Rosemeier Ordered to Sell Bellefonte Avenue Property to Developer

LOCK HAVEN — Clinton County Judge Michael Salisbury today issued a court order directing Robert Rosemeier to sell his Bellefonte Avenue, Lock Haven property to a development company seeking to locate a chain drugstore there.

Salisbury today issued a 12-page opinion and order in the case of defendant Rosemeier and the plaintiff, J. C.Bar Development. The Camp Hill developer had gone into court seeking a partial summary judgment against Rosemeier, claiming the defendant had failed to honor a signed sales agreement. The court order directed Rosemeier “to close on the sale of the property within thirty days” of the date of the order, Feb. 9.

The same order said J.C. Bar “is awarded as costs of suit and reasonable attorney’s fees, the specific amount to be determined at a non-jury trial.”

Today’s court document said the Bar company had in November of 2013 entered into a sales agreement for three Rosemeier parcels along Bellefonte Avenue and Commerce Street. That agreement had called for a $900,000 purchase price. As noted in Salisbury’s court opinion, Rosemeier subsequently appointed local businessman Stephen Poorman as his “true and lawful attorney, including authority to act on his behalf with respect to the property.”

On Nov. 30 of 2014 Poorman sent a letter to J.C. Bar “demanding to increase the purchase price” to $1.1 million. In December of 2014 Bar rejected that offer. According to the court opinion, the developer contends that Rosemeier breached the agreement in bad faith in attempting to increase the sales price by $200,000.

In its opinion, the court concludes that J.C. Bar is entitled to relief, proving that a valid sales agreement existed and that the developer “was ready and willing to perform its part of the deal by paying the balance of the purchase price.” Bar had earlier placed $25,000 in an escrow account.