End of Weekend Update

I thought it would be nice of me to catch up with the blog for a moment before bed. Just finishing up watching the Red Sox take 2 out of 3 from the Yankees. And that is always a good thing, whether the month is April or September. To continue on a Boston sports note it was very nice to see the Bruins win their playoff game this evening against Montreal to get them on the board in the series. Playoff hockey is played at a very intense and emotional level with hard and heavy hits and games that can change on a dime. The fact that the Bruins were able to win at home, break the Montreal jinx and get the crowd involved can hopefully be something that they can build on. It would be nice if they could advance beyond round one of the playoffs.

I had Friday off from work to attend the HE&PG LLC bankruptcy hearing, but I got word on Thursday afternoon that the hearing was postponed until April 22nd. Crystal and I spent a good portion of Friday in the car running down to Fall River in the late morning and then swinging by Wrenthem Outlets and Whole Foods by taking Rt. 24 to Rt. 495 home.

Saturday Crystal had a baby shower to go to and I spent a good 3 hours doing yardwork here at University Park Lofts. Since the developer is bankrupt and the condo association has ZERO cash we are looking to cut costs however we can. Four of us spent another 12 man hours out there this morning from 9 to noon and managed to get all the sand that was dumped in the parking lot over the winter scooped up and off the ground as well as taking care of all the raking down in the parking lot. Things certainly look better. Us owners aren't going to sit around and let Brett Levy act like a glorified slumlord while nothing gets done.

On Saturday evening I was a last minute volunteer at the Stephen Lynch comedy show at The Hanover Theatre. I thought I was getting old considering the fact that I had no previous knowledge of Stephen Lynch prior to this event and the fact that most of the audience were in their 20's. However after checking out his wiki page I see that he is sort of hooked up with the Opie & Anthony crew, so I understand why I knew nothing of him. I ended up working his merchandise table before and after the show, and the crowd pretty much bought up 90% of the stuff he had out there. I sold thru all the t-shirts I was given except for 3, all of one cd, about 90% of the second and about 20 art prints. It was cool to see a younger crowd at the Hanover, and I overheard quite a few conversations where even the younger folks were impressed with the classiness of the building. I was able to catch him do about half of his act and although there was quite a bit of heckling from the audience and Lynch may have lost some of the crowd when he tries to just do straight "comedy" some of the songs were pretty darn funny.

University Park Loft Rentals

I'll sum it up in 3 words to any potential renters at The University Park Lofts here in Worcester.

DON'T DO IT!!!!

Don't believe anything the developer or rental agent tells you. The developer HE&PG LLC has filed bankruptcy. The man behind the LLC Brett Levy is a liar and a slimeball and in my opinion singlehandedly destroyed this building.

Strata Bank is in the process of trying to auction off the unsold units but Brett Levy filed bankruptcy in order to stop the auction and buy some time. There is a Bankruptcy hearing next week on April 11th which may determine if the bank can proceed with the auction. Or things might be drawn out for a few more months. If the bank gets their wish an auction will be held to sell the unsold units, if this happens AFTER you move in the bank will begin eviction proceedings on all renter who are tenants of HE&PG LLC and Brett Levy.

Do not believe anything Brett Levy or Keller Williams tells you. At this point they are promising renters the moon and the stars in order to develop a deep renters list that they can show the bankruptcy judge.

Do you want to move into a building that is run by a corrupt and bankrupt entity? A condo association with no money? I don't think so. Don't follow in my footsteps!!

Hopefully in a couple months the cancer that is Brett Levy and HE&PG will be removed from this building and people can buy a unit at auction for cheap money. At that point this building can begin to grow once and thrive once the poison and lies of HE&PG are put out to pasture.

Go Swimming

Recovering from the weekend rains.

We braved the elements on Saturday and went to the Wrentham Outlets. I was able to score 6 pairs of Adidas to flip on ebay. The Outlets were pretty busy people wise, but it didn't seem that people were spending as much as I have seen in the past. Shorter lines, not as many bags in hand. No doubt plenty of that has to do with the economy rather than the fact that it was raining.

There certainly were deals to be had, but I didn't spend much for money on myself. I picked up 2 Mark Ecko Cut & Sew pieces for $9.99 each, a hoodie and a long sleeve thermal as well as two Reebok t shirts that cost a total of $11.00 for the two. Tshirts are my weakness. I have enough on hand to wear for two months straight without washing them, but sometimes I can't help myself.

On Sunday the owners here at University Park Lofts took it upon ourselves to clean the common areas since the cleaning people stopped coming since they were no longer being paid by the condo association\ HE&PG Realty LLC\ Brett Levy.

We mopped and swept the halls, the elevator and such before tackling the daunting task of the underground parking which was filled with water averaging .75 of an inch throughout. A few of us spent a good portion of the afternoon down there sucking up water in two wet dry vacs and using a squeegee as well. After that task I celebrated daylight savings time by snapping some pictures in the neighborhood.

University Park Campus School Worcester MA

The University Park Campus School in conjunction with Clark University is located 4 short blocks from my house. Since moving to this neighborhood I knew that the school was founded and developed with Clark University immersing kids from this supremely rough and tumble neighborhood into some serious high school coursework where beginning in their junior year they can begin taking courses at Clark for college credit.

I know that Clark was active in the Main South neighborhood and knew that the school was a great idea for the neighborhood, but I had no idea what a success the school and the program actually are.

