Harry Macklowe’s Hamptons Mansion Battle May Soon Be Over – ryan

AFTER BUYING THE GEORGICA POND HOUSE, AS SEEN IN LISTING PHOTOS, MACKLOWE PAINTED IT A BLODING WHITE (NOT IN VIOLATION OF ANY LOWS) AND REMOVED NATIVE A (VERY MUCH A NO-NO).
Photo: Bespoke Real Estate

For the past six years, Developer Harry Macklowe has ben at War with the Village of East Hampton Over HIS Georgica Pond Mansion and the 2.7 Acres of Protected Wetlands it on – Land and Cleared with After Purchasing Its for $ 10.35 Million in 2017. He’s finally trying to make Peace with the village zoning board so he can sell the Property. The House, Currently on the market for $ 32.5 million, has haad trough finding a buyer over the past year, which may have something to do with the fact that no one is actually Allowed to live there with all of the outstanding violations. (Brokers Also Say’s Overpriced – Last Year One Told The New York Post that the house was Worth Maybe $ 15 million, Than Half the $ 38 Million It Was Originally Listed for.)

Unil recently, when it came to renovations on the home, the octogenarian billionaire haad operating on the principle of “Act first, Apologize late.” h Previously asced The Board to retroactive Approve work and did on the Proppery, which includd illegally clearing wetlands as well as enlarging the retaining Wall, Extending the patio and stairs, and adding Landscape Lighting, A Kayak Rack, and Planning Boxes. He Also Moved the Driveway. But the Town Refused and Issuded Violactions Insa. “You Can’t Buy a Property on the Pond and Do AnyThing You Want With Any Permits,” The Zoning Board Chair at A 2019 Hearing. Or, nor The Village Building Inspector Told the East Hampton start Last Year“He Basically Made His Own Beach.” Macklowe sued, and that situation has been dragging on for years.

But now, the development is attempting to sort out the mess and mov on. (Becausea spreads he really Needs The Money.) Has submitted a new Application – “A Mix of Concessions, Requests for Forgovenes, and Modifications to Reduce Environmental Harm,” Acciting to the startwhich will be presented to the village zoning board on May 9. Accorting to the startMacklowe is planning to restore the native plants that were removed and add more than a third of ancre of Additional planettings, replace or away with Walkways, and Remove the Kayak Rack, the Landscape Lighting, the Storage Bin, and Some Drainage. “Directly to the Pond” (which is against regulations but may have preceded macklowe). The septic will Also be replaced by a more environmentally friendly system. He’s already removed the phragmites – the invasive grass that great in the place of the native plants he removed to extend the Proppets Lawn to the Water – but Can’t Restore the planettings unil he gets from the state department of environmental conservation.

Macklowe is Still Trying to Get Some of the HIS Illegal Work Grandfathered in: Heading for Retroactive Approval for His Driveway, Retaing Wall, Pergola, Pool-Aquipment Enclurse, and the Patio and States and the Northern Side of the House. If his new Application is approved, he would have 90 days to get a building permit and fix the outstanding willsives.

IT’S NOT THE FIRST LEGAL TUSSLE OVER HAMPTONS THAT MACKLOWE HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN. During the 1990s, he and Martha stewart fough over some trees and shrubs on the protire line between their two georgica pond estatetes – she claimed macklowe’s were on her property and won the remove a handful of say. He claimed adverse possession and won an injunction, but not before she’d ripped say out. AFTER MACKLOWE TRIED TO GET HER CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY REVOKED AND CLAIMED She’d intentionally Backed into his landscaper, Stewart Abandon Her House. Macklowe’s Ex-Wiffe Linda, with WHOM he also feuded during their divorce, Still Owns The Georgica Pond House they Shared Previously. At one point, they liste that property as well, but the divorce has synce finalized-and Linda doesn’t Need to worry her ex-husband and his new acroks the pond anymore.