Living in luxury, alone

The national media attention surrounding Victor Vangelakos came as a surprise to the Weehawken resident last week, according to Weehawken sources who know him. After purchasing a vacation condo in southwest Florida in the midst of a housing boom four years ago, the 45-year-old and his family became the only residents of a 32-story, luxury high-rise when the market fell flat.
Other buyers have since been relocated to an adjacent building with full facilities, but Vangelakos’s mortgage lender won’t let him do the same.

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The family lives on the seventh floor.
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According to published reports, the family’s attorney has filed two lawsuits on behalf of would-be tenants because the property was allegedly never finished as promised. The attorney was quoted as saying that the family bought the residence under the impression that future facilities would be built including a clubhouse, marina, and restaurants.
The building’s website claims the property has “two restaurants, a preserve area, boardwalks along the waterfront area, plus access to the river via a public boat ramp and marina…a private cinema.”
According to reports, the garbage chutes are sealed, the automatic glass doors leading to the lobby are locked, and the fountain outside the 200-unit building is dry.
Vangelakos did not return calls for comment last week. Weehawken colleagues said that he is likely tired of talking about the issue.

Media scorn

Newspaper articles told of how the family is often alone in the building and worries about security.
However, the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue captain also became a target for media scorn. A Star-Ledger editorial asked how the public employee could afford to retire in a few years and afford a luxury vacation home; the piece went on to blame the state’s over-zealous pension plan.
Sources close to Vangelakos said his parents own the two-family house he sometimes lives in with his family in Weehawken.
Vangelakos’s wife, Cathy, 44, a former township clerk, was arrested last year and charged with allegedly pocketing fines paid to the township for traffic violations. The charges are still pending.
Articles about the family said that they live on the seventh floor of the building, and have found evidence of intruders in the building and in the pool.
In an article in the New York Daily News, a lawyer for the property owners said, “We did not foresee, nor did anyone else foresee, the collapse of the real estate business and the concurrent collapse of the lending industry. They’re caught and we’re caught.”
Sean Allocca can be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com