Since the summer of 2008 we have been tracking the progress of a court case of two Texas based companies: “Gerritsen Beach Investments Ltd” and “Riviera Investments I Ltd” vs Stephen Jemal. You may know Stephen Jemal and his company SSJ Development,LLC – they own the vacant Lacon Court and Knapp Street properties, and plan to develop into luxury condos. Apparently, these Texas companies were investors that SSJ Development courted to invest in his development of vacant land in our area.
If you remember way back in July of 2008, we broke the original story that Lacon Ct and Knapp street developer Stephen S. Jemal got into a $5.5 million dollar contract dispute with his investment companies. That story ballooned into a major story when Jemal sent a letter threatening to sue GerritsenBeach.net, then the website came under a denial of service attack, which I was able to prove came from an associate of Jemals, and there was a Daily News story covering it.
Anyways, after a few years in Federal court, a judgment has finally been rendered.
The Texas-based companies which were the originally investment companies for Jemal’s properties here in Gerritsen Beach won 7.8 million dollars plus interest, for a loan that Jemal failed to repay.
Jemal also lost a second case to a bank in Philadelphia. The bank loaned Jemal 11.1 million dollars for properties in Cape May County, NJ. According to the complaint, Jemal also failed to pay back this loan. This is currently being contested, but according to the complaint, the Jemals personally guaranteed these loans through a confession of judgment.
As for the fate of the properties in our area, we have not been able to ascertain what is going to happen. Speculation includes that they may be sold off to the highest bidder, given to the investment companies, or even Jemal might get to keep them if he shuffles them around.
In an interesting twist, it seems as though Jemal does not have the ownership he thought he had on Lacon Court. According to the last property owners meeting, the New York State DEC tried to fine Jemal for failure to clean up his docks but couldn’t because he was not listed as the owner. Calls to DEC and Alan Maisel were not returned.
Thanks for the update Danny. It looks like our beloved little berg is spared from development for the time being.
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No wonder these banks are losing money like crazy; they lent millions to a guy who cannot afford socks.
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I don't get it. When I have gotten mortgages, or refinanced, I have had to produce every financial document you could imagine. Pay stubs, w2's, pension info, all savings, EVERYTHING. And yet, it seems, these "millionaires" just get handed HUGE loans without any proof that they will be able to pay. Mmmmmm, maybe I'll stop wearing socks and see if things start to go better for me.
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Or you could just wear a yarmulke, default on your loan and taxes while running your business to the ground, run to Israel to avoid extradition, come back to America with a clean slate and some how have 10 million to buy up property.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Lol, anon-Tony R wasn't being racist, it's the truth! Remember Craaazy Eddie?
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Yes he was. He didn't have to say it has to be a jew to be a crook. What if i said anyone with a vowel at the end of their name is a cheat and lowlife now that wouldn't be nice would it. Anyway I know Jemal personally and hes an idiot. He has no idea what hes doing regarding real estate. as for the loans he took were business loans not personal loans all he did was give a personal guarantee which makes him responsible for it. Im sure he had to show his financials as well he has money. From my dealings with him it seems he has been keeping himself busy for the last few years playing monopoly with his money and others so he wouldn't have to sit home and rot away.
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Interesting: 1. If he had no idea what he was doing then when GBPOA and GB Cares amongst numerous other people told him you can not do this here and gave him the reasons he would have backed down. 2. Instead of sitting home "rotting away" maybe he should have just got a job like the rest of us. Oh and sorry but Monopoly is a Board GAME
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is the property for sale?
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Why dont you give him a call and tell him that.
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Actually guys I wasn't being anti semitic at all. I was referiing specifially to Jemal's past and what he did when he defaulted in his Nobody Beats the Whiz Chain.
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Fair enough but i dont think he defaulted he sold it for a nice amount of money to cablevision. Whats interesting is that he was responsible for development of the Wiz and has failed miserably doing the same with real estate.
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NOW lacon ct is being over run with jemals cronnies,the fat rat that is sqatting at catrals marina is running a muck doing whatever they please,burning creasol soaked wood ,crushing boats,and letting every skel he could find live on boats in the water and on land.their pressure washing trucks and dumping shit all the time,who can we call to make sure they at least they act like good neighbors.this fat rat is running a muck unchecked cause he dont live in the beach nobody knows what hes up to.we need gb net there with his camera to shed light on this.where are you when we need you dan,chasing bus stops ?
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the truth is you idiots are f%&ken stupid,how is having vagrants living in boats that are dry docked and a shit load of houseboats dumping their waste into the canal helping our property values.its crack head heaven,maybe thats why you dopes like it .
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I have just read, what some of you think.
Well, do you know all the people, that are living on house boat.
No i don't think so. Many have lost jobs, many are sick.
They may be living even better then you.
I really think they were taken in, and are paying rent monthly.
Plus they thought they would have electric.
And as far as the dumping, think they may take it to waste station. Instead of putting people down, and saying terrible
things, know the facts, first. And thought color was not
a problem any longer. What wrong with all of you. Stop
judging.
Look at your self and your children, the problem they bring to
our area.
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YOU THINK they take it to the waste station ! you apparently do not live anywhere near lacon ct.I personally witness the sick persons pharmacist deliver his so called meds several times a day in a brand new car.I wish my pharmacist had that service.I cant even walk my dog to the water any more because theres allways kids drinking and smoking blunts{I know this because they throw out the tobacco and the tube they come in right there}its really a shame how a valuable piece of property is a shit hole.
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YOU THINK they take it to the waste station,are you kidding. you apparently do not live anywhere near lacon ct.yea poor sick guy,I have personally witnessed his pharmacist deliver his so called meds several times daily,would you like his plate # so you can enjoy his services too.its a shame how a valuable piece of land in a residential area is such a shithole.
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I just walked past the site of the Mill Basin “Riviera Townhouses” site, and am first learning about SSJ and the land deals. If the guy was legit, and the plans well funded, then this would be quite a development deal for the communities involved. In particular, the second part of their plans – which develops the land adjacent to Gil Hodges Bowling (Red’s and the fallow lots that serve as fleet parking and used car sales along Strickland and Mill Ave) are in DIRE need of development. That is PRIME real estate that is dormant, as is the land on Dakota and E. 66th (the site of the former “Bergen Beach Yacht Club”).
Strange isn’t it – the Bergen Beach Yacht Club was in Mill Basin, and the Mill Basin Racket/Health Club is in Bergen Beach. :) Maybe THAT is why the yacht club closed – nobody could find it! :)
BTW – SSJ’s web site mentions that “Amalgamated Bank” has provided $100M financing – is that not enough to proceed. Which came first – these court losses, or the funding from Amalgamated? If Amalgamated came aboard AFTER this, then they must have confidence.
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When I lived in NYC,I Did business with the Jemal Family when they owned the WIZ they sold the WIZ to Cable Vision. Steve Jemal is the cousin of Edward Antar (Crazy Eddie) Now does this give anyone an hint of who these crooks are.
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I use to work for the Jemal brothers back in 2000 when they had a company call Tech No AO. And let me tell you…Stephen is a crook. He cheats on his wife, he lies to everyone, he NEVER paid his bills…even my paycheck bounced! Never mind it was during Christmas, even that did not matter. He would have construction crews do work for him and not pay them leaving me to try and talk them out of having to repay. My experience with him was scary, I could not EVEN get caught in the supply room without him walking in and chasing me around the room! He will never succeed, he does not have enough business sense. He just shuffles his money around to try and prolong repaying his debts!
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