Castle under siege

Hamburg - In a real fairy tale, even in the darkest moment, when the sweet, young girl is cowering before the wolf that is about to devour her, you know that off on the horizon is a happily-ever-after ending. This is not a real fairy tale. To tell the truth, there’s not even a girl involved. Standing in for that character is Hamburg’s landmark Gingerbread Castle. Who is playing the wolf depends on whom you are talking to. This much is beyond dispute: As the castle’s owner and the borough battle over the building that is the little town’s identity, someone is removing hand-made, one-of-a-kind ceramic tiles used for entry signs and murals on the site. Frank Hinger bought the castle and the restaurant on the opposite side of Gingerbread Castle Road in 2001, with the stated intention of preserving the fairy-tale castle that is said to be America’s first destination theme park. His restaurant is closed, the victim, he says, of the borough’s deliberate efforts to put him out of business. And the bank that holds a mortgage of nearly $650,000 on the castle is foreclosing. In early October, Hinger put the castle on eBay with an asking price of $500,000, but received no bids. The sheriff’s sale, scheduled for mid-October, was then postponed until December. Immediately after the eBay auction closed, Hinger got married and went to Hawaii to honeymoon. On his return, he sent The Advertiser-News a lengthy e-mail in which he accused the town of doing everything it could from the day he bought the property to put him out of business. Now, he said, the borough is trying to take both the restaurant, which he says is worth $2.8 million and the castle, whose value he places at the $636,000 he owes on the mortgage, away from him for $500,000, an offer he called “ridiculous.” He said he will sell the borough the castle only for $500,000. Hinger’s e-mail arrived last Friday, two days after the Oct. 26 edition went to press. When asked Tuesday about the missing tiles, he wrote back: “Your actions have verified that you are afraid to print the truth, so as for the details, the tiles, etc., why ask me?” Mayor Paul Marino said Monday he thinks the tiles were taken by Hinger himself to be sold to collectors. “He seems to be taking it apart, bit by bit,” Marino said. “Already, most of the Wheatsworth Mill’s gatepost tiles are missing.” Marino said he saw documentation that Hinger tried to sell the tiles on eBay for $70,000. The town is powerless to stop him. The castle is eligible to be listed as an historic site in New Jersey, but the town had never begun the process of seeking that designation, which would protect the site. Hamburg is taking steps now to correct that situation. Council member Daniel Barr, who has led the town’s efforts to obtain the castle and the restaurant, has said that his interest is in preserving the town’s identity, which is reflected in the borough’s street names and street signs. He envisions the castle preserved as a museum, and the restaurant and its eight-acre site incorporated into a new town park, planned for adjoining land on the other side of the Wallkill River. “The castle is a unique place,” council member Mark Sena said Monday. “Everybody wants to see the castle preserved, and we are working on getting the property appraised.” Even an appraisal is a battleground. Hinger has refused access to an auditor hired by the borough. In response, he said, the borough has advised him to hire a lawyer. Hinger’s list of grievances is long. Before he bought the property, the castle was decaying and a favorite haunt of teens and object of vandalism. The restaurant was a strip joint and the site of fights and other problems that did not endear it to borough officials or police. Once Hinger reopened it, he sponsored bands and other events for a time. But business was not good and last November, he shut it down. Hinger blames the town. He says that borough police would park outside of his restaurant, pulling over patrons as they left the property and scaring away business. He says that the town “allowed private developers to trespass and destroy my property, by first putting a new sewer line up my driveway, my main and only entrance to my restaurant . . . making my driveway impassable, during operation of my restaurant.” He charges that the town allowed the work to be performed “without permits and/or approvals or written authorization.” He says that no borough official ever accepted his invitation to dine for free at his restaurant, and that no official ever attended any of the fundraisers he sponsored for the castle or for the cleanup day last year. Hinger also expressed outrage that the borough wants to pay a half million dollars for property that he says is worth more than $3 million. “No municipality should funnel tax dollars to improve a privately owned piece of property so the owner can eventually profit from it,” Barr said Wednesday in an e-mail. “It wouldn’t be fair to other business owners . . . or to the taxpayers. The town and its officials have been more than fair to Frank, but he keeps disparaging the town. He admits to not paying his taxes, but blames the town because Hamburg didn’t give him a donation.” Said Marino: “I can’t raise taxes to borrow $3 million to give to a private business for something we have no control over. “We can’t figure out Frank’s direction,” he added.