Basement Woes

Water , Water, Everywhere
One of the more vexing problems afflicting homeowners is underground water. The stuff flows and percolates into basements, ruining floors, popping pools from the ground and creating ideal environments for mold to flourish. It’s vexing because it is often hard to detect where the stuff is coming from and how to stop it. Mattis Engineering Group in Ridgefield, Connecticut , (203) 431-6497 can help.
By way of disclosure, I sold a home to the daughter of the principal of Mattis, but that’s how I came to meet the man, and not why I now recommend his company. That principal, a Mr. Milioski , is a remarkable man with a remarkable history. After working a few decades for Bechtel he established his own engineering firm and took on projects all over the globe. He designed the Baghdad Airport, for instance, and his plans for that project were in great demand in Washington at the beginning of this year. After the World Trade Center calamity, he was brought in as a consultant to keep the Hudson River out of the wrecked building’s foundation “tub”. He succeeded. He is now more or less retired, but still has access to workers he trusts and, of course, his own experience and knowledge.
The man is fond of saying things like “don’t go to war against water—you lose.” Instead, he devises ways to divert, or drain or otherwise avoid direct confrontation while solving the underlying problem. Mattis Engineering can analyze a water problem, design a solution and perform the actual repairs if desired. While it might seem like overkill to call in one of the top structural engineers in the world to address a leaky basement, it won’t cost you any more than the services of a less experienced expert (in fact, the initial analysis, diagnosis and repair estimate are free), so why not start at the top?
Scrapers or, Another One Bites the Dust
178 Riverside Avenue disappeared while I was out of town for four days last week. Other than the fact that I helped build it when I was a college student working summers, I can’t say I’ll miss it all that much. An awkwardly designed saltbox, the home never did work well as a residence. The new owner is a builder known for erecting $4-$5,000,000 homes so we can expect to see a rather large house replace the original. I’ll be curious to see what it sells for. On the one hand, one of the best new homes in that price range sits unsold on a far better street (Glen Avon) and with water views. On the other hand, 178 Riverside is flanked by two homes that clearly are in the $5,000,000+ category, and any construction that starts now won’t be ready until Spring of next year, so I’m guessing the builder will do just fine.
Right around the corner from that disappearing act, three homes on Indian Head have recently gone under. The cheapest of the three, on the corner of Wellwyn and Indian Head, sold for around $1.6 million, the others were closer to $2 million. None of these are waterfront lots, which means that the price of an ordinary building lot on Indian Head is getting to be . . .interesting.
The Man Who Would Be King
During that aforementioned flying visit out of town I spoke with a lawyer who knows quite a bit about Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal’s suit against the University of Miami. Blumenthal has retained the NYC firm of Skadden , Arps and has already incurred more than $3,000,000 in fees on our behalf. Most Connecticut residents could care less about which football teams compete against UConn, but it’s worse than that: my source, a far better lawyer than I ever was, confirms my own assessment of the suit: D.O.A. I know that this is not a political column, and I promise to only touch on the subject during slow weeks like the week before Labor Day, but this frivolous piece of litigation ( one of dozens our ambitious Attorney General has filed) serves no purpose except to further his political aspirations and soak those who pay the bulk of Connecticut taxes: that would be us. We report, you decide.
What The Heck Is …
The new building going up on River Road Extension alongside the Mianus River looks like a great big, ugly, temporary shack and that’s what it is: the Cos Cob firehouse is slated for renovation and the firemen need a place to house their trucks for the duration. Once the firehouse is done, the shack will be history.