Building Collapse: Owner Is Richard “Porn King” Basciano, a Sam Rappaport Alum [UPDATE]
Today the four-story building once known as Hoagie City at 2136 Market Street collapsed and took much of the Salvation Army Thrift Store down with it, trapping people in the rubble, sending several to the hospital and, according to the latest reports, resulting in one fatality.
The owner of the building was Baltimore native Richard Basciano, associate, friend and one-time estate executor for notorious blight meister and slumlord Sam Rappaport. If one is truly judged by the company he keeps, Basciano would already be held in low esteem, but he shoulders another burden: a reputation as the porn king of Times Square–this was back in the ’70s and ’80s, when that was quite an achievement. His friends and business associates at that time had criminal ties and mob ties; one of them, in fact, was assassinated by John Gotti.
As Giuliani–his “nemesis”–increasingly compromised his smut biz, Basciano stepped up his business here in Philly. He was probably best known for his Forum porn theater. But due to his connection with Rappaport, he also grabbed up rows of buildings that Rappaport left behind, setting up what he claimed would be a bolder, less porny future. Writing about Basciano’s purchase of the buildings on Market Street, the Inquirer’s architecture critic Inga Saffron wrote:
Basciano has hewed faithfully to Rappaport’s recipe on real estate: Hold tight onto properties. Invest nothing, even as your buildings crumble in full public view. And wait patiently for the big payday to come along.
He will not see that payday now. It doesn’t come so easily after a building collapse.
As with last year’s warehouse fires, we are now in for long months–years, really–of any number of parties shirking accountability. There are already people saying the demolition site was obviously not safe. Is Basciano to be blamed for that? Or would it be the demolition contractor hired by architect Plato Marinakos Jr.?
One very odd and discomfiting note: philadelinquency reminds us that a wall in a parking garage that was part of Sam Rappaport’s estate collapsed in 1997 and resulted in the death of a Municipal Court judge. Was this when Basciano was acting as Rappaport’s estate executor? From what we have heard now, it was a collapsing wall that caused today’s level of destruction as well.
We will have more updates as this story develops…
UPDATE: City Paper says there’s more than one slumlord involved here. Ted Snyder, the Sam Rappaport of Old City, seems to also work with the architect who contracted the demolition team for this job. Again, the company you keep…
CP’s assertion of ownership of the building needs some explanation because it contradicts what you may see elsewhere. As philadelinquency puts it, “The owner of record is STB Investments Corp, and most real estate types in the know, know this to be Richard Basciano.” But when a journalist does a little digging, they don’t find Basciano’s name in property records. Instead, they discover a bunch of relatives named Ben instead. Why would someone rather not own a building, even as he likes to trumpet his plans to transform the neighborhood? How’s this for an answer, also from CP:
STB was cited by L&I for failing to seek a vacant building permit for the now collapsed building. The violation was dismissed without prejudice because L&I could not locate the property owners…
Classic.
