Local Man Bids To Acquire Former Newtown Oil Site

By Andrew Gorosko

According to documents filed August 2 in Danbury Superior Court, a Newtown man was the successful bidder at auction for the purchase of 47-49 South Main Street, a commercially zoned property that formerly held businesses including Newtown Oil Company and Newtown Tire and Service.

The auction was held at the site at noon on July 24 as a result of New Jersey-based Hudson United Bank’s foreclosure of a mortgage on the real estate against Newtown Properties, LLC, et al. The winning bid was $850,000. If the purchase goes through, it would include the assumption of certain debt.

The court-ordered foreclosure by sale of the real estate was ordered on November 17, 2003, with modifications made to the order last June 14.

Eduardo C. Batista of 21 Equestrian Ridge was the successful bidder for the 1.45-acre property, which holds three buildings – a commercial garage, an office building, and a barn. The site is on the northeasterly corner of the busy intersection of South Main Street and Wasserman Way.

Contacted by telephone, Mr Batista declined comment on his pending purchase of the property. Under the terms of the foreclosure by sale, the transfer of the property’s title must occur within 30 days of the court’s approval of the pending sale. It is unclear when the next court date in the case will occur. Judge Howard Moraghan is presiding.

Besides the $850,000 purchase price, the buyer is subject to covering debt including property taxes, property tax liens, sewer usage charges, sewer usage liens, and sewer assessment liens. The annual property tax on the real estate is $13,647.

A court-ordered appraisal placed the value of the real estate at $1.2 million.

Nathaniel Whitcombe, the lawyer who handled the auction for the court, received nine telephone calls from people interested in participating in the auction. Two people inspected the premises on the dates set aside for such activity. Ten people inspected the property on the date of the sale. Three parties registered as bidders at the auction.

A total of four bids were submitted during the auction. The initial bid was $750,000.

Registered to bid were a partnership of Kung Hung Wei of Danbury and Chia-Shou Wu of Brattleboro, Vt.; the Hudson United Bank loan resolution unit of Mahwah, N,J,; and Eduardo Batista of Newtown.

Wei and Wu did not participate in the bidding.

Hudson United Bank made the initial bid of $750,000, which was followed by Mr Batista’s bid of $800,000. Hudson then bid $825,000, which was followed by Mr Batista’s successful bid of $850,000.

The property is located in a B-2 Business zone. The real estate includes a one-story metal and brick commercial garage with slightly more than 3,000 square feet of space. It was built in 1957 and remodeled in 1992.

The property also holds a 2½-story wood-frame office building with 6,182 square feet of space, including a 1,648-square-foot unfinished basement. The structure was built in 1930 and remodeled in 1991.

The land also holds a one-story wood-frame barn.

Newtown Properties had an appraisal performed on the property in June 2003, which placed its value at $1.75 million.

Mr Batista has made a deposit of $175,000 on the property, with the balance due within 30 days of the court’s approval of the sale. The sale of the real estate is on an “as-is” basis, without any warranty and without any adjustments for any defects that are later discovered.

In the winter of 2002-2003 Newtown Oil became the focus of a state investigation after it failed to honor prepaid home heating fuel delivery contracts with approximately 1,400 customers, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of customer losses. Newtown Oil failed to deliver approximately one million gallons of home heating fuel that it was committed to deliver under the terms of the prepaid delivery contracts.

The state sued Newtown Oil in seeking to recover that lost money for customers. The firm went out of business in December 2002 and became the subject of bankruptcy proceedings.

The state filed the lawsuit under the terms of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, charging Newtown Oil with “unfair or deceptive acts and practices.”