December 24, 2004
Meet Me at the Wrecker’s Ball
My recent comments about Jupiter Development Partnership’s intention to raze the 1854 house at 350 Riversville Road elicited a strong reaction from several agents who know and like Jupiter’s principal, Steve Hatch. Mr. Hatch, it turns out, is a Greenwich native and, according to these agents tried for over a year to work out a way to save the structure and still make a profit before reluctantly concluding that he could not. I am glad to hear that the decision to destroy this house was not made without thought, but the sad result remains unchanged: the house will soon be gone and Greenwich will lose yet another bit of its rapidly diminishing history.
Mr. Hatch is not the first builder faced with this dilemma nor will he be the last, and his decision to raze the house shouldn’t place him among the outlaw fringe. Neither he nor the owners who sold to him should be expected to ignore economic reality (although I could have told him from the start that the Riversville Road property held no commercial promise as a restoration project). While I am a romantic Greenwich real estate is a business, and there is little room here for a spiritual attitude toward the bottom line. The house was offered for sale. When no one appeared who wanted to save it, it was doomed. The Constitution prohibits confiscating property without compensation, of course, and requiring the owner of this or any other historic structure to sell only to renovators would constitute exactly such a taking. If we as a town are unwilling or unable to purchase these properties we shouldn’t expect home owners to foot the bill.
All that aside, I did find disquieting the comments from a number of my fellow Realtors who saw nothing wrong with the loss of this house. Their arguments ranged from “Greenwich was ruined long ago, what’s one less old house?” to “it’s progress”. I disagree, but their reaction makes clear that Greenwich cannot rely on (some of) its Realtors to steer builders away from historic houses; that’s disappointing. One or two stalwart home owners have tackled this problem themselves. Frank and Jessie Snyder, for instance, recently requested an historic designation for their 1742 Colonial on Round Hill Road. If granted, no one will be able to raze the place or alter it significantly. This is a noble gesture, but I wonder how many other citizens will be willing (or who can afford) to demonstrate such civic responsibility. The Snyders are planning to donate 5.4 acres of the exiting lot to the Greenwich Land Trust and leaving their historic house on exactly four acres, thereby ensuring that a buyer won’t be able to a Whopper-mansion next to it. That’s a wonderfully generous contribution to the preservation of Greenwich, which I fear won’t be repeated by many others.
Most homeowners, I expect, will continue to seek the maximum value for their property and all too often that value will come from builders who will pay based on what they can build, rather than what is already on the land. Acts of capitalism between consenting adults has never been considered immoral in this country, but the results are often disheartening.
Relative Values
The New York Times reports that Rupert Murdoch is buying the late Laurance S. Rockefeller’s 5th Avenue penthouse for $44,000,000, a record for residential real estate in the City. Apples aren’t oranges, but Greenwich set its own record this past August with the sale of an eighty-acre horse farm in Conyer’s Farm for $45,000,000. That sale keeps Mr. Rockefeller’s other home town just slightly ahead of its concretized neighbor.
Culinary DisasterSpeaking of the New York Times, it seems to have discontinued its cooking column, “The Minimalist”. This was a nifty column that appeared on Wednesdays and offered simple, delicious recipes that could be cooked in under thirty minutes. Despite all the $25,000 professional stoves and $5,000 refrigerators that adorn every Greenwich kitchen, it has been my observation that almost no one in town cooks anymore—and probably can’t. The Minimalist provided encouragement to begin using all that fancy gear and I’m sorry that it’s gone.
Hey – It’s an Opinion Column
Some readers apparently neglect to read the disclaimer at the end of this column so here’s the same message in a more prominent position: although I park my real estate agent’s license with the wonderful, capable people at Round Hill Partners this is not a column sanctioned, endorsed or edited by them. Much as she’d like to, my boss Renee Gallagher doesn’t get to see what I’ve written until the column comes out. So if I make fun of fat people, for heaven’s sake, or say mean things about an over-priced house, take it up with me and not the poor folks who share our office. And have a merry Christmas.
