By: Progress For WHB
On November 22, 2009, after years of running a successful restaurant in the village, Johnny Chih filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The estate in bankruptcy included two adjacent parcels of property located at 85 and 105 Montauk Highway. This included Mr. Chih’s eponymous restaurant (now Boom Burgers), and the demised Corner restaurant, formerly Dora’s, on the adjacent parcel at 105 Montauk Highway.
In the final accounting the bankruptcy trustee reported that 85 and 105 Montauk Highway secured debt totaling $650,000.00. Mickey Biss purchased both of these properties for a total of $35,000.00 subject to the $650,000 secured debt. That made for an effective purchase price of $685,000.00 for the pair of properties.
A quick check of the final assessment rolls for 2016 prepared by the Southampton Town assessor for the properties located at 85 and 105 Montauk Highway has the properties assessed at $281,400.00 and $374,000.00, respectively, for a combined valuation of $655,000.001)with a purchase price of the two vacant buildings in 2010 for a value of $685,000 followed by the introduction of the young men running Boom Burger successfully, followed by the 2016 assessment of the properties at the reduced value of $655,000 we have to agree with the assessor that commercial assessments do need to be reviewed. Mr. Biss was straightforward about his intentions. He wanted to hold the property until he could find a purchaser for the two properties for complete redevelopment. If, in the interim, he could open the Corner restaurant to provide some income pending the resale of the pair of properties that was great, but he did not want to make a substantial investment when he envisioned the best course was to sell the pair of properties.
It appears that that the purchaser(s) are interested in making a bona fide effort to improve the property as they have secured the services of architect Nick Vero. We can all keep our fingers crossed that improvements to this visible corner in our village are in the near future.
References
| 1. | ↑ | with a purchase price of the two vacant buildings in 2010 for a value of $685,000 followed by the introduction of the young men running Boom Burger successfully, followed by the 2016 assessment of the properties at the reduced value of $655,000 we have to agree with the assessor that commercial assessments do need to be reviewed. |