Where condos are your piece of the mansion

June 5, 2014
Where condos are your piece
of the mansion
Living in an 87-year-old former grand hotel resort can be quite a thrill.
"It's just wonderful," says Cindy Vando, who has used her condo at the four-story
Montauk Manor as a vacation retreat.
Built in 1927 by Carl Fisher, one of the developers of Miami Beach, Montauk Manor was
created to be "the most fabulous resort ever imagined in the Western world," the
literature of the time boasted. Sitting high on a hill, it overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, Fort
Pond, Lake Montauk and Gardiners Island Bay.
Remnants of the resort's splendor and original details are everywhere, says Vando. Of
particular note is the lobby, which she describes as "just magnificent-looking," from its
floor tiles to its light fixtures to its welcoming, roaring fireplace in cooler weather.
http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/real-estate/where-condos-are-your-piece-of-the-mansion-1.8336715#1
All of the 140 units in the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places,
are different: Some have cathedral ceilings and others are lofts; there are both private
and shared patios. There are several units for sale with prices ranging from $150,000 for
a studio to $449,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. Vacant condos are rented out as
hotel rooms.
Vando, whose main residence is in Oyster Bay, says she is selling her one-bedroom,
one-bathroom condo because she simply can't get there often enough. "It breaks my
heart," says Vando, whose unit, listed for $174,000, went into contract in 10 weeks.
While most condominium developments on Long Island were originally constructed as
individually owned apartments or houses, several actually began life as something else
entirely: a school, a hotel, a private home, a country club, a grand estate, a factory, even
a ski slope.
For the most part, condos with interesting histories are highly coveted, says Seth
Benjamin Levy, an agent with Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes & Estates. "Most condo
developments with nostalgia and history will garner more money and faster sales
because of that history," he says.
GLEN COVE
Stepping back into the glitz and glamour of the Gatsby era, Glen Cove's Francis L. Hine
waterfront development, an early 1900s Georgian-style mansion and former home of
Hine, a banker, was turned into the 16-unit Long Meadow Homeowners Association
community in the '80s.
Unlike condominiums, where owners usually have no independent ownership beyond
the interiors of their units, HOA units partly own the common elements of the
communities, says David Eldridge, president-elect of the Long Island chapter of
Community Associations Institute, an organization serving the educational, business and
networking needs of the community association industry in Nassau and Suffolk.
Residing in the former Hine estate gives you a sense of living in a more gilded age, says
Lisa Cerreta of Laffey Fine Homes, who is selling one of the six apartments in the
mansion. The development also has 10 28-year-old redbrick town houses with white
clapboard trim.
When you open the balcony doors, you could imagine a great party out on the lawn,
women in their long dresses and Rolls-Royces coming down the entrance, bringing
people to the country from New York City, says Cerreta.
There are two units currently for sale -- one for $829,000 and the other for $899,000.
ROSLYN HEIGHTS
The gilded life of the leisure class is not hard to picture at Summit at High Point, situated
on the grounds of the former Renaissance Country Club in Roslyn Heights, which once
featured a golf course, carriage house and horse paddocks. Built in five stages, from
1980 to 1996, the 162-unit community still exudes a sense of well-heeled grace,
especially with its former clubhouse, the eight-unit "Manor House," still extant.
"It's nice because it's not a level grade," says Levy, who has sold units in the
development. "This is on the hill. You're overlooking parts of Roslyn, parts of Mineola -very scenic. When you pull through the gates, you're pulling into another world. It's really
incredible."
There are three units currently for sale -- with prices from $945,000 to $988,000.
HUNTINGTON
Francesca Bonavita, who lives in the 34-unit Lindbergh Park condo development in
Huntington, saw the place when it was being built in 2001 and was smitten with its
spectacular panoramic views of rolling hills, winding lanes and lush landscaping,
remnants from its former incarnation as a 1960s-1970s ski resort known as the
Hi-Point Ski Club. "We have beautiful trees," she says. "We have beautiful evergreens."
There are currently two three-bedroom units on the market: for $549,000 and $629,000.
LAWRENCE
For people looking to downsize from a single-family home without compromising the
space and amenities a house can offer, The Regency in Lawrence could fit the bill.
With half of its 138 units sold since its July opening, The Regency is the "only new
construction luxury condominium on Long Island," says Danielle Kirk, sales director.
It was built on the four-acre lot of a former school in Lawrence.
Prices range from $475,000 for a one-bedroom unit to $1.255 million for a threebedroom unit.
SAG HARBOR
Brand new to the market is perhaps the most extreme example of a condo complex with
a past -- Watchcase Sag Harbor, a deluxe resort-style loft complex just one block from
historic Main Street that will comprise nine town houses and eight bungalows inspired by
the sea captains' houses dotting the village. It is anchored by the stately former Joseph
H. Fahys & Co. watchcase factory, which later became (and is better known as) the
Bulova watchcase factory.
The 1881 factory building is being transformed into a deluxe penthouse and 47 factory
loft condominiums while keeping many touches of the original design, including
oversized arch windows, exposed brick walls and high ceilings with exposed yellow pine
beams.
Having rented in the Hamptons for many years, Sandra Foschi, who is in her early 40s,
says she decided she didn't want to buy a vacation home that would require perpetual
upkeep. Now she is under contract for a factory loft at Watchcase, which she says she
hopes to occupy by October.
The condo, Foschi says, appeals to her because in many ways it resembles her prewar
Manhattan apartment, with its classic original fixtures, but enhanced by 21st century
conveniences, such as brand-new appliances, heating and windows.
"I get to walk to town, walk to the marina where I can have a boat, and don't even need
to drive," she says. "I have full amenities of the gym, entertainment room, heated pool. I
have my own garden."
There are several units available, with prices ranging from $1.13 million for a onebedroom unit to $7.25 million for a three-bedroom penthouse.
ISLIP
If you're looking for history of a very different sort, Foxgate at Islip could be an interesting
and affordable choice, with its 184 condos priced between $255,000 and $280,000.
Constructed on the grounds of the old Central Islip Psychiatric Hospital -- once the
second-largest psychiatric hospital in the country -- this development, which will also
have rentals, will be completed in two to three years. Sixteen units are slated to be
available in September.
So vast was the hospital complex, which operated from 1889 to 1996, that it had its own
fire department, farm, train depot and nursing school, and its grounds stretched beneath
what is now the Cohalan Court complex, Citibank Park, a campus of New York Institute
of Technology and the Town Center shopping center, in addition to the Foxgate
development.
CONDOS FOR SALE
Watchcase Sag Harbor in Sag Harbor
ITS PAST. Former Bulova factory
ASKING PRICE. $3.25 million
ANNUAL CHARGES $4,632 for taxes and $22,116 for common charges
WHAT YOU GET. Occupying the entire second floor of the southwest Church Street wing of
the complex, the 1,812-square-foot loft has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms with three
private terraces.
LISTING AGENT. Jack Pearson, The Corcoran Group, 516-457-7111 and Cee Scott Brown,
The Corcoran Group, 516-383-2011