From left: Tortilleria Nixtamal and Park Side Restaurant, both in Corona

In a city that attracts as many immigrants and fosters as much turnover as New York does, the combination of distinct cultures is commonplace. The Wall Street Journal exemplified that reality by focusing on the Corona section of Queens.

When the construction of the No. 7 subway line connected the neighborhood to Manhattan in 1917, Corona began to attract black people moving from southern states and Harlem, including jazz legend Louis Armstrong whose home has become a landmark in the neighborhood. By the 1960s Italians began replacing blacks and some of the main thoroughfares were lined with Italian butchers, delis and restaurants. [more]

A formerly homeless couple says their landlord is trying to kick them out of their Corona studio in an effort to renovate the building and raise the rent, the New York Daily News reported.

The renters of a studio at 38-01 112th Street had been paying just $100 a month thanks to a subsidy from the city’s Department of Homeless Services Advantage program. But budget cuts ended that program in November 2010 and the pair have paid $983.62 for rent and utilities on time every month. Still, they say the landlord and superintendent contact them several times a week to find out when the renters plan to move out. [more]

A Queens landlord was viciously attacked yesterday after trying to collect rent from one of her tenants, according to the New York Post. Yun Zhong Sun went to her tenant’s apartment to collect rent on a Corona-area unit. Sun reportedly sat on the tenant’s bed to write up a receipt for the owed cash when the alleged attacker, 22-year-old Jasuli Abdimutel, began striking her with a metal pipe. The incident was uncovered after Sun’s husband, who was traveling outside the country and was worried when he didn’t hear from his wife, called the police. Although it is not immediately clear what condition Sun is currently in, reports indicated that she was not killed in the attack. [Post]

From left: 120-18 132nd Street, 56-10 Waldron Street, 116-36 139th Street, and the Kalua Club

The Queens District Attorney handed down a 327-count indictment against five individuals who allegedly orchestrated a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme by using fake identities to buy and sell Queens properties. District Attorney Richard Brown described the fraud as “brazen,” and said he believed that the “mortgage frauds perpetrated by these defendants were among the root causes of the severe economic downturn of the last few years.” Four of the five defendants, three of whom own the Club Kalua nightclub, have been captured, while the fifth remains at large. Club Kalua was the site of the infamous 2006 Sean Bell shooting incident, in which police shot three men including killing Bell, on the morning after his bachelor party. If convicted in the mortgage scam, the defendants could face prison terms of up to 15 years each. The three properties involved in the scheme, 120-18 132nd Street in Ozone Park, 56-10 Waldron Street in Corona, and 116-36 139th Street in Jamaica, were allegedly purchased with fake identities. “In this particular case, one of the frauds was so brazen that it allegedly involved the sale of a house by two people posing as sellers — one of whom was dead — to a third person posing as a buyer — with the defendants pocketing an astounding $250,000,” Brown said. “These types of financial crimes have real-life consequences and will not be tolerated.” TRD

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When ailing banks were lining up for infusions of federal money last year, as part of the government’s $700 billion bailout package, the New York Community Bancorp politely said “no thanks.” The company, whose holdings include savings banks and larger commercial operations, was cleared to receive $596 million in preferred equity stock from the Treasury Department. But its earnings capacity was so solid, according to Joseph Ficalora, its chairman, president and chief executive, the funds weren’t needed. And this may be even more striking considering that a steep 80 percent of its business is real estate loans; among them, 71 percent are apartment building mortgages with another 21 percent to similar residences with stores in their ground floors. And all told, about a quarter of its loans underwrite Manhattan properties. But Ficalora,
who began working for the company in 1965, as a teller at a bank branch
in Corona, Queens, just a few blocks from his house, doesn’t invest in
splashy, high-risk mega-projects. On the contrary. Most of his buildings are comparatively small, old and rent regulated.
Though they may not generate huge multiples, they are dependable bets
over time, which is particularly beneficial when the market tanks, like
recently. And with an average size of $4 million, 60 percent loan-to-value ratio
and four-year payback rate, those loans offer minimal exposure,
Ficalora explained. As a result, the company, which is based in
Westbury, NY, posted a third-quarter profit, in its fifth consecutive
quarter of growth. It may also explain why New York Community Bancorp, with assets of $33
billion, is the country’s 24th largest bank-holding company and the
city’s largest thrift. Click here to see The Real Deal’s Q & A with Ficalora. [more]