New Canaan building officials have issued a stop-work order on interior renovations to a Pine Street business after the property’s owner told them the project hadn’t been authorized and that misrepresentations had been made on a permit application for the work.
Beval Saddlery on Pine Street. Credit: Michael Dinan
It isn’t clear how far along Beval Saddlery is with an estimated $150,000 renovation at its 50 Pine St. location.
Work must now stop, following a letter sent last week from Chief Building Official Brian Platz of the New Canaan Building Department to Mark Walter, owner of Beval Saddlery.
“At the owner’s request I will reinstate and validate the now void permit with or without modifications, or I will order the building restored to its condition prior to the issuance of this permit,” Platz said in the letter, dated Oct. 29. “Please consider this letter a formal stop work order and cease & desist until such time that you have obtained the proper authorization from the building owner.”
Reached by NewCanaanite.com, Beval Saddlery COO Richard Frank deferred to attorney Joseph Pastore of Stamford-based Pastore & Dailey LLC. He was not immediately available for comment.
The three principals of 50 Pine Street LLC live in Florida, according to documents on file with the Connecticut Secretary of the State.
According to a building permit application filed Aug. 12 and subsequent correspondence from the project’s architect and contractor, plans called for demolition within the lower-level areas at the one-story, 1950 building, and creation of offices, workstations, new break room and two ADA-compliant toilets for staff, as well as modifications to the retail area and dressing rooms.
An Aug. 6 letter from Beval Saddlery Board of Directors Vice President Dana Correale to the town designates Greenwich-based architect Pierre-Christian Frye as “agent in all proceedings regarding obtaining building permit approval for the interior tenancy fitout upgrades to our facility.”
A similar and notarized letter arrived two weeks later from Frank, saying Frye was an owner’s representative.
Emails show that town building and P&Z officials clarified the scope of the project with both Frye and contractor Dave Steeves, and a permit was issued Sept. 10.
Six weeks passed. Then town officials received a letter dated Oct. 24 from attorney Steven Siegelaub of Westport-based Berkowitz, Trager & Trager LLC, representing the property’s owner.
According to Siegelaub, those owners just then learned of the application and permit.
“Please be advised that Mr. Frye misrepresented his status on the Zoning Application,” Siegelaub said in his letter. “He is not an architect or agent for our client. In addition, our client has not consented to the proposed alterations to the Building by Mr. Walter and such consent is required by the terms of Mr. Walter’s lease.
“We also have learned that Richard Frank, who we understand is affiliated with Mr. Walter’s company, Beval Saddlery, submitted the attached notarized Letter of Authorization claiming that he is the owner of 50 Pine Street and purporting to authorize Mr. Frye to apply for a building permit on behalf of the owner. Mr. Frye then signed and submitted the attached Application for Building Permit as an ‘Authorized Agent’ for the owner.”
It continues: “Mr. Frank is not the owner of 50 Pine Street, and Mr. Frye is not an authorized agent of the owner. The applications to each of your departments were submitted without the owner’s knowledge or consent. On behalf of 50 Pine Street LLC, we request that you immediately revoke the Zoning Permit and the Building Permit issued pursuant to the above Applications.”
Frye was not immediately available for comment.
Platz in his letter last week to the business’s owner said the building permit is “immediately rescinded and void.”