He Was Mr. Buy Low, Sell High”

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IMG_7692.jpgNow a last jewel in jet-setting Bob Matthews’ New Haven empire is in foreclosure.

The property is 59 Elm St., the five-story, 99,850 square-foot circa 1926 office building that anchors the northwest corner of Orange and Elm streets.

A court hearing is scheduled Monday on a foreclosure action brought against Matthews’ 59 Elm LLC on Sept. 29 by a lender, U.S. Bank National Association. Matthews failed to make payments on $8.377 million he still owes on a building most recently (in 2007) appraised at $5,83 million, and quite possibly worth less now.

Gone is the top floor office where Matthews displayed photos of himself with “friends” like Ted Kennedy. His company isn’t even in the building anymore. Pending the outcome of the pending foreclosure, the Konover Commercial firm has been appointed to manage the building.

Matthews bought 59 Elm in 1998 for $4 million. It was the latest in a string of purchases he made of prime New Haven properties beginning with the recession of the early ’90s. He swooped into town, the Jay Gatsby of the turn of the 21st century, a vo-tech grad who trafficked in speculative boomtime deals and threw the most lavish parties. He boasted of connections in D.C. and Hartford and wooing local muckamucks on his yacht the Bon Vivant. He grabbed commercial properties that had been renovated during the go-go ’80s then abandoned when the bottom fell out of the market.

Matthews bought the buildings cheap. With the help of connections in City Hall and the administration of then-Gov. John Rowland, Matthews obtained favorable tax breaks and leases for state-agency tenants to fill his buildings. Then he waited for the market to come back.

It worked for a while. Without making significant improvements, he flipped the former phone company headquarters at 300 George St. in 2000 for $27.5 million. He’d paid a mere $500,000 at the bottom of the market.

He made a similar bargain-basement purchase of the renovated former Seamless Rubber building at 1 Long Wharf. He picked up the old Palace Theater and the offices (now apartments) above, which have since been taken over by his former Philadelphia-based partner. He scooped up an abandoned factory on Blake Street in Westville, armed with a promise of state financial assistance; that promise became a focus of a federal corruption investigation of the Rowland administration. (A Maryland developer has since bought the factory complex and built new apartments there.)

Meanwhile, Matthews got caught up in a separate legal mess: He was accused of possessing an illegally obtained original copy of the North Carolina Bill of Rights. He said it was properly his.

He skirted jail in that case, as well as in the Rowland scandal. However, New Haven’s bon vivant celebrity developer has been nowhere to be seen around town.

bob_matthews_mia_matthews_jim_belushi_point_breeze.preview.jpgThat doesn’t mean he’s disappeared. He has set out for new terrain. He formed Matthews Hospitality Group LLC, which opened a new luxury condo and private club complex on Nantucket called Point Breeze. Units sell for $1.5 million. Reuters, covering an opening event featuring Jim Belushi performing a Blues Brothers shtick (pictured, with Matthews and his wife Mia in the foreground), wrote that Matthews “transformed” a “historic landmark” into “the most exclusive private club and residences on the island.”

Based in Palm Beach, Florida, Matthews’ company also developed The Palm House, which it dubs “the most exclusive residence and luxury hotel” in town. He failed to return messages left with his company there seeking comment. He’s still living the high life in Nantucket and Palm Beach. Back on the New Haven playground, his lawyers are cleaning up the mess in foreclosure court.

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• Judge Slashes Foreclosure Bounty
‚Ä¢ Tax Break Saves Woman’s House
‚Ä¢ Bank Replaces “Gunshot Alley” Landlord
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Bill OK’d
• Foreclosure Dream Goes Sour
• Singh Seeks Home For A Song
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure’s Neighbor Worries More About Speeding
‚Ä¢ Networking Replaces Foreclosure at Christy’s
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Bargain — & Renewal — Jeopardized
• Bank Outbids Akbar; Family May Keep Home
‚Ä¢ “So Don’t Worry About Pablo”
• Bankruptcy Postpones Foreclosure
• Next-Door Foreclosures, 53 Years Apart
• They Met On Foreclosure Way
• Little Garage Draws Big Bids
• A 2nd Chance on Lewis Street
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Attracts New Breed of “Specialist”
‚Ä¢ In Foreclosures, Judge’s Hands Tied
• Home Saved From Foreclosure. Cycle, Too
• A House For Precious?
• Deutsche Bank Grabs Dixwell Condo
• Reluctant Bidder Snags F. Haven Bargain
‚Ä¢ Well, There’s Always Powerball
• Neighbors Retrieve Home From Bank
• Somebody Has Plans For Bassett Street
• Foreclosed, the Khennavongs Leave the Santanas
• Foreclosure Steal May Be Too Good
• 2nd Foreclosure in 3 Months Dims Bright St.
‚Ä¢ After Foreclosure, W’ville Owner Still Hopes To Sell
‚Ä¢ He’s Not Buying, Yet
• Quiet Foreclosure on Porter Street
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
‚Ä¢ “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
‚Ä¢ Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
‚Ä¢ “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
‚Ä¢ WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
‚Ä¢ Megna’s “Blood Boils” at WPCA Tactics
• Goldfield Wants WPCA Answers
• 2 Days, 8 Foreclosure Suits
• WPCA Goes On Foreclosure Binge
• A Guru Weighs In
• WPCA Targets Church
• Subprime Mess Targeted
‚Ä¢ Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
‚Ä¢ She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
‚Ä¢ Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
‚Ä¢“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
‚Ä¢ Struggling Couple Sues Over “Scam”

To learn about the ROOF Project, a community-wide effort to help New Haveners navigate the foreclosure crisis, click here.

The following links are to various materials and brochures designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

How to prepare a complaint to the Department of Banking; Department of Banking Online Assistance Form; Connecticut Department of Banking, Avoiding Foreclosure; FDIC Consumer News; Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc; Connecticut Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.

For lawyer referral services in New Haven, call 562-5750 or visit this website. For the Department of Social Services (DSS) Eviction Foreclosure Prevention Program (EFPP), call 211 to see which community-based organization in the state serves your town.

Click here for information on foreclosure prevention efforts from Empower New Haven.

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