205 Parkside available for free?

  Spotted at 205 Parkside Avenue:

FREE BUILDING
14 residential, 3 commercial units
Pre-War, 4 story, abandoned rathole
Squatters included at no charge

Moses and Bernice Fried
(718) 377-4444

There is also a sister advertisement on Craiglist with more detail.

If 205 Parkside sounds familiar, that's the neglected building that Moses Fried tried to turn into an hourly "hotel" three years ago. For those who take the train at Parkside, the place is pretty hard to miss — it's next door to the Pioneer grocer on a busy, high-traffic commercial strip.

We haven't heard anything out of 205 Parkside since 2007, when Fried's lawyer said that the owner was  "reviewing his options" of what to do with the place. Apparently, Fried has been reviewing his options for some time. According to city records, the building has been "vacant and untenanted" since 1979. The building has been condemned and has no Certificate of Occupancy. Lights are often on at night, though, and clearly people are living there.

We're pretty sure this real estate isn't actually free (in any sense), but hope Fried is getting lots of calls. Property owners who let buildings fester for decades don't deserve to keep them. Fried clearly has no concern whatsoever for how his properties affect local the local community. But who knows. Perhaps a sly kick in the pants will get him to do the right thing and clean this s***hole up — or sell it to someone who will.

UPDATE: Fried response to "free building" prank

Comments

[Bob Marvin]

Do you think it's possible that, just maybe, it wasn't actually the Frieds who placed this ad?

Anyway, I love it and also hope they get lots of calls.

[carrie]

Good point, Bob. I guess I'm too cynical to have thought of that!

I'd be curious whether there's any chance that the squatters could lay claim to the building. Isn't there some sort of precedent for that? I have no idea how long the current squatters have been there, though, and I think that's key.

[Matt]

Adverse possession is very hard to gain in this town. The squatters would essentially have to have had "actual, open, notorious,exclusive and continuous" use of the property for 10 years.

Unless the people living there keep very good records, fat chance. I imagine the "squatters" I've seen there are living in the building as "caretakers" on Fried's behalf, to keep actual squatters out.

What boggles my mind about this building is that it could have been a huge revenue generator for a landlord without having to turn it into a brothel. It's a beautiful prewar building under the graffiti and plywood, and the location is super convenient. I would think 14 market rate apartments and 3 commercial units could bring in $30K a month, easy.

But what do I know? I've never been a slumlord.

[Pete]

"We're pretty sure this real estate isn't actually free (in any sense), but hope Fried is getting lots of calls. Property owners who let buildings fester for decades don't deserve to keep them."

He doesn't deserve to keep the building, but he also doesn't deserve to receive harassing phone calls.

Do you really think he placed an ad calling his building a rathole with "squatters included at no additional charge."

Harassing this gentleman will solve nothing.

[lalaland]

i think the property has to be city owned for adverse possession - the squats on the les were city owned due to taxes owed i believe.

[Charles Star]

That is incorrect, lalaland. Adverse possession is a centuries-old common law property right. It has nothing to do with whether the original ownership was private or public.

It is possible that a state-owned building is more likely to be taken by adverse possession because the state can't or doesn't pay sufficient attention to all of its holdings but that isn't a legal issue, it is a practical one.

[brn442]

It would be nice if this place was renovated and turned into a sports bar or something

[MikeT]

"Harassing this gentleman will solve nothing."

IMO Fried is a crook who should be behind bars. He is the worst kind of hypocrite - a notorious slumlord who claims to be a pious, religious man. What he has allowed to happen at 205 is a spit in the face of our community. Harassing calls are far too good for him. He needs to be publicly humiliated into taking action with that building.

[Bob Marvin]

"Harassing this gentleman will solve nothing"

Right; we should all be very civil to the "gentleman" who's inflicted this mess on our neighborhood for years. After all, if this poor man had been allowed to build his whore house, it would have been much better maintained. That's what we get for interfering with his right to make money.