Two former CT Catholic schools headed for foreclosure. Six years, two owners later idle and decaying

Yahoo

5 days ago

The two deteriorating sites are both on the radar of municipal officials.
The two casualties of declining Catholic school enrollment in Hartford — St. Peter's near downtown and St. Augustine in Barry Square — had turned into signs of hope for neighborhood revitalization when they were purchased by the same buyer for apartment conversions in 2018.
Nearly six years and two owners later, the campuses still sit idle and deteriorating and the absentee owner of both properties is facing foreclosure and plans for apartment conversions have been sidelined.
St. Peter's School — along with its 157-old church facing Main Street and a former convent — is headed to a foreclosure sale Aug. 2, court records show.
And St. Augustine School — shuttered in 2016, the last Catholic school to close in Hartford — soon could be taken over by the city in a foreclosure for unpaid blight fines and property taxes. amounting to almost $1 million. If successful, the city hopes to find a developer for an apartment conversion for the Clifford Street property.
Part of the $1 million tab are charges by the city for periodic maintenance, city officials said.
The city has boarded up windows in an attempt to keep out intruders; cut down overgrown plants and stopped illegal dumping — stepping in where the property owner, Shmuel Aizenberg, a controversial apartment owner in New Haven, has not, according to the city.
Hyacinth Yennie, chair of the Maple Avenue Neighborhood Revitalization Group, a neighborhood revitalization zone group, said the two owners of St. Augustine started out with plans for apartment conversion, but they did not follow through. The city's stop-gap maintenance efforts have helped, Yennie said, but the neighborhood is frustrated because housing is desperately needed.
'In the meantime, we, as residents, have to sit and watch that property just continue to fall apart and become a drug haven and a prostitution haven, for everything that you talk about that's bad in our neighborhood,' Yennie, a longtime neighborhood activist said.
Michael D. Perez, the city's director of blight remediation, said both school properties have been on the city's radar for at least three years because they were vacant, and the redevelopment of St. Augustine is the top priority for the neighborhood.
'Of the buildings that they want to see renovated, this is one they want sooner rather than later,' Perez said. 'And so, we understand that. Every time, I see the mayor, he asks me, 'So what's the status of that property?' '
Perez said it is likely the city could take control of St. Augustine in the next month or two.
The three buildings on the St. Peter's property — across from Barnard Park and also known as South Green — are being foreclosed on by the lender that financed Aizenberg's purchase, Lending Assets LLC of New York. According to court documents, Lending Assets alleges Aizenberg and the partnership that purchased the property owes about $1 million.
Lending Assets did not have an immediate comment, but Perez said the lender has told the city it would take aggressive steps to foreclose and market the property.
'Or they, themselves, would attempt to acquire the property and develop it,' Perez said. 'The lender indicated an affinity for the property and a belief that the current lender that is foreclosing could turn the property around and develop it.'
The city also capped its liens at $60,000 because the lender demonstrated that it wanted to move ahead aggressively, Perez said.
The vacant brownstone church with its soaring bell tower — closed in 2017 — and school in the Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhood — though in better condition than St. Augustine, city officials say — has nevertheless presented a challenge for the surrounding neighborhood. The immediate area has seen some success in the development of the apartments at Park and Main streets, and there is an ongoing push to upgrade the use for Barnard Park.
Chris McArdle, president of CSS/CON, the neighborhood's revitalization zone, said there has been a noticeable decline in drug dealing at South Green, following enforcement efforts by the police. But the looming presence of the vacant church property — particularly the church itself — is likely to remain a factor in the area's future development, McArdle said.
'It is a very large property, and it's right there on the green,' McArdle said. 'Obviously, the church is going to be a big concern.'
Perez said he believes there could be options for redevelopment of the church, say as a concert hall, with housing behind it in the former school.
'With a little creativity, something really cool could happen with that property.' Perez said. 'It depends on who ends up with it and what vision they bring to the table.'
A call seeking comment from Kenneth M. Rozich, a New Haven attorney representing Aizenberg and his partners in the St. Augustine and St. Peter's foreclosures, was not returned.
Aizenberg, a principal in New Haven-based Ocean Management, purchased St. Peter's — including the church and convent — and St. Augustine for $3.75 million in 2021. The seller was Joseph Novoseller, managing principal of New Jersey-based Aria Legacy Group. The sale was accompanied by prior city approvals to develop apartments on both properties.
Aizenberg started expanding into Hartford in 2021, targeting rental properties or those that could be converted to apartments. The properties were purchased in limited liability companies.
Aizenberg and Ocean Management already had hundreds of rentals in New Haven. But Aizenberg turned controversial in recent years in New Haven, according to reporting by the New Haven Independent, when alleged code violations brought him into housing court. Those violations also gave rise to protests and the forming of tenant unions at some of Aizenberg's buildings, The Independent reported.
The Independent also reported that Aizenberg was selling off some of his New Haven apartment buildings.
In Hartford, Aizenberg purchased two downtown buildings in 2021, one, the 'Grand on Ann' apartments, which Aizenberg sold last year.
A second building was a 4-story building at 275 Asylum St. — long the location of the Morse School of Business and, more recently, the High School Inc. program of the Hartford Public Schools. Aizenberg also listed that property for sale, but city records show he still owns it. At the time of the purchase in 2021, Aizenberg's representative said the plans were to convert 275 Asylum into apartments.
In addition to the two church properties bought in 2021, Aizenberg purchased five apartment buildings on Huntington Street, containing 68 units, that same year. The properties also are in foreclosure and a receiver has been appointed by the courts, according to court documents, a move typically used to guide day-to-day operations until there is an eventual sale.
Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at [e-mail].
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