 
For more than two decades, Chester”™s Glenmere Mansion, with breathtaking views of the mountains and Glenmere Lake, was a local curiosity. What exactly was up at the top of that long overgrown driveway that remained gated and rusting?
Partners Alan Stenberg, Dr. Daniel De Simone, along with German-based partners Alison and Peter Klein, were determined to find out.
They discovered a gem beneath the overgrowth and couldn”™t pass it by. Now, they are bringing it into the 21st century with a coming luxury retreat and spa.
“It was a piece of history. You don”™t just walk away from that and say, ”˜Who cares?”™” said Stenberg.
Glenmere, a 30,000-square-foot Tuscany-style mansion built by architects Carrerre & Hastings in 1911, once boasted fabulous gardens designed by Beatrix Farrand, the first woman landscape architect in the U.S. Murals graced the walls that complemented its 35 bedrooms, 25 fireplaces and 25 bathrooms overlooking Glenmere Lake. “Don”™t forget the 20,000 headaches that came along with the renovation,” laughed Stenberg looking over his shoulder at the work in progress.
Back in the 1970s, the county bought the 1,300-acre property and forgave the more than $1 million in back taxes owed on it, according the retired Parks and Recreation Commissioner Graham Skea. Eventually, said Skea, 1,200 acres were preserved as open space including Glenmere Lake, which serves as a source of drinking water for the towns and villages surrounding it. The decaying Glenmere Mansion was culled out of the property, along with its 100 acres of woodlands, then closed and forgotten behind its massive iron gates.
Four years ago, Tuxedo Park residents Stenberg and De Simone, looking for the perfect place to create a luxurious inn within acceptable traveling distance from New York City, discovered Glenmere. However, the price had risen considerably since it had first switched hands in the county 30 years earlier. Stenberg admits to an $8.5 million purchase price for the property, bought four years ago at the top of the market; still, he doesn”™t feel like he”™s gotten the short end of the stick now that the market has soured. “This is, by far, the most beautiful piece of property imaginable,” said Stenberg. “Look at that mansion, the views, and the history. You can”™t put a price on it. We weren”™t thinking price. We were thinking history.”
As for the market: “It will come back. You buy something because you love it. We didn”™t buy this as an investment property. We bought an investment in Orange county”™s future.”
But Stenberg can put a price on the renovations, close to $25 million once all the bells and whistles are completed on 19 deluxe suites with fireplaces, an in-ground pool surrounded by alcoves with marble statues and seating areas, glowing gardens with walking and hiking on its 100 wooded acres. A new luxury spa is planned and will open in 2010. The property is well within walking distance to Glenmere Lake, which now has a section open to the public. “We own a piece of Hudson Valley history,” said Stenberg. “And we are going to restore it as close to it was as when it was first built, but using 21st century technology.”
That technology will include “all geo-thermal heating and cooling; anything deemed energy-efficient will be in place at Glenmere,” said Steven Esposito of Goshen, the project”™s coordinator. “The beauty of this project was that Allan and Daniel wanted to do it right. There is no such thing as cutting corners.”Â
While Esposito guesstimated the cost of going green to be at least three times what conventional heating and cooling would have cost, “the partners are making an investment in the future, and ”˜green”™ technology is part of that future.”
James Wickes, co-owner of Ira Wickes Arborist in Chester, says his family has been in business since 1929: “Yes, right in the middle of the Great Depression, and we”™re still here. Alan and Daniel brought me in more than four years ago, before they even began work on the property. They wanted to be sure what trees and shrubs were worth saving and I helped plan out its gardens and landscaping extensively. They brought us in early to make sure it was done right when they were going to begin work while still in the permitting and zoning phases. They wanted it to be beautiful and to preserve it as it originally looked when built as much as possible.”
Chris DeHaan of DeGraw and DeHaan Architects in Middletown is the architect of record. “Every day, I find a new challenge. This is a 100-year-old structure, so we may uncover things we didn”™t know were there. We are on a tight schedule to complete this by September, and I believe we”™ll do it.
“The hardest part of the job is time scheduling,” he said. “We”™re very compressed, and we want to get it done right and get it ready in time for a fall 2009 opening. It is invigorating because of Alan and Daniel. They are so committed to this project that those tight deadlines dim when we realize how important this work is.”
For Stenberg and partners, it”™s saving a piece of Hudson Valley history. “Look at this place, isn”™t it beautiful?” said Stenberg. “Why wouldn”™t we want to restore it to its former beauty but add those technological amenities available today? We want our guests to have the best of everything, and yes, the bills can give us a migraine, but we feel we are preserving a work of artistry that needs to be saved and savored.”
One more thing that most of the Hudson Valley would like to hear: Glenmere”™s shopped locally for the craftsmen and suppliers who are helping to restore the mansion: “These are our own people who live right here. They need the work, they can do they work, and we also need the good will. We are hiring people who live here and who care about our community. That”™s very important to us. We believe in supporting our local economy. It”™s what will keep us going in the final analysis.”
Prices for overnight stays, parties or weddings have not been set at this time. To learn more, visit glenmeremansion.com.
