Managing partner in Clarke Schools development group defends his record
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NORTHAMPTON - As a Springfield development group introduces itself to Northampton, where it plans a high-profile project, one of its managing partners is answering questions about his past business dealings and personal financial affairs.
An arrest more than a decade ago, a foreclosure proceeding, a past business affiliation with a convicted arsonist in the 1980s and an investment in a stalled real estate development in the Bahamas are among the issues Demetrios N. Panteleakis addressed in a interview with the Gazette this week.
Panteleakis, 46, of Springfield, is a managing partner of the OPAL Real Estate Group, which is poised to buy much of the campus of the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech and redevelop it into luxury apartments.
While the company is owned by Peter A. Picknelly, owner and president of Peter Pan Bus Lines, Panteleakis has been the face of the company in the Round Hill Road neighborhood, meeting and corresponding with neighbors about the planned project.
The arrest of Panteleakis in 1999 on a larceny charge in Granby, Conn., involving the deposit of $12 million in bank checks from a closed account in a Brazilian bank has raised questions about his credibility for some neighborhood residents.
At the time, police said two of the checks, airmailed from Greece, contained forged signatures, but they did not know at the time if Panteleakis or one of his siblings had a hand in making them, according to a report in the former Springfield Union newspaper, now The Republican.
"I think that really got people's attention," said Michael Hempstead, of Bancroft Road. "It's just very shady, if you ask me."
The Hartford Courant reported on Nov. 26, 1999, that Panteleakis and his sister had tried to deposit the checks as potential collateral for a future loan for Inkas, Inc., an import coffee business. The case was sealed and there was no conviction, according to files at Enfield Superior Court.
Cases can be sealed for a variety of reasons. As Panteleakis explained it, this case was sealed to protect the reputations of the parties involved. He said the charges were dismissed and that his arrest was the result of "a series of confused events" that had transpired at the bank. He said he was not at liberty to discuss the matter further.
"Follow-up articles never happened," Panteleakis said. "As quickly as it happened, it was over."
Clarke Schools President William Corwin said he has spoken with OPAL and his institution remains confident in Picknelly's commitment to the project. He downplayed information posted on the Internet by a local blogger that examined Panteleakis' past financial and legal issues.
"My feeling at this point is a lot of this is based on innuendo and a lot of it is simply inaccurate," Corwin said in a phone interview from Jacksonville, Fla. "I don't think we've changed our opinion as a result of the blog."
"We still feel confident with OPAL and we're happy to be working with them," Corwin added. "I don't really see this as an issue moving forward."
The Granby, Conn., incident is not the only issue that has been raised about Panteleakis' past. More recently, a blog post by Mike Kirby, a former Northampton city councilor, has fueled divisions among residents around the Clarke campus. Kirby's post cast a spotlight on Panteleakis, noting a foreclosure proceeding at his former Springfield home, his past business relationship as a teenager in the 1980s with a man who was convicted of burning down a Worthington home for insurance money, fires in structures housing his family's past Northampton restaurants, and more recently, his $30,000 loss in a real estate investment in the Bahamas, a case in which Panteleakis and other plaintiffs filed suit.
Panteleakis described the blog post, in which Kirby compares him to a TV mob boss, as "insidious." Panteleakis acknowledged that he has not had a real estate career free of missteps or conflict and would be surprised if anyone does.
"If Demetrios were a political candidate, the word people would use is 'hatchet job,'" to describe the blog post, said Robert Schwarz, executive vice president of Peter Pan Bus Lines, who hired Panteleakis for Picknelly's firm.
After receiving questions from the Gazette about his past business dealings, Panteleakis put his responses in writing and then sat down to discuss his career. He said he views the portrayal on Kirby's blog as "inherently unfair" and "potentially damaging to my family."
"I am concerned about being portrayed as some type of criminal on the loose and horrified of being compared to fictional mob characters," Panteleakis said in his defense.
Schwarz said in regard to the information circulating about Panteleakis on the Internet, "We don't duck things. We never hide from the media or controversy."
Kirby defended his report Wednesday. In an interview from California, he said it was appropriate to probe Panteleakis' background given the stakes on the Clarke campus.
