Mixed Moods on Condos
Sag Harborites weigh in on luxury apartments

By Taylor K. Vecsey

Doug Kuntz Eighty-one condominiums could be built on the Bulova watchcase factory property.

(02/01/2007)    Who wouldn’t want an apartment with prospects of Sag Harbor Cove, the Mashomack Preserve, and the Cedar Point Lighthouse?

    Bob Persan, who recently paid a working visit to the abandoned Bulova watchcase factory building, which developers want to transform into condominiums and townhouses, said that its sweeping water views were like those from an airplane.

    How people in Sag Harbor view the proposed development is another matter. Some think 81 luxury units will benefit the village; others do not.

    Last week architects for Cape Advisors, a New York City company that bought the Bulova factory in early 2006, unveiled their plan to restore the crumbling brick building as well as add nine duplex townhouses along Washington and Church Streets, a pool, and a building containing a fitness center and meeting rooms.

    Mr. Persan has run a hardware store, Persan and Sons, across the street since 1995. “It’s great to see [Bulova] come off the derelict list and hit something that’s viable,” he said. He is not at all bothered that “you and I aren’t going to be able to buy” the apartments. The developer has not released any information about how much they will cost.

    Nor is he concerned that the apartments will bring more residents to the village. Mr. Persan said he thinks it unfair to say, “Now that I’m on board, pull the ladder up.” Further, he said, how often are the owners really going to be in Sag Harbor?

    The units at Bulova are not the only ones planned in the village. Officials have already approved 20 condominiums on West Water Street and another 22 on Ferry Road.

    The added density that the three condominium complexes will bring isn’t troubling Ed Downes, the president of the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Association, yet. If the apartments were for the elderly he would have cause for concern, he said, because that could strain ambulance services.

    Still, he said, “with more population comes more problems,” adding that it is important to consider who the inhabitants will be. “Will they be summer or year-round people?” he wanted to know.

    Mr. Downes predicts they will be mostly summer residents who can afford luxury apartments. What he would really like to know, he said, is, “Are these the volunteering types?” His association has been losing volunteers for years because more people are leaving Sag Harbor for less expensive places, he said.

    Mr. Downes was skeptical that there is even a big enough market for three new condominium complexes. “Will they sit half-empty like [Suffolk County Court Judge Edward] Burke’s place?” he said, referring to the Waterside Condominiums on Noyac Road, which have not sold well.

    Nathan Brown, a retiree who lives in Chatfield’s Hill, is also “not convinced there’s a great condo market in this area.” Older people may think of condominiums as an affordable living situation, he said, but “they’re in for a great big surprise.” He doubts the Sag Harbor condominiums will have affordable price tags.

    In general, the design of the proposed complex on the Bulova property, a 2.5-acre parcel on Division, Washington, and Church Streets, has been favorably reviewed.

    Katherine Plumb, who lives on Richard’s Drive, said she is glad that the building will be restored. “If anything ever happened to the exterior of the Bulova building, I wouldn’t want to live in Sag Harbor anymore,” she said, adding that the sketches looked “absolutely fabulous.” She said she hopes that the Bulova project’s energy-saving features will raise the bar for other developers.

    “I would love to have an apartment in Sag Harbor,” she said. “I’d adore a loft.”
 
    Ms. Plumb, who manages the Sag Harbor Farmers Market, said the watchcase factory renovation will revitalize Sag Harbor’s downtown. “I’m all for putting the concentration of development in the village center,” she said, adding that Main Street businesses would thrive as a result.

    The Bulova developers propose 128 parking spaces, 110 of them in an underground garage, but traffic still needs to be considered, according to Mary Anne Miller, who lives on Main Street and is active with the Ladies Village Improvement Society.

    Since a stop sign was added at the intersection of Division and Bay Streets in 2005, cars are often backed up past Bulova during the summer, said Lorraine Dusky, who lives on High Street.

    Mr. Brown has suggested that cars coming out of the Bulova complex onto Division Street should only be allowed to turn right.

    Transportation and traffic issues should have “crispy and diligent” scrutiny by village officials, Ms. Miller said. Other resort towns, such as Nantucket, Mass., and Boothbay, Me., could provide models for managing traffic, she said, but “I don’t know if our boards or our officials are ready for that.”

    Mr. Brown had some concerns about the development’s effect on the village’s sewage treatment system and said he hopes to see leadership from the officials he voted for.

    Paul W. Grosser, an engineering consultant, told the village board last year that, even at peak times, the added waste from all three complexes could be handled by Sag Harbor’s sewage treatment plant. But Mr. Brown, who is wary, said the village will have to pay to maintain and upgrade the plant as it becomes “overworked” in the years to come.

    Elizabeth Rutkowski, who owns Illusions and Simpatico on Main Street and thinks the designs for Bulova are “beautiful,” agreed that the sewer system “can’t handle it all, [even] when the building is empty.”

    Still, Ms. Rutkowski said she is looking forward to more shoppers. “The more people, the more people there are to shop,” she said. “It’s a no-brainer.”

    Kate Evarts is an architect who lives on Burke Street in the shadow of the old watchcase factory. “The noisy, dirty, crowded, and messy” construction process to come concerns her, she said, and she wants to hear how the developers plan to soften the effect on neighbors.

    As for the development, “it’s about time” that there is some “promising” forward movement, she said. Whether the proposed athletic pavilion that creates “an island in the middle of the village” is appropriate, she said, is an area she would like to see explored.

    “The [village government’s] lack of vision breaks my heart,” Ms. Evarts said. In retrospect, she said, she wishes that the village board had come up with a “master plan” for Sag Harbor. “Now,” she said, “it’s too late.”