The family-owned business was founded in 1926 by the Scotto family in the middle of four brownstones owned by the family. For generations of Italian-Americans in Carroll Gardens, Scotto's has been an integral part of the community. John Heyer, Jr., one of its directors, has just reached out to us to confirm that the funeral home has been evicted from the space and is hoping to secure a new location in the neighborhood.
From John Heyer, Jr.:
"Scotto Funeral Home is a place in our heart not a building. We will continue to provide caring service to our community, although sadly not on 1st Place, since our eviction is no longer just a rumor but a reality.
We would have loved to stay and maintain the continuity of place for our business started by Dolly and Buddy Scotto’s parents Patsy and Rose so many years ago. Still we will continue that legacy and comfort our families within our neighborhood.
Scotto Funeral Home, established by Rose and Patsy Scotto and has been owned by Terry “Dolly” Scotto-Spinelli, John Heyer II and Debra Scotto for six years, is not going out of business. However, Scotto Funeral Home has been evicted by 104-106 1st Place Corporation.
Even though we will no longer be operating funeral services from 106 1st Place, Scotto Funeral Home remains open for business at the same phone number, 718-875-2515. We have made arrangements to temporarily hold wake services at Cobble Hill Funeral Home on Court Street, thanks to hospitality of Mr. DeJohn. We are currently in negotiations to open at a new Carroll Gardens location within the year
The Scotto and Heyer families and staff are available to provide the same professional and caring service we have always strived to provide either in South Brooklyn, at our Staten Island Location on Narrows Road South or in the neighborhood most convenient for you, by calling 718-875-2515.
Aunt Terry John Sr., John Jr., Deb and our entire staff thank all those who have supported our family with prayers and well wishes during this unfortunate turn of events. We wish we had been given the opportunity to renew our lease and remain on 1st Place. We see our work as funeral directors to be a vocation and a service which is grounded in our belief that the life, love and legacy of every person deserves to be celebrated. This is a service which we are still providing and we hope you will give us the honor of providing your family with this service should you have the need."
Sad, indeed, but we hope that the business will continue to have a presence in the community for years to come.
In the meantime, a space is still available for lease on CPEX.
Sad, indeed, but we hope that the business will continue to have a presence in the community for years to come.
In the meantime, a space is still available for lease on CPEX.
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14 comments:
Per the court filings that can be found online, it looks like Buddy's kids are fighting each other, and this is one of the results.
Yes, this is what I have heard and certainly what John Heyer's letter indicates.
I've known the Scotto family my whole 60 plus year life. There is no pressing need to do this. Perhaps after Terry and Buddy are gone (Terry is over 90, Buddy is not far behind.) But not now. It's not like the Scotto family is impoverished and needs the money.
Someone in that family is a real jerk. The eviction is classless.
I will leave it to your kind readers to figure it out.
So I take it that the buildings are still family owned but they're being evicted by other family members?
Mark Scotto evicted his 93 year old Aunt Terry Scotto Spinelli from her home of 70 years, at 104-106 1st Place. Why is anyone surprised the funeral home, that she clearly loved, was evicted.
The existing funeral business was not able to generate anywhere near enough business to pay anywhere near the market rate for the space. Why should a faction of the family that owns the real estate, subsidize another faction, as well as a non family member owner/partners. That's in fact, whats basically been happening the past several years. The property owner supporting 2, or perhaps 3 families with the income from this property. And its by far their biggest asset. He's got a responsibility to himself, and his family. If the monetary difference were only a couple of thousand/month, perhaps they could have worked it or waited it out. But the spread was just to great.
Is that the reason he evicted his 93 year old aunt that lived there for seventy years? I guess the "spread was just to great".
There goes the neighborhood. What is the purpose of evicting a senior citizen?
I'm sure they'll find a nice tentant to take the space... and then the store will go out of business and the place will sit vacant for 12 months until someone else gives the space a try.
Debra took the funeral business away from her 83 year old father for next to nothing with the use of powers of attorney and crooked lawyers. Then sold it to strangers for a huge profit. Then drafted a 5 year lease for $1,000 per month. A space the court has valued at $15,000. She has pushed the buildings to bankruptcy. Debra has not spoken to her own father in several years. She ignores him and walks away when he tries to say hello to her. He comes home in tears saying allowing her to do this is the worst mistake of his life. Buddy is 89 and heartbroken. But he has had enough. The Heyer family and Debra Scotto have NEVER been Scotto Funeral Home, and never will be. And they are no longer welcome on 1st Place. Thank God they have finally been put out by the court. Oh and they have a judgement against them for $160,000. They have been wonderful tenants and are wonderful people. Good riddance!
It is not the real story, wish I can write a page with documents to show the real story. There is a reason why they are evicted.
It is unseemly and unfortunate when this blog becomes a gossip rag for airing dirty laundry and allows personal attacks on people via speculation and one-sided judgements. I don't care about the family's private disputes as it is none of my business. If I wanted neighborhood news fraught with nosey and vindictive speculation, I would have stayed in the judgmental hick town I came from.
Anon 8:05 AM, actually, i am sorry I stepped into this hornets' nest, believe me. I wanted to let the community know that there is a real chance that the funeral parlor will find a new home in Carroll Gardens and will continue on for years to come.
Whatever the background of this 'internal' mess, it is really none of our beeswax.
Just wanted to clarify something from a legal perspective (my practice is real estate and litigation, amongst other things). Eviction is a landlord remedy for a default by a tenant beyond any applicable grace and/or cure period. Typical default is for non-payment of rent and use/occupancy of the premises which is not permitted under the lease or under the law. While the word eviction is thrown around quite a bit in this article and in the comments, it is unclear whether that is in fact the cause for the tenant vacating the premises.
As a longtime neighbor and member of this community, in terms of sympathy for the tenant and/or antipathy for the landlord, if the tenant was in breach of its obligations under the lease, whether by not paying rent or otherwise, it is in my mind a different analysis than a lease expiring and the landlord increasing the rent beyond what the tenant is able to pay (which I think we can all agree has been a root cause of massive havoc and emotional distress in the retail spaces in our community).
my 2 cents,
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