Dans Papers - Bashing Panoramic

Oceanfront Co-op Attempts to Renovate Itself
& Fight Accusers

By Dan Rattiner

There have been a lot of rumors flying around about the reconstruction of the Panoramic View, a 114-room resort built over 50 years ago on the side of an oceanfront cliff, on the Old Montauk Highway in Montauk.

When the Hilltop building, one of the structures on the 10+ acre site, was originally proposed for reconstruction, there was one rumor that they were going to put up an eight-story building. There was another rumor that they were going to put in an elevator to the beach that would run through the dune; and there was even a claim that the taxes due at the time of purchase had never been paid.

People in town, even a local East Hampton town newspaper, seized on some of these rumors and published them, further fanning the flames. The purchasers of this property, Distinctive Ventures, based in Great Neck, denied all rumors. The only changes to the exterior would be aesthetics, new cedar shake roof and siding. New storm-proof windows and beautiful trim was also part of the plan. The interior of the building would be totally renovated. This means nothing new would be built on the property-they would merely restore the buildings to their exact dimensions right on the site where they sat, and the only modifications they would make would be to bring the project up to Town, County and State codes. Distinctive Venture's ultimate goal was to create the same size project with half the number of units. The 114 units plus staff housing in the five main buildings plus beach houses on the site was just packing visitors in too tightly. The new owners would reduce the density to 60-68 units. The new units in the renovated buildings would each be about double the size. Thereby, halving the number of units, there would essentially then also be halving the number of people vacationing there, which would mean smaller crowds on the beach, fewer cars and less parking.

The original owners, the French family, purchased the property in 1957 and started building the Panoramic in 1958. When Distinctive Ventures bought the property in 2007, construction began immediately, being that there was a lot of infrastructure work done. Plans for the property had been in the works for over a year prior with the Town of East Hampton Building Department. The Hilltop building, which had been 36 rental cooperative units with additional staff housing, was tackled first. This decision was taken because one side of it was so weather-beaten over the 50 years that it was in actual physical danger of falling into the sea. By the end of 2007, all of the infrastructure work was done and the Hilltop Building was completed. The largest of the buildings, Salt Sea, was tackled next and completed in 2009.

The claims about the gross violations going on at this property continued, many of them now from one member of the planning board, Sylvia Ogilvy. While freely acknowledging that a renovation does not need to be brought before the planning board but can be handled entirely by the building department, she however claimed that things were going on at the Panoramic that absolutely needed to be receiving planning board approval. She essentially claimed that the late Don Sharkey, the head of the building department at the time, was keeping the project from the Planning Board. She pointed to the fact that the ground was broken almost immediately after the purchase. Obviously the buyers knew ahead of time that the thing would go ahead with just Building Department Approval. There must have been some hanky panky going on before they even owned it. She said that some buildings had been enclosed where there had merely been decks and porches before. There was a claim made that one of the parking lots had been re-graded, which, if true, would require planning board permission. There was a charge that third floors had been built above the buildings.

The claims about the Panoramic reconstruction were published in one East Hampton newspaper, which additionally stated that there was one entirely new building that had not been there before. Actually, they state that the building was erected within the dune or perhaps on the beach itself. You could see it on the plans published at panoramicview.com. There were dormers that had not been there before. The claims made got so much publicity that I was even moved to write about it. I said there had only been two teardowns for code violations in Montauk in the last 50 years. I described them. One had been in the 1960s and the other in the 1970s. Would the Panoramic be the third?

My article resulted in Adam Manson, the director of the project for the firm Distinctive Ventures of Great Neck, inviting me down to the Panoramic to see the place for myself. I asked him if he had aerial photos of the place from before the renovations and the same aerial views from after the renovations and he did. He also would walk me through the project and show me everything that was going on.

Manson is a tall man who is very direct and clear with what he talks about.

Bottom line is that none of the claims are true. Every step of the way, the project proceeded through the East Hampton Building Department, the East Hampton Fire Department, the Suffolk County Health Department, the East Hampton Planning Department for Landscaping and Lighting permits, and all with the idea that the windows would be exactly where they were before, the doors would be where they were before, the walkways-because they were brick walkways they were considered pre-existing- could remain the same if repaired exactly where they were, and that the rooflines and footprint would remain the same.

"The only exception to this is where we needed roofs to be brought up to State code," said Manson. "We also received permission to build a series of small dormers with narrow windows in them where the roof had been before. The Architectural Review Board liked the idea to improve the curb appeal of thebuilding. It's not a third floor. It just creates a small, high window that brings more light into the building."

I asked him about the new building reported to be on the site. "Was this, perhaps, a shed?" I asked.

"There is no new building. On our website, we show the architect's floor plans for the buildings. Unit 10 of the Salt Sea Building has always had a second floor. The plan on the web site for the new pre-existing second floor, to show it to the general public, was placed alongside the first floor. It's a way an architect shows a second floor. Unit 10 is attached to the Salt Sea building; there is no additional stand-alone extra unit built in what would be the beach or as depicted in the ocean.

"The re-graded parking lot, which would have been required to have Planning Board approval, had not been re-graded. The County wanted us to put in a new underground sewage system in that area. Somebody must have seen the big pile of dirt we had dug up during the system install. Maybe this,supposedly, was what they thought was re-grading. The survey of the property shows the elevations the exact same before and after construction."

The County wanted all of the old oil tanks dug up and replaced with propane which, if it leaked, would not pollute the ground. That was also completed. I asked about newly enclosed units. I hadn't seen any. We went to look at the aerial view photos of before and after. There weren't any enclosed units visible.

What about the unpaid sales taxes?

"We sent the town attorney the cancelled checks. Apparently they had lost track in the bookkeeping of where they had put the funds."

Eight-story building? No. Elevator? No.

The Panoramic View is no longer a series of motel buildings with 20 and 30 tiny units. It has the same buildings-the Architectural Review Board approved a series of lovely decorative brick chimneys on the roofs of them to break up the large roof-but with larger units, some of them duplexes. It's more in keeping with what people want these days. The Panoramic View received a license to co-op in 1984. It's got a right to do this.

I have to say that the new units are gorgeous. They have a nautical theme. The sea is right there outside. You can sit in a hot tub on the deck and look out. They are a credit to the community.

The Panoramic View is open all winter. Rooms are being rented for the weekend and nightly. They were sold out for Valentine's Day. The residencies are built for enjoyment all year round. See for yourself. And in the gorgeous newly renovated lobby-with a living room where a back office once was-you can consider buying one of these large units for just upwards of $2 million. An on-site management company will rent them out for you when you are not there and you'll get some money back from that. The French family would be proud.

I think, also, the community should be proud. Everything on the ocean needs a renovation after half a century. The buyers found bees, termites and carpenter ants in the crumbling corner foundations they replaced in the Hilltop building. But if certain people in the town and local newspapers give everybody such a hard time, it will make everything very hard to do and no others will embark on such great endeavors.

 

 

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