Erosion Problems At Unbuilt Westchester County Project In Foreclosure Creating Havoc For Neighboring Residents, Lender, Say Suits

In Yonkers, New York, The Journal News reports:

• Investors have gone to court to foreclose on the proposed Velocity at Greystone apartment project, and a receiver has been named by the court to oversee the gaping pit at the Warburton Avenue site.

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• Warburton Avenue neighbors have been upset with the persistence of the large pit at the site. A series of landslides and mishaps have delayed the project, and erosion on the hillside caused a nearby single-family home to become uninhabitable, leading to a lawsuit from that home's owner.

• In papers filed last month in state Supreme Court, investors said they were foreclosing on the property because Kaiser had defaulted on certain terms in the loans. Specifically, investors said that the developer missed a Feb. 15 deadline for completing the footings and foundation of the building, and had failed to put up an additional $1.1 million to cover cost overruns.

• In an affidavit filed with the case, one of the investors said there are "serious issues" concerning the stability of the foundation because the land abutting the site had collapsed at one point. [...] Debra Cohen, an attorney who represents residents of an apartment building at 1085 Warburton Ave., said this week that the foreclosure action "puts gasoline on the fire of my clients' concerns."

For more, see Velocity at Greystone development in Yonkers faces foreclosure.

See also, Yonkers Tribune: Running Afoul of the Yonkers Department of Engineering.

For story update (2-9-09), see Yonkers co-op residents want to join suit on landslides against development.