WLCA is banking on the idea that signs denouncing landlord Jacob Selechnik’s and his partners’, plans to build a seven-story, 44-unit apartment building will wake up the community to the hazards of a man many consider a menace.
Selechnik was named one of the ten worst landlords in New York City by the Village Voice in 2004, before he sold off or gave away most of his properties, apparently to relativities and friends.
Furor grew when it was discovered that Selechnik was listed as one of the partners in a Westchester-based development firm called 2419 LLC.
This information came to light when he was listed as the owner of the property on a March 3 demolition permit for the former office building at the site. 3030 Middletown Road was sold to 2419 LLC for $1.9 million on January 11.
“What we are really trying to do is to stop Selechnik completely,” Tony Cannata, president of the WLCA, stated of plans to place signs warning of Selechnik’s apparent exploitation of his tenants in other buildings. “Something is up when a few years ago Selechnik owned 62 apartment buildings, and now he owns six.”
It was reported in the Village Voice that Selechnik had amassed over 25,000 violations on his properties at one point in 2004.
Many community leaders feel that Selechnik’s background does not bode well for the building being constructed at 3030 Middletown Road. They vowed to fight, using signs in the windows of area homes as a form of protest.
Musano said that Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as well as the Department of Buildings, would also be subjects of the signage.
“I have asked HPD how this man could be allowed to put up the building when he owes $100,000 in fines, and has many violations on other buildings, and they have said he is working with them,” Musano continued. “At any rate, we will have signs alerting the neighborhood of Selechnik’s involvement in the 3030 Middletown Road project, and of the dangers this brings to the project and surrounding area.”
