Mortgage holder purchases former Chelsea Landing Pub building at tax auction
Norwich — The historic 1741 former Chelsea Landing Pub building at 86-92 Water St. sold at a tax foreclosure auction Saturday for $150,000 to mortgage holder RCN Capital LLC, attorneys handling the sale said.
The vacant building is considered the oldest and last surviving Colonial-era waterfront commercial building and once sat at the edge of Norwich Harbor. Its Colonial-era owners ran a distillery. An original deed allowed the owner a right of way to roll hogshead barrels from the wharf to the building.
The modern Chelsea Landing Pub was condemned by the city in April 2004 for structural hazards. Developer Janny Lam purchased the building a year later and undertook an extensive structural restoration project. But she ran into financial trouble. She transferred ownership to Kwok Sang of Great Neck, N.Y. in 2011.
RCN had filed foreclosure action for the unpaid $600,000 mortgage covering both Chelsea Landing and the former Elks Club on Main Street, owned by a different firm owned by Lam.
At Saturday’s tax foreclosure auction, the city submitted a bid of $33,780 for the Water Street building, and RCN bid $150,000. Attorney Narcy Dubicki, who handled the auction sale, said others had registered as bidders but did not make offers.
Norwich city attorney Aimee Wickless, who handled the foreclosure for the city, said RCN must pay the city the entire $33,780 to cover the back taxes, interest and attorney fees, along with the new July 2016 tax bill totaling $4,833.63 with overdue interest.
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