APRIL 8, 2019 VOL. 55, No. 14
westfaironline.com
A rendering of One Park Place in Peekskill. Inset: Developer Efstathios Valiotis.
INSIDE
An American success story VALIOTIS’ PEEKSKILL PROJECT PART OF A BILLION-DOLLAR EMPIRE BY PETER KATZ
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LOANS AVAILABLE
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NEW YORK IS IN LAST PLACE
pkatz@westfairinc.com
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he 181-unit, nine-floor, mixed-use building starting to go up in Peekskill on a plot of land bordered by Broad, Brown, St. James and Park streets reflects more than a desire on the part of the developer to make a profit from creating apartments, storefronts and parking spaces. It’s really a reflection of the American dream come true and the impact an immigrant can
have in his adopted country. It’s also part of a genuine rags-to-riches story, because the Greek immigrant behind the One Park Place project went from being a busboy and dishwasher when he arrived in the U.S. in 1972 to controlling a real estate and business empire now estimated to be worth in excess of $1.6 billion. “I tried to find a way to make a living when I came over here after I finished my schooling,” Efstathios Valiotis told the Business Journal. His friends and business associ-
ates Americanized his name by calling him Steve, although his heavy Greek accent still clearly reflects his heritage. He was born in Vordonia, Greece, which is near Sparta. After graduating from high school in Sparta, he attended the Kalamata Theological School, graduating in 1967. He then went to the University of Athens, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology. After serving in the Greek army, he came to the U.S. “I started to wash dishes and be the assistant for the » PEEKSKILL
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FORMER COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE CONTROLLER KEITH BORGE PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX AND SEC VIOLATIONS ASSETS OVERSTATED BY $33.8 MILLION BY BILL HELTZEL bheltzel@westfairinc.com FORMER COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE controller Keith Borge pleaded guilty on March 28 to securities fraud and failure to pay more than $20 million in federal payroll taxes. Simultaneously, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him for allegedly overstating the college’s financial condition by $33.8 million.
Borge, 62, of Valley Cottage inflated assets and underreported liabilities from 2014 to 2016, the government said, to disguise the college’s rapidly deteriorating financial condition. The irregularities were not discovered until after he left the college in June 2016, but by then he had fooled college administrators, the board of trustees, an auditing firm and investors in the college’s bonds. » NEW ROCHELLE
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