Donald Trump has won the latest round in a protracted court battle against the Nature Conservancy and a group of adjoining property owners involving his Seven Springs property in northern Westchester. Now, the developer is hopeful he can begin construction before year”™s end on multimillion-dollar estates on the 230-acre property.
On May 27, state Supreme Court Justice Francis Nicolai granted Trump”™s Seven Springs L.L.C. access to a key secondary road via easement deemed necessary to develop the housing project. Trump acquired the property in 1994 to build a golf course but has since revised the plan to develop mansions on the site, which straddles North Castle, New Castle and Bedford.
The Nature Conservancy, which owns the adjoining 247-acre Eugene and Agnes Meyer Preserve, has been seeking to block Trump from gaining access to the section of Oregon Road, which was closed in 1990 as a public road by the town of North Castle.
Eric F. Trump, executive vice president of development and acquisitions for The Trump Organization, said, “The court decision was a great one” thus allowing the company the required secondary access. The main entrance to the property is on Oregon Road in Bedford.
“My father”™s goal has been for a long time since he acquired the property in 1994 to have really the highest-end development anywhere in the tristate region,” he said.
The main house on the property was the former home of Eugene Meyer, the publisher of the Washington Post, and the Rockefeller family and has been used as a personal residence of the Trump family for a number of years.
The 27-year-old son of the mega-developer and TV personality has a personal connection to the property and particularly the main house. “This property has been a big piece of my life. I grew up working on the property since I was 11 years old. I was mowing the fields and I still spend a good amount of time on the property.”
Trump said the company has been waiting for such a ruling for a long time and was confident it would win the case. Seven Springs L.L.C. filed suit against The Nature Conservancy, Realis Associates and the town of North Castle, as well as neighbors Robert and Teri Burke and Noel B. and Joanne Donohoe in 2006.
“In keeping with the style of Bedford-North Castle horse country, we want to do a very fitting development ”“ very low density but large blocks, very big mansions,” he said.
Trump said part of the plan is to covert barns on the property into equestrian facilities with riding areas. He said the company has gone through preliminary approvals in Bedford and has a few remaining items left to complete there. “In North Castle, this decision really allows us to move forward with that stage of the development as well and so we are actually working on that as we speak.”
He said the Trump Organization is completing the master plan for the North Castle section and expects to submit a proposal soon. In terms of the whole project, he said there would be anywhere from 20 to 30 mansions built on about 10 acres each.
Many of the houses, which he said will be “amenitized to the max,” will likely be custom-built. However, he said others will be mansions “that act as showrooms for what we can do and what we are envisioning.” He said the houses could run up to 10,000 square feet in size.
When asked when the company might break ground and where, Trump said, “It really depends. There are a lot of factors involved, obviously one being the economy. But, I think we could break ground starting on the Bedford piece, very, very soon, probably within this year.”
While the Trump Organization is moving forward with the project, at least one of the parties in the litigation ”“ the Nature Conservancy ”“ is planning to appeal the ruling. Rick Werwaiss, executive director of the Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, stated, “The Nature Conservancy is disappointed in the court”™s ruling which declares that Seven Springs has an easement over lands owned by the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Preserve, including the use of a section of the abandoned road that bisects the preserve. Access to the road will have a severe adverse impact on the integrity of our preserve.”
John Kirkpatrick, an attorney with Oxman, Tulis, Kirkpatrick, Whyatt and Geiger L.L.. of White Plains, who represents the adjoining property owners in the court case, had no comment on whether they plan to appeal the ruling.
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