Thomas Nappi, senior project manager for Hampshire Country Club in Mamaroneck, walked down the hill from the clubhouse and onto the golf course path. It was Monday and the golf course was closed, so he wasn”™t preventing any club members from playing through as he looked back toward the clubhouse, which was not visible due to the hills and trees.
If there were condos there, they likely wouldn’t be visible except to several homes immediately neighboring the club, he said.
Hampshire”™s entire property is about 116 acres, and a condominium complex the club”™s owner wants to build would only take up about 2 acres of the property. Still, that plan has drawn community opposition and led Hampshire to sue the village, accusing it of trying to drive down the value of the property so Mamaroneck government can buy it at a low price.
The club twice proposed a rezoning of the property that would have allowed for condominium construction, but the village board of trustees rejected both proposals at their outset. Hampshire would have agreed to preserve most of its property as open space as part of an agreement, and would have continued to operate the 18-hole golf course there.
Nappi took reporters from the Business Journal on a tour of the property, showing some of the recent work the owner, Hampshire Recreation L.L.C., had undertaken. Near the clubhouse, where the condos would be constructed, there is a seating area that overlooks the Long Island Sound, with a unique view of the Throggs Neck Bridge. That area is popular with club members and was built upon what was formerly the club”™s second putting green.
Adding a residential component has become vital to the long-term viability of Hampshire, according to Nappi, with an abundance of country clubs in Westchester County and an overall trend of clubs facing increasing costs and dwindling membership.
“The geography is not working,” Nappi said. “It”™s a tough business as it is, but it”™s especially tough in this area.”
Hampshire said it had filed papers in state Supreme Court on Aug. 11, seeking $55 million in damages and saying a condo development would have generated new property tax income for the village. The current zoning for the club would allow for a subdivision for the construction of single-family homes on what is now the golf course, but Hampshire has said it favors the condominium plan.
“It”™s an option, not a goal,” he said.
The new ownership paid $12.1 million for the club in June 2010, after the village and town of Mamaroneck combined to put a $10.1 million bid on the property. In January, the club unveiled its plan to build 121 luxury condominiums on a 290,000-square-foot cluster that would have included a 200-space underground parking garage. The village knocked down that proposal in February, amid opposition from community members who said the plan would increase traffic in the surrounding coastal neighborhoods. Development would be an environmental concern in an area prone to flooding, critics said.
The club did not meet with Village Board members, with the only contact being through attorneys, but the club came back with a scaled-down proposal they hoped appeased neighbors and the village government. It did not, and elected officials promptly turned down the second rezone request.
The Mamaroneck Coastal Environment Coalition, a civic group, has opposed the Hampshire proposals and accused the club of illegally holding nonmember events. In a news release, the group said it supports the village in its legal defense against the lawsuit. The group said the club had used bullying tactics to try to get the rezone accomplished.
“The board declined to consider the requested change in law,” Celia Felsher, the coalition”™s president, said. “It is clearly within its rights to do so.”
