City likely to buy Dutton Avenue house next month

City councilors are likely to approve a $218,000 deal to buy an old stone house next to Rockwell Park at their Aug. 12 meeting.
“This is great” for the city, said Councilor Frank Nicastro, chairman of the Real Estate Committee.
The city has already bought an adjacent lot for $63,000, a purchase that lawyers completed this summer after the council backed it months ago.
Officials have been eyeing both the house and the lot for a couple of years but wanted to make sure that the city wouldn’t land in the middle of a family dispute about the disposition of the property.
A judge gave Jan Bevivino until late June to buy the house that her family had long owned or else it would be sold to the city or a private buyer. Bevivino said she would still like to purchase the house, but couldn’t meet the deadline.
Lawyer Salvatore Vitrano, who represents the rest of the family in the case, said in a letter to the city that her failure to come up with the money gives the city a green light to move ahead with the deal.
The real estate panel, which consists of Nicastro and Councilors Kevin McCauley and Mike Rimcoski – unanimously urged the council to take the offer in August.
Nicastro said that buying the house would open up the entrance to Rockwell Park even further, leaving only a former gas station and a small apartment building for future city purchases to clear the way to both the park and Muzzy Field.
It appears the city would likely tear down the house once the purchase becomes final.
“It looks like it would come down,” McCauley has said.

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