4 Main St.

Local Developer: ‘This Old House’ Wants To Spotlight Rebuilding Project Planned for God’s Acre

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TV’s original home improvement show is interested in spotlighting a project to rebuild an antique New Canaan house as part of an upcoming season, the property’s owner said last week. “This Old House” is interested in plans to demolish and rebuild the ca. 1780-built Greek Revival at 4 Main St. by God’s Acre, according to Arnold Karp of Karp Associates. 

Karp on Sept. 26 applied for a permit to demolish the long-vacant structure, and his plan is to rebuild the original part of its street-facing facade while creating a new home that will have a smaller footprint than what’s there now.

Arnold Karp

‘Active Adult Senior Housing’: Builder Suggests Public-Private Partnership at Weed and Elm

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A prominent local builder on Wednesday said he’s willing to work with the town to create housing for seniors on a 3-acre residential lot at the edge of downtown New Canaan. 

Representing a partnership that owns the property at Elm and Weed Streets, Arnold Karp of Karp Associates told members of the Town Council during their regular meeting that there’s been “some discussion about active adult senior housing and there are lots of committees who are discussing if it is a need in town.”

“This may be a once in 50- or 100-year opportunity to have a private developer work with the town and Waveny [LifeCare Network] and come up with additional senior housing choices,” Karp said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “If it is the town’s will that they don’t want that, we are happy to do something else with the property. I bought it. I’ve owned it for four years. It’s currently rented.

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.