My recent comments about Jupiter Development Partnership’s intention to raze the 1854 house at 350 Riversville Road elicited a strong reaction from several agents who know and like Jupiter’s principal, Steve Hatch. Mr. Hatch, it turns out, is a Greenwich native and, according to these agents tried for over a year to work out a way to save the structure and still make a profit before reluctantly concluding that he could not. I am glad to hear that the decision to destroy this house was not made without thought, but the sad result remains unchanged: the house will soon be gone and Greenwich will lose yet another bit of its rapidly diminishing history.
Mr. Hatch is not the first builder faced with this dilemma nor will he be the last, and his decision to raze the house shouldn’t place him among the outlaw fringe. Neither he nor the owners who sold to him should be expected to ignore economic reality (although I could have told him from the start that the Riversville Road property held no commercial promise as a restoration project). While I am a romantic Greenwich real estate is a business, and there is little room here for a spiritual attitude toward the bottom line. The house was offered for sale. When no one appeared who wanted to save it, it was doomed. The Constitution prohibits confiscating property without compensation, of course, and requiring the owner of this or any other historic structure to sell only to renovators would constitute exactly such a taking. If we as a town are unwilling or unable to purchase these properties we shouldn’t expect home owners to foot the bill.
All that aside, I did find disquieting the comments from a number of my fellow Realtors who saw nothing wrong with the loss of this house. Their arguments ranged from “Greenwich was ruined long ago, what’s one less old house?” to “it’s progress”. I disagree, but their reaction makes clear that Greenwich cannot rely on (some of) its Realtors to steer builders away from historic houses; that’s disappointing. One or two stalwart home owners have tackled this problem themselves. Frank and Jessie Snyder, for instance, recently requested an historic designation for their 1742 Colonial on Round Hill Road. If granted, no one will be able to raze the place or alter it significantly. This is a noble gesture, but I wonder how many other citizens will be willing (or who can afford) to demonstrate such civic responsibility. The Snyders are planning to donate 5.4 acres of the exiting lot to the Greenwich Land Trust and leaving their historic house on exactly four acres, thereby ensuring that a buyer won’t be able to a Whopper-mansion next to it. That’s a wonderfully generous contribution to the preservation of Greenwich, which I fear won’t be repeated by many others.
Most homeowners, I expect, will continue to seek the maximum value for their property and all too often that value will come from builders who will pay based on what they can build, rather than what is already on the land. Acts of capitalism between consenting adults has never been considered immoral in this country, but the results are often disheartening.
Relative Values
The New York Times reports that Rupert Murdoch is buying the late Laurance S. Rockefeller’s 5th Avenue penthouse for $44,000,000, a record for residential real estate in the City. Apples aren’t oranges, but Greenwich set its own record this past August with the sale of an eighty-acre horse farm in Conyer’s Farm for $45,000,000. That sale keeps Mr. Rockefeller’s other home town just slightly ahead of its concretized neighbor.
Culinary DisasterSpeaking of the New York Times, it seems to have discontinued its cooking column, “The Minimalist”. This was a nifty column that appeared on Wednesdays and offered simple, delicious recipes that could be cooked in under thirty minutes. Despite all the $25,000 professional stoves and $5,000 refrigerators that adorn every Greenwich kitchen, it has been my observation that almost no one in town cooks anymore—and probably can’t. The Minimalist provided encouragement to begin using all that fancy gear and I’m sorry that it’s gone.
Hey – It’s an Opinion Column
Some readers apparently neglect to read the disclaimer at the end of this column so here’s the same message in a more prominent position: although I park my real estate agent’s license with the wonderful, capable people at Round Hill Partners this is not a column sanctioned, endorsed or edited by them. Much as she’d like to, my boss Renee Gallagher doesn’t get to see what I’ve written until the column comes out. So if I make fun of fat people, for heaven’s sake, or say mean things about an over-priced house, take it up with me and not the poor folks who share our office. And have a merry Christmas.
posted by Chris Fountain at 8:16 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home