Arnold Karp

‘Let Us Get Further Down the Road’: Merritt Village Developer Addresses Criticism of Retaining Wall

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The local man who is building the 110-unit Merritt Village complex at the edge of downtown New Canaan is asking for time and rationality from residents complaining about a short stretch of retaining wall that has sprung up along Park Street. Merritt Village is not yet 1 percent finished, according to Arnold Karp of Karp Associates, who won approval for the landmark project two years ago following several months of hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission. “There is a million-dollar planting plan that obscures and hides the walls,” he told NewCanaanite.com. “Before everybody becomes an architectural critic, let us build the project. We’ve put in 215 feet of wall and have gotten a thumbs-up from some of those who drive by and some nasty comments through New Canaanite.

Government

First Selectman: Vine Cottage Likely To Be Sold, Human Services Relocated to Former Outback Teen Center

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The town-owned Vine Cottage soon will be marketed for sale on condition that the ca. 1860-built structure be added to New Canaan’s Historic District, the municipality’s top elected official said Thursday. Town officials recently drafted an updated five-year capital plan that “has some inherent decisions about buildings in it,” First Selectman Kevin Moynihan told the local media corps during a press briefing at Town Hall. “We are not going to fund any renovations of Vine Cottage,” Moynihan said. “It assumes that Vine Cottage is not in our portfolio.”

The gabled structure’s current occupant, the Human Services Department, would be moved about 50 yards away to the lower floor of the former Outback Teen Center, under Moynihan’s plan, he said.

Government

PHOTOS: Inside the Long-Vacant Greek Revival at 4 Main St.

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The new owner of the antique Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. is in talks now with the town-appointed body that oversees New Canaan’s Historic District. A neighborhood immediately around God’s Acre that includes 21 sites, the area is overseen by the Historic District Commission, whose sign-off is needed for exterior alterations to the buildings there. 

Arnold Karp of Karp Associates told NewCanaanite.com during a recent tour of the home (see photos above) that his plan is to raze the long-neglected ca. 1780-built house and rebuild its iconic street-facing facade. 

“There is nothing historical left because it’s been renovated so many times,” Karp said. “So our concept is to keep the facade which is what is iconic about this building, just rebuild it [the facade], make it look like it [the house] has been here forever, and then build a home with a current floor plan behind it.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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After years of anticipation, the vacant and deteriorating antique home at 4 Main St. finally has been sold, according to a property transfer recorded Wednesday in the Town Clerk’s office. Arnold Karp bought the ca. 1780-built Greek Revival from James Talbot for $810,000. ***

State officials this week voted in favor of a recommendation from counsel for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, finding that the town broke the law by withholding a draft document of the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission.

Government

Owner: Future of ‘Red Cross Building’ Depends on What Town Does with Vine Cottage

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The New Canaan man who last year purchased the ca. 1889-built Red Cross building on Main Street said a decision on just what to do with it—for example, whether to convert vacant structure into a residence or commercial use—depends largely on what the town plans to do with another antique next door. Whatever the town or another future owner of Vine Cottage decides to do with it, no part of Arnold Karp’s vision for 51 Main St. involves tearing down the former Red Cross building, installing condominiums or otherwise changing “the character of the neighborhood,” he said. Yet it wouldn’t make sense to pursue a much-needed overhaul of the building’s interior with a residential use in mind if Vine Cottage is razed for Town Hall parking because “nobody wants to live next to a parking lot.” Similarly, if the ca.