The Village at Jamesport is proposed for this property just west of the hamlet’s business district. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)

A 44-acre Jamesport property that has been the subject of a controversial development proposal is now being offered for sale as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

And the company that’s marketing the property has highlighted the value of excavating sand from the property.

A company called GA Keen Realty Advisors LLC has an advertisement in the New York Times Wednesday offering the 43.6 acres on Main Road in Jamesport as a “bankruptcy sale.” 

The ad says the land has “approvals in place for 42,000 square foot mixed use commercial center plus potential for additional development,” and it says the “sale includes valuable sand deposits.”

“The property also includes a significant amount of sand that can be excavated on the forward 9.7 acres,” GA Keen Realty Advisors Co-President, Matthew Bordwin said in a statement. ”The sand alone is in strong demand and can be extremely valuable.”

A call to GA Keen Realty Advisors seeking comment was not immediately returned Wednesday.

In January, the owners of the property, Jul-Bet Enterprises LLC, which is headed by Julius Klein of Calverton; and Jamesport Development LLC, of which Jul-Bet Enterprises is 50 percent owner, both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The 43 acres includes two properties, which are both owned by Jamesport Development LLC, according to town records.

A 42,000-square-foot commercial project called Village at Jamesport has town approval to be built on an 10-acre parcel that fronts Route 25 across from Elbow Room Restaurant.

The Town Board also approved a special permit for the project to allow bistros, and professional offices in the project, although that approval has been challenged in court by a neighborhood group called Save Main Road.

“I’m not surprised,” said Larry Simms, a director of Save Main Road in an interview. “We’ve been following the various bankruptcy proceedings and this whole thing seemed inevitable. We’re also disturbed but not surprised to see that the valuable sand depositions on the property are a focal point of the real estate offering.”

Bill Duffy, the attorney for the town Planning Board, said Wednesday that the developers don’t have any approvals. He believes the approvals for the two special permits have expired, since they were granted more than a year ago and the work has not begun.

Mr. Duffy said the developers need to have an approved site plan, which they don’t, in order to be allowed to excavate sand from the property, and the town charges developers $2 per cubic yards of sand taken off development sites.

A 160-unit retirement community has previously been proposed on a 34-acre parcel to the north. However, that land was later rezoned and current zoning will permit only 15 homes to be built on the site.

The Jamesport property was the subject of a foreclosure case brought by United International Bank on a claim that Jamesport Development LLC and Julius Klein defaulted on a $3.25 million mortgage. But that case was dismissed in 2012 on the grounds that Mr. Klein was not properly served with the foreclosure notice.

A separate foreclosure case involving property Jul-Bet Enterprises owns in Calverton, including the Dollar Storage property on River Road, was still pending. APC Partners, a company that bought United International Bank, claimed Jul-Bet Enterprises, Mr. Klein and others defaulted on a $4.5 million mortgage.

In an Aug. 12, 2013 decision in that case, state Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley sentenced the 85-year-old Mr. Klein to six months in jail for contempt of court for allegedly failing to comply with court orders requiring him to turn over financial records.

The jail sentence was never carried out as discussion of the case continued in court, and the case was put on hold pending the outcome of the bankruptcy, according to officials.

Mr. Klein’s attorney, Eric Bressler, has said he does not comment on pending court cases.

tgannon@timesreview.com