By Emily Laux

WestportNow today launches a new feature as a counter to our popular “Teardown of the Day” series “Westport Revival.”
140 Compo Road South: marketed as a teardown in 1998. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Emily Laux for WestportNow.com

This occasional photo and text feature will highlight a Westport property that has been ֓revived rather than torn down. Although the series is not intended to focus only on historic homes, this first one is about a home that may well be among WestportԒs oldest.

Property Details: 140 Compo Road South. Owners Damon and Alanna Conte live here with their two small children. They believe the house was one of the few on Compo Road South not burned by the British.

While the age of the house has not been confirmed, Damone Conte believes it was built around 1760. The town’s field card says 1820, although there is much physical evidence that it is older. A neighbor claims to have a map that dates the house prior to 1700.

Westport’s assessor said today that the increasing number of teardowns is making it more difficult to accurately value Westport’s housing stock in the current property revaluation.
Westport Assessor Gaffney at Rotary today: “I am not afraid of being sued.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

“There are so many teardowns now, the town is starting to change,” William Gaffney told the weekly meeting of the Westport Rotary Club at the Inn at Longshore.

“This change makes it more difficult to do my job when the rest of the neighborhood has not caught up.”

Gaffney said his priority now is establishing a database of all recent home sales in Westport. This information will be used to develop a revaluation “model” that will place value on land, buildings, and “all the amenities that go on a property.”

Property transfers as reported by the Westport Town Clerk’s office for the period Jan. 3-7, 2005:

Thomas A. and Margaret Rowley to Lance Rosen, 69 Red Coat Road, $1,120,000

Thomas and Kirsten E. Judd to Paul and Delyth Hirtle, 32 Hogan Trail, $821,700

Estate of Joan E. Massola to Schmiedeck Construction LLC, 60 Clapboard Hill Road, $1,345,000

Armando and Angelina Frusciate Sr. to Armando and Jacqueline Frusciate Jr., 11 Pleasant Valley Road, $799,000

The Westport office vacancy rate as of Jan. 1 stands at 15.2 percent, the same level as seen in July 2004, according to Ted Hampe, chairman of Westport’s HK Group.

HK Group tracks some 172 office buildings, with square footage totaling 2,620,000 SF of which 397,000 SF were vacant on Jan. 1.

An additional 35,000SF were being offered for sub-lease or future direct lease, reflecting planned tenant moves, the company said.

Therefore, the office availability rate was 16.5 percent on Jan. 1, a slight improvement versus last July.

Property transfers as reported by the Westport Town Clerk’s office for the period Dec. 20-22, 2004:

Julia M. Kondub to Nancy A. Harris et als, 10 Oak Ridge Park, $400,000

Land Group Inc. to Joseph Martens and Kimberly D. Sholty, 5 Highland Road, $1,475,000

Arlene J. Macrios to Elliot and Syvil Bergman, 28 Turkey Hill Road North, $1,020,000

Harry R. and Roberta Barber Eggart to Michael Goldberg and Susan Mastropietro, 41 Spicer Road, $1,480,000

Fung Chin Chu to Annie Chu, Riverside Walk Unit 8, $286,400

Property transfers as reported by the Westport Town Clerk’s office for the period Dec. 13-Dec. 17, 2004

Stephen and Julie Sharp to Land Group Inc., 36 Morningside Drive North, $790,000

Roger L. and Nancy Martin Saunders to Stuart L. and Christine Updegrove, 4 Barry Lane, $761,000

Thomas J. and Lynne S. Sionian Jr., to 86 Old Road LLC, 86 Old Road, $791,000

Louis Petti to Hugh B. and Jana N. Ross, 26 Bermuda Road, $3,050,000

Ulbrick Associates LLC to Angela D. Simpson, 6 Ulbrick Lane, $3,600,000

Property transfers as reported by the Town Clerk’s office for the period Dec.6-Dec. 10, 2004

One Hawthorne Lane Assoc. LLC to Jennifer G. Kass, 1 Hawthorne Lane, $2,495,000

Frank Rinti to Alan Rosenthal, 90 Main St. Unit 4, $340,000

Sylvia B. McBride Trust to Ruth R. Winnick Qualified Residence Trust, 516 Harvest Commons, $740,000

Caryn Lerner Bergman to Lewis C. and Sharon Fischer Jr., 116 Roseville Road, $2,425,000

Lorraine M. Barg to Andrea Madden Clark, 17 Hale St., $500,000

Property transfers as reported by the Town Clerk’s office for the period Nov. 29-Dec. 3, 2004

Jesse and Stephanie Foote to Todd D. Cheema and Ann M. Spencer, 25 Compo Parkway, $1,302,500

Westport Home and Land LLC to Joseph Russell and Stephanie Mason Bulkeley, 74 Terra Nova Circle, $986,494

Joshua and Carla K. Binswanger to Paolo and Maureen M. Pucci, 47 Bonnie Brook Road, $1,240,000

Peter J. and Judith Fullin, to John B. Place, 4 Reimer Road, $1,650,000

Schmiedeck Construction LLC to John B. and Catherine Beardsley Richards, 1 Dogwood Lane, $3,825,000

Property transfers as reported by the Town Clerk’s office for the period Nov. 15-24, 2004

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to Estate of Dolorita F. Wallace, 145 Main St., $9,400,000

Elliott M. and Harriet S. Gartner to Apostolos and Karen M. Spheeris, 10 Sandhopper Trail, $1,575,000

Linda B. Schwarz to Helen Martinez, Unit 69 Strathmore Lane, $357,500

S. D. Hillspoint LLC to Thomas P. Schneider, 244 Hillspoint Road, $2,150,000