Robert Valdes-Clausell, Divisive Queens Real Estate Figure, Dead at 56

Jan. 12, 2016 — Robert Valdes-Clausell, who engineered a devastating bankruptcy at a Queens co-op and was also an activist for historic preservation in the borough, died in a single-car crash on Astoria Boulevard on Sunday afternoon, according to the NYPD.

Valdes-Clausell, 56, was killed when his Ford Explorer crossed three lanes of traffic and crashed into a concrete barrier, as reported by DNAinfo. He was pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital.

As a board member of the Newtown Civic Association, Valdes-Clausell fought to keep historical buildings intact and advocated reopening of the LIRR station in Elmhurst, which was shuttered in 1985 due to low ridership. Under an MTA agreement between the city and state last year, the station will reopen in 2019, at a cost of $31 million.

Valdes-Clausell was the live-in property manager at a 150-unit Elmhurst co-op, now known as The Continental Park, when he took it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. The saga of the co-op’s bankruptcy and recovery was reported last year by Habitat in an article entitled “Newly Minted.”