Lacey botches $1.5M sale of 161-year-old house, lawsuit threatened

LACEY - The township property containing the Worden House and Charles A. Smith Community Hall is up for sale again due to an apparent error when the township put the property up for public auction last year.

In the process, the township voided its deal with Michael DeGeorge, a Toms River-based realtor, who was under contract with the town to buy the property for $1.5 million through his limited liability corporation, 110 Main Street.

At the April 11 Township Committee regular meeting, Christopher J. Connors, the town's legal counsel, said the town did not properly advertise the public auction of the property according to law. The town had made a resolution and ordinance that it was putting the property up for bid for $2.9 million. The auction was then advertised through multiple listings, including GovDeals, which handles the sale of government property.

However, the one thing the town did not do is advertise the sale in a newspaper that circulates within the municipality.

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"The law is the law, and the law is quite clear that on the sale of municipal property, that it is required that it be published in a newspaper circulating within the municipality," Connors said.

Connors said DeGeorge is represented by legal counsel and will most likely file a lawsuit to settle the issue in court. Because of the likelihood of a lawsuit, Lacey Mayor Peggy Sue Juliano declined to address DeGeorge during the April 11 meeting.

DeGeorge told the committee that he had already invested several hundred thousand dollars in the purchase and had a tenant lined up for the new building he was going to construct.

The committee passed a new resolution at the April 11 meeting to put the property back out on public auction for a minimum bid of $1.5 million. The township will again use GovDeals to run the auction.

The Worden House, built in 1863 according to Asbury Park Press archives, and the former Charles A. Smith Community Hall, built in 1926, were once eyed for an historic district that never materialized.

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Smith died in 1918, but before he did he left his property and a trust fund to the town to build a community hall in his name. The hall was completed in 1926.

The Worden House was built for Forked River’s post master Jacob A. Vaughn. The Worden family was the next owner. The family owned a salt works on the Barnegat Bay.

In 1982, the house was donated to the town and moved its current location, next to the Charles A. Smith Community Hall, to become part of the planned Historic District of Lacey, which never happened. At the time the old home had been neglected and was given to the town in exchange for moving it off its property.

The property is located at the corner of Route 9 and Lacey Road. Neither building is occupied. The town recently opened a new community hall in the building that it bought from the Knights of Columbus on East Lacey Road. The hall was renamed after Smith. Juliano previously told the Press that they've honored Smith's wish to have a community hall in his name.

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Juliano said the town has been talking about selling the property for two years. She said officials thoroughly investigated the deeds and said the town is within its rights to sell it.

A group of residents, spearheaded by Barry Bendar, who has run unsuccessfully for the Township Committee, have banded together to try and save the property and the two structures from demolition. Bender sent the town a "cease and desist" letter on Feb. 22, to prevent the sale.

Bendar said that in 2005 the deputy state Historic Preservation Officer found the Worden's House's architecture could make it eligible for the state and National Historic Register of Historic Places. It has not been listed, though the opinion shows up on the register.

Bendar said he recently followed up on that, but whether the house will get that designation is unclear, nor is it clear if that would affect the sale or any future uses of the house.

At the April 11 meeting, DeGeorge said he did discuss moving the Worden House with the town but no suitable place was found. Juliano previously told the Press that the house needs a lot of work and moving it is not so easy or cheap. She said they've asked Ocean County if they had a place for it, but the county didn't want it.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lacey botches $1.5M sale of historic Worden House; lawsuit next?