Blauvelt Mansion's Mortgage Purchased in Uncontested Bid for $100

The "jewel of Oradell" was officially sold to CareOne on Friday afternoon following an uncontested bid on the Blauvelt Mansion's $3.9 million mortgage in Hackensack.

CareOne and its subsidiary Blauvelt Associates, bought the mortgages of the 116-year-old house with an uncontested bid of $100, according to a report on nj.com.

The auction came after months of postponements beginning with Hurricane Sandy's wrath, Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino pushed the sales to December 2013 to allow residents time to recover from the storm. During the delay, the $1.9 million mortgage was increased to approximately $3.7 million following a recent assessment of the 4-acre property.

The two mortgages were scheduled to be sold on Jan. 4 but were pushed back to March 22.

The historic mansion, built in 1896 for Kimball Chase Atwood and later sold to Hiram Blauvelt, was initially scheduled for a mortgage sale in early November 2012 for a $1.9 million mortgage before the inclusion of a smaller  was added.

Owned by the Wells family since 1979, CareOne purchased the property in January 2011. Shortly thereafter, the Wells family moved out of Oradell and that same year the Mansion was named one of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey.

In the past, former owner Wells and CareOne had twice been rejected by the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment to construct an assisted living facility on the front lawn. Wells later took CareOne to court after the company reneged on a prior agreement to continue making $15,000 a month in mortgage payments.

At the time the Wells family moved out in spring 2011, the property was carrying a mortgage of roughly $2.5 million and had been placed in foreclosure the prior year.

The Blauvelt Mansion was also the focus of an independent film "Bluefields" which premiered in October 2012.

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