The Town of North Hempstead voted this week to file suit against the owners of the Roslyn Country Club after years of trying to purchase the neglected property.
Town council members voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize litigation against Mineola-based Corona Realty Holdings LLC, the owner of Roslyn Country Club, and the company’s owner Manochehr Malekan, after unsuccessfully trying to purchase the 7.2-acre property in Roslyn Heights since 2013.
Council members also approved the hiring of Uniondale-based Harris Beach PLLC for $15,000 to represent the town in the matter.
(Photo courtesy of Google Maps)
Town Councilman Peter Zuckerman said the town is working toward taking ownership of the recreational portion of the property, including the dilapidated pool and tennis courts behind The Royalton at Roslyn Country Club, which is still open for catering and event rentals.
“The goal of this lawsuit is to facilitate and reengage the contract so we can purchase the property. Unfortunately, Corona Realty has been unresponsive to us in our efforts to reengage them,” Zuckerman said. “This is part of the heart and soul of the Roslyn Country Club. We want to deliver this jewel back to the Roslyn Country Club community, and we believe that this litigation will help us move in that direction.”
Zuckerman said he and Supervisor Judi Bosworth have been working to purchase the property since he took office. The town agreed to buy the property for $2 million as part of the $14.2 million project to renovate the Roslyn Country Club.
“There had been a contract with an understanding that he would be selling that land so that it could be developed into a pool resort and he would never come to closure on it, so the suit is saying that he acted in bad faith and that we are suing to say that this needs to be resolved,” Bosworth said during an interview with Blank Slate Media.
Concurrent with the litigation, Zuckerman said the town is also looking into condemning the property as another option for taking control of the area. Zuckerman said the town has ordered an appraisal of the property and is awaiting results.
The town has been considering the condemnation option since last year.
Malekan unsuccessfully sued residents over longstanding easement rights in the 1990s that gave them access to the country club’s pool for $100 in annual dues and then shuttered the club in 2007.
