La Renaissance in East Windsor Scheduled for Foreclosure Sale

It's a place where thousands of memories have been made, but even that couldn't make it immune to the economy.

In less than two months, a popular East Windsor banquet facility will be the subject of a court-ordered foreclosure sale.

The owners of La Renaissance on Route 5 have been going through foreclosure proceedings since July of 2012, according to the state judicial website. Earlier this month, a judge ordered a strict foreclosure sale of the properties at 53, 55-59 Prospect Hill Road and scheduled it for Saturday, April 27. The sale had been initially scheduled for Feb. 9, but because of the blizzard, the date was postponed, according to court records.

La Renaissance has been the go-to place in the area for special occasions, from baby showers and weddings to East Windsor High School graduations and several area high school proms.

In 2006, owners Atulkumar Vachhani and Sunil Bhatt went before the town Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss plans to build a hotel on an adjacent property to complement the banquet facility, according to planning commission meeting minutes. Those plans were never implemented.

In July 2012, Peoples United Bank filed paperwork with the state superior court claiming that Dharamshi, LLC, Vachhani, Bhatt and several others listed as owners of the properties and holders of two mortgages, owed the bank more than $2.2 million, according to court documents.

That November, Judge M. Nawaz Wahla ordered a strict foreclosure on the properties and assigned Constantine Constantine, Esq., of Glastonbury, as the committee to oversee the sale, noting that the fair market value, at that time, for one parcel, which has the banquet center, was $3 million, while another parcel, that has a floral shop, was $160,000.