THEY GOT A LOT OF BALLS!Internet entrepreneur Chris Mirabile (above), who lost valuable signed baseballs, blames management at 2 Gold St., who promised security after residents were forced out by city order. (WireImage)
HOT STUFF: Model Kamila Saydullaeva says two Louis Vuitton bags and a $3,200 Rado watch were swiped while she was relocated. (
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What a bunch of “Gold” diggers!
Stealthy thieves swiped valuables from luxury apartments at ritzy 2 Gold St. in the Financial District after residents there were forced to vacate because of Hurricane Sandy, The Post has learned.
The looters slinked into the empty pads at the 52-story high-rise and stole pricey watches, bundles of cash, a cherished baseball collection and assorted jewelry after the building was left without power — and, therefore, had no working security cameras to record the capers, law-enforcement sources said.
In each incident, there were no signs of forced entry or unlocked doors, the sources said. The building’s management firm, TF Cornerstone, had given workers keys to the tower’s 839 units in order to clean rotting food from refrigerators and for safety inspections.
“They took 15 [of my] baseballs autographed by the best Yankees still living,” said furious resident Chris Mirabile, founder of hotlist.com, a popular social-planning app. “It was a Christmas gift last year from an investor. It had a lot of sentimental value and, obviously, financial value.”
The collection included balls signed by such pinstriped greats as Yogi Berra, Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Whitey Ford and Mariano Rivera and was kept in a wooden case. Also stolen was Mirabile’s $12,000 Rolex.
Management at the high-rise posted a note on its Web site after Sandy, assuring residents “the building is fully staffed and secure at all times. Visitors must sign in and out. Security remains a top priority.’’
Mirabile, 28, said he strongly disagrees with that assertion.
“When I asked how many people had access to the keys to my room, there was no answer. Just crickets,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Well, couldn’t someone have come back at night, when no one was around, and just take my stuff?’ They had nothing to say.”
Mirabile was in his apartment the night of the storm but had to leave in the days afterward when the swank tower, which boasts such amenities as landscaped decks, a swimming pool and a rooftop solarium with a fireplace, was deemed unsafe by the city.
“The boiler exploded due to the basement flooding, and something like 20,000 gallons of oil leaked,” Mirabile said. “The whole building smelled like gasoline, and it still does, to a degree.”
Mirabile was crashing on a couch at a friend’s pad in Midtown when he saw a Facebook group created by several residents called “2 Gold Street Unite” that said tenants were being allowed back in. “When I got there, I went directly to my dresser, and the baseballs were gone,” he said of his return home Nov. 9. “I said to myself, ‘You gotta be kidding me here.’ I looked in every drawer, every closet, under the bed, in the kitchen, thinking I hid it, but, nope, I was robbed.”
When Mirabile, who is now living at his parents’ home on Long Island, reported the crime to TF Cornerstone, they assured him of their security measures.
“They were telling me to calm down, but it just seems like they are covering up some missteps, especially when it comes to people like me,” he said.
Also targeted was model Kamila Saydullaeva, 24, whose two Louis Vuitton bags, worth $2,900 and $1,400, and $3,200 Rado watch were stolen, sources said.
“I had first come back Nov. 6 to collect my stuff, and it was dark in there,” Saydullaeva said. “I saw somebody had been in to clean the fridge, and I was very grateful because it smelled bad. But then I went to my room and saw my perfume was missing and thought that was bizarre.”
While the $60 bottle of Burberry was no big loss, Saydullaeva, who is now staying with friends in Brooklyn, was angered when she returned Nov. 15 and discovered her designer bags and high-end watch gone, too.
“TF Cornerstone said, ‘Just call the police and make a report,’ ” she said. “This is unbelievable. I would never think something like this would happen to me in America. I lived in Russia, and there I would expect this.”
Another resident, William Scholander, executive director of a Wall Street securities brokerage firm, said $8,000 in cash, eight expensive watches, including a Tiffany’s pocket watch, and several gold cuff-link sets were boosted sometime between Oct. 30 and Nov. 17, sources said.
Scholander, 36, said his lawyers are handling the matter and declined further comment.
A fourth victim, a 34-year-old woman who works as a vice president at JPMorgan Chase, said a diamond ring was lifted from a bureau in her bedroom, sources said. She did not return calls seeking comment.
A spokesman for TF Cornerstone insisted room checks were conducted by staff in an orderly, supervised and well-documented manner.
He noted that some rooms had been left open after tenants evacuated but did not specify which ones.
The management firm is cooperating with the investigation, the spokesman added.