NYC Builder Behind On Bills Spells Trouble For Young Family In Newly-Built, Near-Empty Condominium Building In Foreclosure; Power Shutoff Threatened

In Staten Island, New York, the Staten Island Advance reports:

• Dr. Kevin Schargen, his girlfriend, Melanie, and their 10-month-old son live in a pretty new apartment with a terrace, hardwood floors and a kitchen with granite countertops. But the doorman is gone and there is no janitor to call about the leak in the ceiling [ie. future mold problem?] of their son's nursery. The 30-year-old veterinarian has less than a handful of neighbors, and Consolidated Edison has threatened to turn off electricity to the common areas in the St. George building by Nov. 2 -- a major worry for Dr. Schargen, who lives on the fifth floor. [... D]r. Schargen feels as though he's on his own since Leib Puretz, one of the most prolific developers in the borough in recent years, defaulted last spring on the 57-unit condominium, where only about a half-dozen units sold before foreclosure began. [...] Dr. Schargen bought his two-bedroom unit last year for $565,000, moving in a few days after his son's Christmas Eve birth.(1)

For more, see Condo building goes kaput (Condo building The Pointe dragged down by developer's default, to young family's dismay).

(1) Dr. Schargen is seeking damages of more than $800,000 in a lawsuit over the purchase of his condominium, according to the story.