The city filed to foreclose on a 275,000-square foot site near Staten Island. The owner is allegedly behind on taxes, and here’s a possible reason why: the plot, off the island’s coast at New Dorp Beach, is completely under water. Not to mention no one seems to know who the owner is.

Not to be deterred by these complications, the city tentatively assessed the site’s value at $14.01 million, up $2.9 million from a year ago, the New York Post reported.

The Post speculates that the site was probably once home to a pier, which later made way for Robert Moses’ Shore Front Drive.

In 1957 a group of investors bought the site, which at the time included two acres of above-water land. In 1998 the city filed a tax lien to an entity called Cedar Associates, hence the foreclosure.

“There is not much you can do,” Cushman & Wakefield’s Bob Knakal told the Post. “The City won’t let you build on it, and you can’t get flood insurance because it’s already flooded.” [NYP] — Konrad Putzier