Mortgage company buys house of investor charged with defrauding federal agency.
By: Gwen McNamara
Going, going … gone. The Princeton Borough home of embattled local businessman John Torkelsen and his wife, Pamela, was sold for $3.35 million at a sheriff’s sale Wednesday.
PMJ Capital Corp., a Greenwich Conn.-based mortgage company holding a second mortgage on the 7,274-square-foot house, which sits on 1.05 acres at 240 Library Place, purchased the property.
The lone bidder, PMJ bid $3.35 million to cover both the PMJ mortgage and a first mortgage held by Chase Manhattan Bank. Bidding began at $1.13 million.
"The price we paid covers both mortgages," said Peter Joseph, PMJ president. "We’ll give Chase what they are owed and we’ll get what we are owed."
PMJ now plans to sell the property, which Borough Tax Assessor Neil Snyder says is assessed for tax purposes at $1.7 million. Mr. Joseph would not comment on a possible sale price, but Mr. Snyder calculated the home has an approximate market value of $3.14 million.
A sign from N.T. Callaway Real Estate, on Nassau Street, is posted in front of the Library Place home, but the listing agent for the property, Robin McCarthy, had no comment regarding the asking price.
Other local real estate professionals expect the home to sell quickly and bring a fair price.
"Library Place is a prime location," said Michael Bilginer of Princeton Real Estate Group on Chambers Street. "I haven’t seen the house itself, but judging by its location it will sell. Library Place and Hodge Road are like the jewel in the crown of Princeton."
He noted a home nearby on Hodge Road recently sold for $3.7 million. "That kind of price range is not unreasonable," Mr. Bilginer said.
Rita Millner of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage on Nassau Street agrees.
"Properties are moving," she said. "And that home is such a large home, and new, you won’t find something very comparable around here. Certainly if it is priced properly and remains aesthetically pleasing there’s no reason it shouldn’t sell."
The troubled past of the Torkelsens shouldn’t deter potential buyers either, Ms. Millner added.
"People are always enthusiastic about foreclosures," she said. "They can make good on someone else’s misfortune."
The sheriff’s sale of the Torkelsens’ Library Place home was postponed from Jan. 5 due to a restraining order against Mr. Torkelsen in federal court. The restraining order is part of a settlement agreement reached in response to a civil suit against the local businessman, which alleged he and three other defendants defrauded the U.S. Small Business Administration out of more than $30 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed the civil suit on behalf of the SBA under the Mail Fraud Injunction Act in January 2003. The complaint alleged Mr. Torkelsen and three other defendants his wife, Pamela, son, Leif, and business partner, R. Wood Tate, also a Princeton Borough resident fraudulently obtained funds from the SBA for Acorn Technology Fund, a venture capital firm formerly located in West Windsor and Solebury, Pa.
Mr. Torkelsen signed off on a permanent restraining order in November 2004, which froze his assets and prevents him from doing business with Acorn. Settlements were reached with Pamela and Leif Torkelsen in December. No agreement has yet been reached with Mr. Tate.
Calls to 240 Library Place went unanswered Thursday. William Crenshaw, an attorney for Mr. Torkelsen from the firm Powell Goldstein LLP in Washington, had no comment on the sale or where the couple currently resides.