I came across the article below in The Boston Globe earlier this week and was amazed by the numbers. The University Park Campus School has a dropout rate of virtually 0% and 89% score proficient or advanced on the MCAS test as compared with 31% in Worcester Public Schools and 54% statewide.

I thought this article and this awesome numbers were worthy of a tip of the cap from myself. Any seeds of knowledge and wisdom that can be sewn in this neighborhood and city are certainly welcome in my book.


Boston Globe Article
University Park Campus School

Rooftop Views

Crystal and I spent a portion on the late afternoon up on the roof here at home. An amazing cloudless and sunshiny final day of September and just chillin up on the roof was a great way to catch some final summer rays before the brisk air moves in within the coming weeks.

Jeez, these roofdecks better be completed for the spring of 08, or I will be quite pissed off.

Our building is certainly in the "urban core" of Main South, but all in all it is awfully quiet up there and somewhat voyeuristic as nobody on street level knows that you are up there at all.

I broke out the zoom on my camera and took some shots of the goings on in some of the 3 deckers below. One house across the way was having quite a party out on the driveway complete with a Casio keyboard and a handful of guys singing songs in Cambodian or Vietnamese or something similar. They must of had 20 rugrats running around out there.

Crystal liked the smell of what these guys were cooking.


These kids were enjoying the last days of summer and messing around near the train tracks.




It's not all ghetto-fab as we also get some nice views of Holy Cross.

And Union Station off in the distance.

And after watching the weather this evening the good weather is looking to hang out another week, with 70's all week and into the weekend. Not your typical first days of October weather here in Massachusetts.

University Park Lofts Worcester MA... Home Sweet Home

I've bitten my tongue for a couple weeks already, trying to give the developers of The University Park Lofts in Worcester the benefit of the doubt that they could run their business. But it that point the evidence is crystal clear that Brett Levy & Kathleen Buckley of HE&PG Realty LLC have dug themselves a whole so deep in their purchase and attempt to market The University Park Lofts at 21 Illinois St in Worcester that all they are interested in now is broken promises, a lawn that was not mowed for months, dead landscaping and promised roofdecks that seem like they will never happen.

As of today 8 of the 37 units here at University Park Lofts have been sold, with Crystal and I being the most recent purchase and that was over a month and a half ago. The Trustees have not been providing the maintenance required at the building. In the September 2005 Proposal by HE&PG Realty they state that the premises will have a, and I quote "8600 square feet of green space replete with benches, pergola, stone path and lawn areas." There was a problem with this though... A building stood on the grounds of this "proposed park", the building was demolished and the lawn areas consist of a drying lawn on top of building debris, pebbles, pieces of cement etc. Also the sprinklers were not turned on by management all summer and the lawn not cut for months.

As I type this now two unit owners are outside pulling weeds along the shrubs on Illinois St. On Friday night after work some of us pulled weeds along the main walkway and other people did on Saturday. Brett Levy and Kathleen Buckley you should both be ashamed of yourselves!

Crystal and I paid an extra $5,000 for the purchase of a roof deck here on the property. Some people who purchased almost a year ago bought roof decks. Guess what? They are yet to be built and probably will never be! Check out what the University Parks brochure has to say about the roofdecks back in September 2005.

"Adding roofdecks is a fabulous idea. Few loft buildings have roofdecks-- a serious missed opportunity given their popularity among buyers. This unique and powerful selling point is available in none of today's Worcester Loft Projects. With 360 degree panoramic views from the roofs of University Park Lofts, we are in a position to offer 26, 200 square foot roofdecks with 4' privacy fences.... Today's buyers seek outdoor living space, and these roof decks are particularly valuable... The entire project becomes more desirable and marketable due to the inclusion of roofdecks.

Let me make myself perfectly clear. The MAIN factor that Crystal and I had in moving here was the roofdecks. If this place did not have the roofdecks we, among others would not have bought here. The problem seems to be that Bret Levy the self proclaimed real estate mogul forgot the fact that they did not have handicap access to the roof. So for months Brett Levy, Kathleen Buckley and HE&PG Realty have been talking in circles, refusing to meet with owners, making false promised etc. because they are up against the clock. It seems that they will be claiming bankruptcy any day and don't want to put one penny into this place, let alone the roofdecks that they have been heavily marketing since 2005 that never came to fruition. Good job Brett Levy, you sure know how to run a business. This guy is also supposed to be a layer. I think he runs his law firm off of a cell phone in a broom closet in the basement of his 40 Court St. Boston address.

Luckily Crystal and I intend to be here for at least 5 years and the scumbags who have built this place will have long since scurried back into their holes. Hey Brett? The condo fees that you are supposed to be paying on our behalf for the next year? Show me the proof that that money is going into the condo account.... I bet you can't.

And Brett Levy and Kathleen Buckley... Bret please quit being a property developer. How many LLC's do you need to bankrupt? Kathleen, just go back to selling homes in the suburbs, you are way over your head when it comes to condo conversions.

Crystal and I made our bed by purchasing here, and we will lie in it and make it ours and enjoy our time. But the fact remains that Brett Levy and Kathleen Buckley as the Trustees of the University Park Lofts are not acting in the best interest of the unit owners.

Plenty more on their follies to follow.


Crystal's Take
University Park Website