Dan’s Papers December 10, 2010 danshamptons.com Page 16
It’s Back!
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imaginary Hamptons I had created those years before. Niven would build, right alongside the Long Island Expressway that bisects the Pine Barrens on its way out here, a series of six make-believe villages surrounding a large artificial lake that could be created by digging the dirt up and distributing it to slightly elevate the six makebelieve resorts that surrounded it. The centerpiece of this property would be a 60story tall “ski mountain”—it would be the tallest structure ever built on Long Island—where tourists and visitors could ski year round, even on the hottest days of the year. To accomplish this, Niven’s ski mountain would actually be a giant hollow structure inside of which the temperature would always be around 20 degrees and
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into which artificial snow could fall and create great conditions for that activity. They have such a thing in Dubai and Niven and his firm, Baldragon Homes Ltd., had apparently had something to do with the construction of that one. And there would be five other resorts. One would be a small fake Alpine Village where you could buy ski clothes, souvenirs, hot chocolate and athletic equipment. Another would be a sports and lifestyle village featuring indoor and outdoor tennis, basketball, soccer and baseball (all with appropriate stadiums), a water park with flumes and waterfalls and pools. There would be an equestrian village for horses and their riders that would include riding,
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show jumping, instruction and boarding of horses. Also a racetrack. There would be a wilderness resort with nature trails, flora and fauna, yoga instruction, tai chi, gardens and wildflower fields. And there would be a golf condominium village with an adjacent spa and convention center. All of these would be based around the artificial lake, across which water taxis would ply. Niven approached the Town of Riverhead with a set of plans in 2007, and he put a $5.5 million dollar deposit down on about 750 acres of land owned by the Town. The remaining cost of the land purchase, which in total would be $155 million, would be paid just as soon as all the appropriate town, county and state permits were put in place. They’d have a closing, then construction could begin. The whole project would be open for business by 2011. Time passed and the country fell into a deep recession, as you know. Niven’s firm asked to renegotiate the price of the land down to $105 million because of the change in circumstances, and that was done. But then he embarked upon a long series of delays, most of which centered around his paying $2 million for the Town to put off the closing. Each one-year delay would cost $2 million. At the end of that first year he just didn’t pay it. During this time, I often drove out from New York City and, as I passed through the Pine Barrens, could actually see in my mind the mountain and the six new resort villages that could siphon off some of the traffic from the Hamptons farther on. Perhaps with the Shinnecocks getting their approvals, a big gambling casino could be built there too. GAMING HAMPTONS. What fun it would all be. The postponements continued. Now a second year passed without construction taking place and there was another $2 million owed. The total, $3.9 million, was supposed to be paid this past August, but Niven wiggled past that deadline. Then, finally, on November 3, he presented his check to the Town for the full $3.9 million. He was pressing on. A photo of Niven’s lawyer handing that $3.9 million check to the Town Supervisor appeared in the local newspapers. One of these papers published an enlargement of the check. It was supposed to be a certified check. But it wasn’t. It was a private company check that would be made good in five days after going through the regular banking procedures. But that would be okay. Turned out it was not okay. When the local newspaper published the picture of the check, they revealed the name of the account and the routing number of the Barclays Bank branch in Edinburg. This compromised the account. Of course it would not clear. The bank was closing the account now that the account numbers were out. The Town now told Niven he would have 72 hours to make the check good, or provide them another check, or perhaps even a wire. Otherwise, after the 72 hours would go by, which would be a Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and 3 p.m. Scotland time, they were cancelling this deal. “I am shocked that the Town would do this,” (continued on page 24)