The Sunday New York Times Connecticut section this week features a front-page story on Westport teardowns and cites WestportNow and its teardown feature by photographer Dave Matlow. Highlighted is 14 Sturges Commons, the WestportNow Teardown of the Day on Oct. 11 and featured as “Going Down” on Oct. 20. Pictured are Times photographer Janet Durrans and developer Rob Haroun, owner of SIR Development, which purchased the property for $1 million. The Sunday Times real estate section also mentions Westport teardowns in a feature on Westport’s efforts to regulate house sizes and to preserve historic neighborhoods. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
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The article mentioned in the CT section is located online here: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/29ctcol.html” target=“_blank”>Another One Bites the Dust</a>.
And here is the link to the article mentioned by John McCarthy: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/realestate/29wczo.html” target=“_blank”>Seeking Middle Ground on Big Houses</a>.
And on page 12 of the Real Estate section in tomorrow’s NY Times is an article featuring the Gorham Avenue Historic District and the role that local historic districts can play in curbing teardowns and maintaining the livability and affordability of Westport.
An analysis that I have done on teardowns is mentioned in that article. If you would like a copy of the analysis, please email me at john@gorhamneighbors.org
John McCarthy
I stand corrected, the article is on page 12 of tomorrow’s Real Estate section, not the CT section. Thanks for correcting me Susan.
John
Andy writes: “Is it that great to live in Westport and Fairfield that you would pay a premium to get a piece of property even if there is already a house on the property?”
Yup!
There are other issues where the Town requirements make it very expensive to make upgrades to existing homes (new kitchen = new septic system). Not everyone in older homes wants to cook on cast iron stoves. And the return on investment is very large. Buy property for $1M, teardown and build a new house for $300K, and sell immediately for $1.5M. That’s a 66% ROI in one or two years. And I’m fairly sure that those numbers are understated.
If I was smarter, I’d figure out how to do it to my own 1929 house.
Yes, it IS that good to live in Westport. The schools, the beach, the Levitt, Main Street, the Playhouse, good restaurants and strong community organizations all within an hour of New York.
That is the reason people do buy new houses here where the price includes the cost of tearing down the old house. Many of the torn down houses are from the 1960s – a period known for less than spectacular, cookie cutter construction. And many teardowns (but certainly not all) are in close to decrepit condition. It is not like builders are going around and targeting Victorian gems to tear down.
I love old houses just as much as anyone, but lets not pretend every 40 year-old house is a masterpiece.
Many families spent many memorable years in the houses that were torn down. Some of those families bought the houses new. Why shouldn
Maybe I am missing something here, but unless you live in the Hamptons or Greenwich or Westport or Todt Hill (Staten Island) you are probably unfamilair with tear-downs. I was always under the assumption that a teardown has to be either on a peice of property too large for the house on it, or decrepit or maybe a corner house (with lots of property) but ordinary-sized houses on ordinary sized lots with property as small as 1/4 acre? Is it that great to live in Westport and Fairfield that you would pay a premium to get a piece of property even if there is already a house on the property? And what is the big rush to tear everything down and replace it with something brand new or personalized? I doubt if many of the historic houses remain after demolition permits are requested. After all, money talks and nobody walks and nowhere else is this in evidence or more obvious than Westport and the sheer number of houses demolished and the 100’s of millions of dollars changing hands every year which result in teardowns.
As a lifer in 06880 I agree, This is the place to live and bring up a family BUT I do not agree that replacing simple houses on 1/4 acre with 10,000 sq ft Mc Mansions is right and I do believe it has taken away the “quaint” “quiet suburb nature of Westport As to not targeting Victorians, they are gone from Gorham Island, Playhouse Square, Barons North, Hall Brooke, and the list is huge. It is time to once again “Rally Round the Flag Boys” and save some sense of suburbia here in 06880. Some times personal preferenses must be combined with a sense of community.