risky

Way back, when the Lewis St. hill was a favorite place for sliding in the winter. the homes were nothing to brag about and the neighborhood was somewhat worn out.

The takeover of the area by the yuppies and the cleaning of the nearby river most likely improved the area, especially replacing the dumpy building at the point with a little park.

Those houses were built with no insulation,, stone, not concrete basements. probably a coal furnace, gaslights later converted to knob and tube wiring, steel piping, and lead drains.

Could be a disaster for the Bellaciccos to bring up to code, if they are not great do -it -yourself'ers

Could also be a bonanza,but is very risky .

Good luck!

Posted by: FairHavenResToo | September 9, 2008 10:20 AM

Actually, 76k is a good price for this house. I was in it not too long ago and it's definitely worth it. Since it's been partially gutted already, it makes it that much easier to re-wire and re-plumb, as well as install much needed insulation. I thought seriously about bidding on it myself, but have bought a couple of houses already this year and need to work on those first. Congrats to the Bellaciccos!

Posted by: TotalDisaster | September 9, 2008 8:28 PM

We looked at that house as well, but unfortunately there is some kind of disaster two doors down. It is some kind of metal construction project that looks like it has gone horribly wrong. We called the city before we got the deposit to bid on the foreclosure and found out that the property is condemned. We spoke to a friend who works for the city and that individual said the people at that residence (owners) had been evicted by the police after the house was condemned because they continued to live at it after it was condemned and had the water, electricity, and gas shutoff. They said that there is a makeshift bathroom attached to the "house" and it was flushing the toilet directly into the ground! There was several feet of raw sewage!!!

We live in Westville now, and the reason we were looking in that are was for the nice views of the Q river, but after seeing that mess there was NO WAY. I can't believe the city allows it to stand! They already condemned it, why not tear it down??? If this happened in Westville it would be on Channel 8 every night!

Good luck to the new homeowners and all the other residents of Lewis St. A word of advice: stop sitting around and contact the right people and maybe you can get that disaster taken care of. I have never seen anything like it!

Posted by: Bob Johnson | September 9, 2008 9:38 PM

I am glad that State Rep. Bartlett is running for re-election. He seems like hey decent guy. It shows that politicians are not above the crisis that every day people go through. Perhaps since Rep. Bartlett has gone through this, he will have a personal experience unmatched in the area to help others. If I lived in Bethel I would vote for him.

Posted by: Walt | September 10, 2008 6:16 AM

Fair Haven Res

You apparently are in the rental business.

About how much woukd that property rent for if you had bought and fixed up?

When I was a Fair Haaven kid I'd guess rent would be about $35 or $40 peer month.

Just curious.

Posted by: FairHavenResToo | September 10, 2008 9:43 AM

Walt, I'd probably start at 1200, potentially higher. Single family homes, I find, are harder to price than an apartment. It would also depend on how much effort I put into the renovation. If I recall correctly, I believe the house has two bedrooms and two baths, but don't hold me to that.

TotalDisaster, I was wondering the same thing when I first looked at the foreclosure property and saw the house up the street from it; I couldn't figure out what the heck it was. However I did my research (I'm a research nut) and also talked to the owner. As it turns out, the back half of the structure has a valid demo permit, so it will be coming down. The front half of the structure is not condemned; it's new construction, in fact. You should tour the property (with the owner's permission, of course!) and you'll see that this is eventually going to be a cool house. There was no sewage anywhere, either, not even a smell. In fact the City has no evidence of this, either. They seemed mostly annoyed by the lack of a plumbing/elec permit on the old structure when the makeshift bathroom was put in. You sound more like a disgruntled neighbor and less like an investor; an investor has the ability to see potential.

Posted by: TotalDisaster | September 10, 2008 10:21 PM

"...and you'll see that this is eventually going to be a cool house."

Yeah, right. It looks like a total disaster. There isn't a straight line in it. The foundation is completely crooked, the walls are out of plumb, and the whole thing is leaning 4-5 degrees to the front of the property, just to name a few of the problems we noticed. Unless you throw out anything to do with proper construction and anything to do with aesthetics then maybe, and I mean MAYBE, you might have something that resembles a house - no where near "cool" however.

"There was no sewage anywhere, either, not even a smell."

The city official we know from LCI was there with the Water Authority and they dug a hole where the toilet was flushing and found 2-3 feet of raw sewage. Sure there is no smell now after 6 months of the toilet not flushing into the pit after the owners were removed by the police.

"...an investor has the ability to see potential."

I do see the potential. I see that the potential of this property is to either become the most hideous building project ever built in New Haven, or the potential for it to be demolished by order of the LCI.

A 2nd Chance On Lewis Street

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