Common Council Considers
Letting Bombers’ Mortgage Go
ONEONTA – With Bombers Burrito Bar bankrupt, Common Council tonight will discuss releasing its $50,000 mortgage on 221 Main St. to the state Business Development Corp. to facilitate, hopefully, the building’s resale and reuse.
Owner John Hewitt “owes the lender (NYSBDC) as much as $1 million,” said Mayor Gary Herzig. “The lender, of course, is trying to recoup as much of that as possible.”
The city loaned Hewitt $50,000 from the Community Development Fund to help the restaurant open in June 2019, but it closed in December.
Council will have to approve releasing the mortgage to NYBDC in exchange for $5,000 from the sale of the property. If they decline to release the property, Herzig said, there is a chance the building would go into foreclosure and the city wouldn’t get any of the money back.
“Either way, the city is not in great shape on this,” he admitted. “This is not the way anyone wanted to see this play out, but any time you make an investment, there is risk involved.”
Isn’t NYSDBC a business consulting/support group and not a lender? Is it the SBA that is the creditor? And what about the NYS CDBG grant? What was it, $375k? Doesn’t that need to be repaid and thus is also a claim against this business?
Government does not know about business. They should not get involved in something like this. It most always go bad.
This was a bad “investment” from the very beginning. Why in God’s name would the Mayor give money to an out of town business while ignoring local businesses. Was there really a need for a burrito shop in Oneonta?