Foreclosed Marine Park Apartment Building Doubles As Shelter For Rockaway Residents

A Marine Park apartment building that was emptied after the landlord failed to make timely mortgage payments was given permission to offer monthly leases to Hurricane Sandy victims.

The New York Post reports:

The 144-unit complex at 1865 Burnett St. lost half its tenants during a four-year foreclosure suit, but a judge’s recent order allowed more than 50 families to find a safe haven this month.

“It gives me back some sort of a life,” said Joy Walsh, 76, who moved into a one-bedroom apartment with her bulldog, Belle, after fleeing her burning Belle Harbor home in a kayak. “I’ve never been homeless before, and it’s a terrible thing to say.”

Walsh obtained FEMA assistance and signed a month-to-month lease because she vows to move back to Belle Harbor once the neighborhood is rebuilt.

The building sat empty after a federal court turned it over to GE Commercial Mortgage Co. in 2009 when landlord Victor Dedvukaj missed several monthly payments. But over the summer the property was turned back over to Dedvukaj after the court found the mortgage company had no standing to foreclose, and on November 7 the judge gave permission to the landlord to rent it out.