Sag Condo Deal Closes
Greystone Development, a Manhattan real estate company that owns waterfront parcels that the Village of Sag Harbor would like to see become a park, reported on Monday that it had closed on Friday on an additional waterfront lot, 2 West Water Street, for $4.94 million.
Greystone owns neighboring properties at 1, 3, and 5 Ferry Road and has plans for 11 condos in two separate buildings on the combined properties, eight on Ferry Road and three on West Water Street. The parcel purchased Friday is known as the 1-800-LAWYERS property, after its owner, Bruce Davis.
Greystone has a site plan application before the Sag Harbor Planning Board and a wetlands application before the harbor committee for the condominium project. It is uncertain how much of the big white building on West Water Street would remain. The building had, at one point, been broken up into condominiums, but Tom Preiato, the village building inspector, said on Tuesday that Mr. Davis had been granted a permit to return it to a single-family residence, though the work may not have been completed.
“We remain deeply committed to the completion of this project and are looking forward to creating a beautiful addition to the waterfront landscape in Sag Harbor,” Jeffrey Simpson, the head of Greystone Development, said in a statement. “We have assembled an incredible team to bring this development to life and are thrilled with the projected outcome for our first Hamptons project.”
Overall, the 30,000-square-foot project calls for a “staggered row” of single-family houses “evoking a typical early 19th-century whaling village streetscape,” in New England shingle style, with clapboard and cedar shingles, Greystone said. If approved, the condos would offer water views with porches, roof-deck plunge pools, and individual garages. A new dock and 11 boat slips are also planned, and Greystone said it would allow public access to a landscaped park.
However, village officials would rather see only a public waterfront park on the combined parcels, totaling about two acres. In early March, the board unveiled conceptual drawings from Edmund D. Hollander, a top landscape architect and village homeowner.
They include two sandy beaches, a fishing and boat pier, a pedestrian walkway under the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge that would connect to Windmill Park on the other side of the bridge, public restrooms, and trails celebrating the ecology and history of the village, among other amenities. It would be named the John Steinbeck Memorial Park in honor of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and longtime resident.
The village board sent a letter to the Town of Southampton last month requesting that the 1-800-LAWYERS property be added to the town’s community preservation list, according to Mayor Sandra Schroeder. A hearing would have to be held to add the property to the list. The town had placed the Ferry Road properties on the C.P.F. list at the village’s request in October. However, Greystone made it clear at the time it was not a willing seller.