Bank seizes Point Breeze

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Last Friday, TD Banknorth boarded up the entrance and changed the locks on the Point Breeze. The bank called a $40.5 million loan earlier this month and is now in possession of the developer Rob Matthew's hotel/club. Developer Bob Matthews' Point Breeze is undergoing foreclosure proceedings that began on June 18 when TD Banknorth of Cherry Hill, N.J. called its construction loan for $40,582,000 and took possession of the property at 77 Easton St.

According to a notice sent to Wannacomet Water Company manager Bob Gardner dated June 19, TD Banknorth now owns the property and as of last Friday, had boarded up the entrances, changed the locks on the hotel's doors, removed the front steps and posted no-trespassing signs on the property and building.

A letter from attorney Paul J. Ayoub of the Boston, Mass. firm of Nutter McClennen & Fish representing TD Banknorth dated June 19 alerted Gardner to the bank's acquisition of 77 Easton St. and causing him to switch the Point Breeze's water account over to TD Banknorth.

"You are hereby notified, in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 244, Section 15A, that on June 18, 2009, the Bank took possession of the Property by making entry for the purposes of foreclosing the Mortgage for Breach of conditions thereof," wrote Ayoub in his letter to Gardner.

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Matthews announced in 2007 the conversion of the Point Breeze into a private club. Neither Matthews nor his project manager, Nick Laudano, could be reached for comment. In addition to Matthews' inability to repay TD Banknorth, he also allegedly owes nine subcontractors a combined total of $2,349,159.20 for various construction related services. According to their lawsuits filed in Nantucket Superior Court, the subcontractors with the amount owed are:

Marine Lumber of Nantucket, Mass., $69,061.54

The Waterproofing Company of Boston, Mass., $72,601,

Shepley Wood Products of Hyannis, Mass, $217,275.86,

REMSCO, INC. of Plainville, Mass., $651,768,

Atlantic Landscaping, Inc. of Nantucket, Mass., $134,839.16,

Northstar Electrical Construction Corporation of Marlborough, Mass., $286,806,

IMEC, Inc., of Ayer, Mass., $676,650,

Russell Simpson, Inc. of Nantucket, Mass., $211,449,

NES Rentals, Inc. of Boston, Mass., $28,708.72.

Of the subcontractors reached by phone on Monday, none were aware of TD Banknorth's filing of its intention to foreclose on Matthews' property at 77 Easton St., and just one expressed his dismay over the whole situation.

"We're going to do anything we can to make sure the company gets paid," said attorney Joseph A. Pisarri of the firm, Corwin & Corwin of Boston, Mass. who also lamented the occurrence of such proceedings during the current recession.

"What's a shame is that most of that money is money they've already paid out of their pockets for labor and materials," he said.

Others reached by phone, including Peter A. Floyd, Esq. of Grosser & Mulligan in Mashpee, Mass. representing Shepley Wood Products of Hyannis, Mass., attorney Peter F. Davis of Holliston, Mass. representing NES Rentals, Inc. of Boston and Jamie Ranney of Ranney & McCarthy of Nantucket, Mass. for Atlantic Landscaping, Inc. said they could not comment yet on the foreclosure proceedings.

Matthews, who owns a house at 11 Cliff Road, purchased the Point Breeze Hotel from the Gonnella family in March of 2005 for $3,702,000. The property included the hotel, its restaurant (Chancellor's), a duplex, three cottages and employee dormitories on 1.3 of the Gonnellas' two acres along with an option to buy three more of the seven cottages that the Gonnellas own on an adjacent lot. The entire property at that time was assessed at $5,032,300. Today, its assessed value is $4,892,900.

With all his permits in hand, Matthews rebuilt the original hotel that Nantucket restaurateur Charles F. Folger first erected in 1891 that was destroyed by fire on Aug. 8, 1925, leaving a 1904, 104-foot-long by 53-foot-high addition heavily damaged. Its reconstruction became the Point Breeze that Matthews bought from Gonnella. Matthews connected the rebuilt original hotel building, main building and restaurant with a terrace with 14 parking spaces beneath it, and a new swimming pool behind the hotel. Prior to completion of the hotel on May 24, 2007, Matthews announced the conversion of it into a private club with its 32 rooms sold as condominiums costing roughly $1 million to $3 million each in which hotel guests could stay when their owners were absent.

Although Matthews secured the necessary permits for phase two of the Point Breeze, a 17,235-square-foot three-story hotel building, five twostory cottages along Easton Street, two clay tennis courts over a 101-space underground parking garage, a bowling alley beneath the barn behind the main Point Breeze hotel building and a swimming pool, he later put those plans on hold indefinitely for financial reasons. I