Foreclosure:
Therapist hopes to buy his building



ALTAMONT — Brian Thornton, the village’s well-known physical therapist, is afraid he may lose the Maple Avenue building he’s used since he set up his practice six years ago.

The building is being foreclosed on by Capital Bank and, next week, Thornton will place a bid to purchase the building.

Still, he told The Enterprise this week that he’s frustrated with the bank. He had been trying to buy the building for over a year and the bank has been unresponsive, he said.

Thornton moved to the building in October of 1999, he said. He signed a three-year lease that he could renew four times, he said. Capital Bank took over management of the building when Thornton’s landlord, Dwight Mathusa, filed for bankruptcy in 2003.

In 2004, Thornton signed a contract to purchase the property from Mathusa, doing business as Dwight Properties, and put a small downpayment on it, he said.

At the beginning of 2005, Thornton found out that, instead of allowing him to purchase the building, the bank was foreclosing on it. He doesn’t know why, he said.

Neither a spokesperson from Capital Bank nor Mathusa could be reached for comment by The Enterprise this week.

Last Wednesday, Thornton said, he came to work and found a foreclosure sign in front of his office. He came to the newspaper with his story, he said, because he wants to set the record straight.
"It gives the impression that I’m not paying my bills," he said of the sign. "It’s affecting my business negatively."

Many patients have called with questions about the sign, Thornton said. Friends and neighbors, he said, have been pushing the sign down or hiding it; he puts it back up.

Thornton made it clear that he didn’t want to appear like a victim.
"I’m a business like any other business. I don’t expect special treatment," he said. "But, it’s been a long, drawn-out affair and I just want the people of Altamont to know that I pay my rent every month."

"Frustrating situation"

Thornton’s building was in the news early in 2004. Then, he shared the building with Dr. Hedy Migden. His office is in front; hers was in back.

Migden caused controversy the year before when she said she was outgrowing her rented office space. At an Altamont board meeting, she said she wanted to buy the village’s tennis court on Maple Avenue for her office; she received much public opposition.

She then got land re-zoned on Carman Road in Guilderland, only to find that the property had severe drainage problems. She later found office space to rent on Western Avenue in Guilderland and has since appeared before the New Scotland Planning Board to build an office on Route 156.

In March of 2004, before Migden found an office to rent on Western Avenue, she complained to The Enterprise that Capital Bank was evicting her from the 122 Maple Ave. building she shared with Thornton.

The bank had moved to evict the doctor because she was not paying rent. Migden told The Enterprise that she wasn’t paying rent because the building was in such disrepair. Among the problems she experienced were heating and electric malfunctions, a leaking roof, and lack of water, she said then.

As advised by her attorney, Migden decided to put her monthly rent payments into an escrow account until the bank agreed to fix the building, she said. She reported then that the bank refused to negotiate.

Capital Bank declined comment to The Enterprise then. However, a few days after Migden’s story ran, the bank agreed to drop the charges and settle outside of court.

When Migden left soon after, Thornton tried to purchase the building. He wanted to expand his practice and occupy the entire building. But, he said this week, he hasn’t been able to do that since he doesn’t yet own the building; the back of the building remains empty.

While he hasn’t had trouble with the electrical system in the building, Thornton said Tuesday that he has some of the same complaints as Migden.
Water in the basement of the building has been an ongoing problem, he said. And, a column that supported the main beam in a back office has "rusted and fallen away," Thornton said.

He paid for minor repairs on the building, such as changing the florescent lighting and servicing the furnace. These are things a landlord would normally do, Thornton said.

He has tried to contact the bank about this, Thornton said, but representatives never return his calls.

The roof of the building leaked so badly that Thornton paid $7,000 of his own money to replace it, he said. He had to fix it, he said; the winter before, it rained inside his office.
"I wanted to stay here, so I did my part," he said of why he made the repairs. "I thought I’d build some good will. I thought, if I did minor repairs and tried to be a good tenant, I’d be able to purchase the building."

The foreclosure sale is next week and Thornton will bid for the building.
Troy Miller and Jeff Thomas, developers who own several properties in Altamont, both promised Thornton that they won’t try to outbid him for the building. "I appreciate that," Thornton said.

Miller told The Enterprise Wednesday that, while he’d normally be interested in the building, he will not try to purchase it because he respects Thornton and his situation.
"Brian’s a friend who runs a good practice in Altamont," Thomas told The Enterprise Wednesday. "I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of him bettering himself."

Thornton loves Altamont, he said. He’s treated hundreds of patients and he knows nearly everyone in the village, he said.
The whole situation, he concluded, "is really frustrating. I’ve been here six years. My goal is to retire here. I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to move."