Hits: 18

WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. Special to WPCNR From the French American School of New York. October 20, 2015:

In a letter to Karl Hofer of International Hospitality Management Worldwide, FASNY Board of Trustees member and Chair of the school’s Facilities Committee John Botti said that “our new home is not for sale” and that the school had no interest in pursuing the “purported offer letter.”

The letter was sent today and copied to White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, whom Hofer had copied on his letter to FASNY. It indicates that FASNY representatives had already responded to Hofer multiple times and that the letter would be the school’s final response.

The letter further asks Hofer, whose company is in Rye Brook, to “stop misleading the news media and our shared community” by stating that FASNY had not returned calls and from making other misleading public comments regarding the property and FASNY.

The letter points out that the real estate agent representing Hofer, Garry Klein, is a vocal opponent of FASNY, a resident of the Gedney Farm neighborhood where the FASNY property is situated and a member of the Board of the Gedney Neighborhood Association, which has vehemently opposed FASNY since it acquired the bankrupt country club nearly five years ago.

“Choosing a broker who is one of the school’s most vocal opponents” suggests that Hofer’s purported interest is neither “legitimate nor sincere.”

Hofer reportedly spent months claiming he was going to make a viable offer to the Ridgeway Country Club to buy the property in 2010, but never produced a buyer or funds. FASNY thereafter acquired the site.

The letter concludes by noting that there are 32 golf clubs in the nearby area that Hofer might consider pursing.  “We, however, are not interested in selling.”