Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin's torched Allentown, PA mill is about to be siezed by the city after the "property owner" refused to pay for the site's cleanup. But who really owns the property? As the Allentown Morning Call reports:
Allentown officials are preparing to seize and sell the Montex Mills property that was ruined by fire and turned into a contaminated wasteland in April.…
[Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Mike Rosenfeld] said the owner of the properties, Skyline Industries of Brooklyn, N.Y., recently transferred 11 of the 12 parcels to another entity, Southside Redevelopment LLC, also of Brooklyn.
Rosenfeld said he doesn't know whether the two entities are connected, but he suspects they are.
The 12th parcel, contaminated with industrial chemicals, remains in Skyline's name, Rosenfeld said, and presents a challenge. It needs to be cleaned of its environmental contamination, and the building must be demolished before the land can be sold, Rosenfeld said.
''The 11, we can sell. The last one is a mess,'' Rosenfeld said. ''We will probably have to spend $1 million just to clean it … and it has to be razed. That will cost hundreds of thousands.''…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a Tampa, Fla., contractor to the site to clean up dangerous chemicals and highly flammable powdered aluminium after obtaining a court order allowing it to enter the property.
Skyline Industries did not respond to the government's request that it do the cleanup. The EPA plans to try to force the company to pay for the $200,000 cleanup, but has had difficulty confirming the identity of the owner.…
A source close to the case told FailedMessiah.com that Skyline Industries – the property's "mortgage holder" – is controlled by members of the Rubashkin family. Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin "defaulted" on his "loans" just as Allentown was about to sieze and sell the then-intact but rundown property for back taxes and fees. Skyline Industries then gained "control" of the property, thwarting the city's efforts. Soon after, the property burned in the first of what would become several arsons. Now, just as the city is about to sieze the property from Skyline Industries – which is reported to be controlled by the Rubashkin family – Skyline transfers all but the most heavily damaged parcel to Southside Redevelopment, a company Allentown believes is also connected to the Rubashkin family.
Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin is president of the Chabad-Lubavitch controlled Crown Heights Community Council and a convicted felon. For more on Rabbi Rubashkin and his family, see the links at the side of this page.