Bank purchases DePretis property

SHARON — The Litchfield Bank Corporation placed the only bid at the foreclosure auction of Robert and Margaret DePretis’ property on Jackson Hill Road on Saturday, June 20.

The auction was very quick, lasting only 90 seconds, and was held outside of one of the buildings on the property by attorney Steven Levy, who was appointed by Litchfield Superior Court to be the auctioneer.

Nine other people were present at the auction, but none of them placed a bid. Levy announced that the bank placed the winning bid of $2,750,000 for the property.

Robert DePretis attended the auction with his attorney, Joe Gallicchio. DePretis spoke casually to auction attendees before it began, joking and talking about seeing the movie “Up� with his grandchild. However, it was apparent that it was not a happy day for him.

“What’s there to say?� DePretis said. “The truth is they all set out to ruin me and they did. That’s what the so-called affluent of Sharon did to me.�

“If there were some people in Sharon who were nicer to Bob, this probably would not have happened,� Gallicchio said. “It’s unfortunate that the real estate market took the downturn that it did because this property is worth $5 to $6 million.�

Margaret DePretis’ parents used to own the property and operated a retirement home there from 1978 to 1994. Robert DePretis tried to get permits from the town to build a retirement community for older adults there. He met with opposition from town commission and boards, and from his neighbors.

He then said he was going to put low-income housing on the property. At one point, there was also a plan to put a high-end substance-abuse rehab facility on the property, in partnership with Vista Corporation, which is headed by executives and board members of Mountainside in North Canaan.

Levy said that now that the bank has approved the sale, it must now file a motion with Litchfield Superior Court to approve it, which he estimated would take from two to three weeks.

If the court approves the sale, the bank then must wait 20 days to let the appeals proccess  run its course. If there are no appeals to the sale, the court can then approve the title transfer to the bank.

After the auction, DePretis said he will still be pursuing his lawsuits against the town, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and private citizens. The suits follow the 2005 rejection by the commission of his plan to build a community for older adults.

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