Roger Avenue bidder claims process was ‘unfair’

County mum on selection, Blakeman says interest remains high

Posted

The vacant Superfund site at 175 Roger Ave. in Inwood has generated interest from bidders since the building demolition was completed in February, however one of the bidders claims his offers was disregarded by Nassau County.

Huntington resident Bob Linekin said that he put two bids on the site with his best and final offer placed in January 2018 for $2.1 million. “I’m 99 percent sure that my bid was the highest,” Linekin said. “I didn’t hear from the county until eight months later when they said my bid was declined.” The bid also included an additional $1 million for remedial work.

On Oct. 3, the county’s chief real estate negotiator Kevin Walsh informed Linekin that he was not the winning bid. “Nassau County appreciates your professional conduct and responses throughout the request for proposal process,” Walsh stated in a letter. “At this time, the RFP Evaluation Committee has recommended another proposer.” Walsh did not return a request for comment by press time.

The 4.85-acre site was developed with a 155,000-square-foot one-story warehouse building built in three stages from 1954 through 1967, according to the federal Department of Environmental Conservation. Rockaway Metal Products occupied it from roughly 1971 until 1987 and disposed of hazardous products on-site. It was a declared a Superfund site in 1992.

Since 1995, the county’s Department of Real Estate has owned the property. The County Legislature voted to borrow $2.1 million to demolish the building in April 2017. The project cost $1.649 million and it included an additional $380,000 for construction management, contingency and environmental monitoring of the site.

The county did not return a comment by press time, but Linekin said he thinks the Great Neck-based company AJM Capital II LLC had the winning bid. “Adam Mann owns AJM Capital and he has connections with the county,” he said. “I think the bidding was set up for him to win it.”

Linekin first learned of the land in June 2017. “I had heard about the site from a real estate lawyer who is connected with the county,” he said. “I saw that this site had 155,000- square-feet and that got my interest since I needed space.” Linekin added that if he won the bid, he would have moved his Maspeth-based construction, Arpielle Equipment, which includes roughly 100 employees, to the Inwood site.

Town of Hempstead Councilman Bruce Blakeman represents Inwood. He said the last he heard from the county was that they had accepted an offer from the site. “I heard in the past month from the county executive’s office that they had accepted a bid,” Blakeman said. “My information could be outdated, but that is the last I heard.”

Blakeman added that there is still interest in the site. “If they haven’t gone into contract with the bidder, I know of multiple developers who are interested in the land,” he said. “I just hope that the people who obtain the land will be great for our community.”  

Linekin said that his next step would be to file a lawsuit in an attempt to appeal the county’s decision. “I’ve been getting pushback from everybody throughout this process,” he said. “I believe that this bidding was not done in a fair manner.”