In a message dated 5/24/00 7:02:44 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> the cheapest way to increase property values is upkeep.

Prior to Black Monday there was a developer in NY that acquired approx. 400
run down, vacant shell buildings. They got their capital from offshore
Caymans investors. They would select one buiilding in the center of a group
of their shell buildings and fix it up, on the cheap, pushing the histo
presto marketing aspect as far as they could stretch it. They had a lot of
buildings in Harlem and depressed areas of Brooklyn.

Once the central building was fixed up and beginning to get occupied, usually
residential, then they would start selling off their properties in the area.
I suspect they were heavily mortgaged as they went completely out on Black
Monday. They were involved with, and based at, the Puck Building (I will not
digress into comments on our negative adventures at the Puck Building -- an
education).

If you are going south on the BQE in the vicinity of the Brooklyn Navy Yard,
prior to the Brooklyn Bridge off ramp, on the Manhattan side is a large brick
building with all the windows missing. This was the Chocolate Factory, which
actually was a factory for making chocolate candies. They were turning it
into residential units. I believe this was the developer's last big project
and since Black Monday it has been frozen in time. One of their top honchos
was reputed to be a disbarred lawyer, he was a smooth salesman, and the rumor
was that there was a lot of coke floating in the background. We ended up with
mechanics liens on several projects, including Duke Ellington's residence in
Harlem. We cleaned the entire facade of the building and never got paid a
cent for it.

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