Valley boyhood
Panteleakis grew up in Northampton and Hadley in a family that ran several restaurants, most notably Nick's Whistle Stop on Pleasant Street in Northampton, which burned down in January 1985 because of faulty wiring in a second-floor ceiling, according to the state fire marshal's office. The family opened a second restaurant at the site, The Phoenix, and that building also burned after the family's restaurant had closed earlier and the property was under new ownership.
The property had at one time been jointly owned by Panteleakis, a teenager at the time, and Jeffrey Anolik, a former downtown business owner. A year after the 1985 fire, Anolik was convicted of arson for burning down a home in Worthington for insurance money. Court records and Gazette stories at the time reported that Demetrios Panteleakis had no connection to the Worthington case other than that his father, Nicholas Panteleakis, had been a witness for the prosecution.
"As a 17-year-old, I had no meaningful awareness of my participation on paper of my parents' business affairs," Panteleakis said. "I simply worked in the restaurant. If I was asked to sign something, I did."
Panteleakis said his family lived upstairs from their original restaurant, which was not insured, and said that if it wasn't for the Northampton Fire Department, "we would have surely perished."
"With the support of the community and neighbors, we were able to rebuild and named the new restaurant appropriately 'The Phoenix,'" he said this week. "Being a member of this Northampton community has shaped my sense of community wherever I go."
As for his home being in foreclosure a decade ago, Panteleakis said he suffered tremendous investment losses in the markets and the commercial real estate downturn after Sept. 11, 2001, and could not keep current on paying his mortgage.
And about five years ago, he was a plaintiff in a civil case involving a breach of contract regarding an investment he made for a planned resort development on an island in the Bahamas.
"I invested $30,000 in a development which later appeared to have been based on misrepresented ownership interest," Panteleakis told the Gazette. "I was one of several plaintiffs who filed suit ... and won a judgment against the developers. No one ever collected on the judgment, but the authorities held those responsible accountable."
Richard Greene, of Round Hill Road, is among those neighbors concerned about Panteleakis' past decisions and how it will reflect on OPAL's redevelopment of the Clarke campus. This week he resigned from a neighborhood group with the intent of sending a request to both the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech and the city to further investigate whether OPAL can be relied on to carry out its plan.
Without appropriate assurances, Greene says, there is a possibility of a failed project that will result in significant costs to the city and neighborhood, or possible concessions to OPAL that will also cost the city. Greene resigned from the group so as not to embroil others in his individual call for further investigation that could prove controversial.
"I feel we need to have an investigation that ensures us this outfit can be trusted," Greene said.
Others are not so concerned and said an atmosphere of distrust could hinder the project moving forward.
"As long as Demetrios is involved in this, we want a good working relationship with him," said Lewis Popper, of Hillside Road and one of the neighbors working with OPAL. "I think when you start distrusting people, you lose credibility. I just don't want to play the game this way."
This week, Panteleakis stressed his commitment to the redevelopment at the Clarke campus and is particularly excited about the opportunity to preserve historic buildings, one of his specialities.
"I'm obsessed with historic preservation," he said. "It's why the (Clarke campus redevelopment) is such an amazing project."
In addition to working at OPAL, Panteleakis has restored several historic homes in Springfield in recent years, particularly in the McKnight neighborhood where he lives. On two occasions, he has worked with the city of Springfield and received federal Community Development Block Grant funds to restore severely dilapidated homes for sale to new owners who will live there.
Gerry McCafferty, Springfield's director of housing, said in those cases, Panteleakis met or exceeded the city's expectations on the properties.
"We're very happy with the results," McCafferty said. "Everything was on time and under budget. They are very hard projects to do. The market here is very difficult."
OPAL is the preferred developer for a planned overhaul of the historic Court Square building complex downtown and McCafferty said the city has had a good experience so far with the young company, as well as with the Picknelly family over the years.
Prior to joining OPAL, Panteleakis worked as a vice president of corporate services and brokerage at Samuel D. Plotkin and Associates and as an assistant vice president of agency real estate for MassMutual in Springfield. He also served as chairman of the Springfield Parking Authority from 2006 to 2009 and is vice president of the McKnight Neighborhood Council in Springfield.
He said he hopes Northampton and the Round Hill Road neighborhood judges the work OPAL does on the Clarke campus as the ultimate litmus test for the company and not the shots he has taken about any of his own past decisions or mistakes.
"My fear is that the merits of the project get lost in this," he said.
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.
