Cochecton Center post office closed

Building empty over lease dispute

By FRITZ MAYER

COCHECTON CENTER, NY — Residents who’ve been around for a while say there has been a post office in Cochecton Center for more than 100 years, since the days of the pony express. That ended on November 5, when the post office that has long operated within Heinle’s General Store, moved its operation to the post office at Lake Huntington. The move came amid a dispute between the owners of the business that operates in the building and the owner of the building.

With her husband and a partner, Selena DeMarco opened Ronnie D’s Deli and Pizzeria in July 2007. She bought the business, but not the building from Paul Shin. She named the business after her son who died in February 2006 in a car accident. The business was supposed to help keep the memory of her son alive.

Within a short time, however, a dispute developed between the business owners and the building owner, Paul Shin, over who was responsible for what.

After being opened for just three months, the gas pumps out front broke down, and Shin, who at the time was in the process of purchasing the building from the previous owner, declined to have them repaired. DeMarco, who had thousands of dollars invested in the business and equipment, did not want to pay the possible $40,000 for repairs because the pumps did not belong to her. Moreover, her lease and purchase agreement said that the business would be able to sell gas. As of November 3, the pumps remained broken. DeMarco said that without the customers that gas sales would bring in, her business suffered substantially.

But there were other concerns. The plumbing in the rental apartments upstairs leaked badly, and according to DeMarco, she lost about $1,000 worth of merchandise recently because water leaked down from the apartments and disabled one of her freezers.

Additionally, neighbors say there is no heat in the building, and the upstairs tenants have moved out or are in the process of doing so.

A spokesman for the post office, Tom Gaynor, who was contacted in New York City, said it was his understanding that there would soon be no heat or electricity in the building, and that was why the post office was moving out. Gaynor added that customers who had boxes at Cochecton Center would be able to get new boxes at the Lake Huntington, Narrowsburg or Bethel branches and the fee would be waived for the first year.

DeMarco said she is sad to be leaving the community because many residents had come to accept the business as a part of the community. “My heart is aching that we have to do this,” she said, but was doing so on the advice of her attorney. By November 3, most of the large equipment had been removed from the building, and DeMarco said she would remain in the space until the Coke and Pepsi machines were picked up by the soft drink companies on November 6.

Shin could not be reached for comment.