Recession likely to dampen buyer interest

By Lloyd Garrison

One of many stunning views from Yale Farm.

Yale Farm, once poised to become a luxury golf course only to have the project fall victim to a shrinking economy, can now be purchased in its unaltered state for $24 million. That is the price set by Peter Klemm of Klemm Real Estate. “No other property will afford the same privacy or the same majesty,” states the realtor’s website, listing the 780 acres that straddle Norfolk and North Canaan. “Yale Farm is truly the find of a lifetime.” Six months ago, Yale Farm LLC, a partnership that includes New York developer Roland Betts, Slade Mead and Project Manager David Tewskbury, appeared to have overcome nearly six years of legal and environmental challenges with only a few hurdles remaining. In January, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection tentatively approved two essential water permits and set May 12 for a public hearing on its decision. Shortly before the hearing, Betts announced that the group was bowing out, stating, “The collapse of America’s economy doomed Yale Farm.” The continued economic downturn may also doom the likelihood that Yale Farm will be sold any time soon, much less for the asking price. “Clearly the financial Armageddon has affected everybody to a certain extent,” Klemm concedes. Yale Farm is not the most expensive listing in Litchfield County. Next to it on the Klemm website is a 450-acre property called Hill House in Goshen, listed at $25 million. The estate was developed by Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl. The deed comes with an additional 230 acres jointly held by Lendl and a neighbor. Klemm’s mother originally sold the property to Lendl, who built a classic 10-bedroom stone mansion with indoor and outdoor pools, horse barn, caretaker’s house, tennis court and basketball court. “Hill House has extraordinary views,” says Peter Klemm. Yale Farm’s vistas are equally impressive. The former Mead family holding spans a high ridge line with a view on a clear day of Mt. Greylock in Mass., more than 45 miles away. In addition to views to the north and west, the complete package includes a nine-bedroom main residence, two farmhouses, two ponds, multiple barns, a cabin and extensive fields and forests. According to the website, a “gracious tree-lined entrance” leads to “17 separate parcels with 535+/- acres in Norfolk, CT, and 245+/- acres in North Canaan, CT.” The reference to “17 separate parcels” could open the door to subdividing the property into numerous smaller parcels. “This is a possibility,” says Klemm, “but we are looking to sell the whole thing to one buyer. We would like to find someone like Lendl who might want to build a spacious home while also conserving the land around it.” Neither Betts or his partners have disclosed how much Yale Farm LLC invested during the laborious campaign to gain acceptance for a golf course, but a hefty portion of the property’s eventual sale price will likely be consumed covering the costs of consultants and feasibility studies, engineering tests, environmental impact studies, charges by architects and specialists in golf course design, lawyers fees and the expense of preparing for more than a dozen contentious public hearings and laborious filings at the town and state level. Asked if the farm had stirred any buyer interest, Klemm replied, “We have only just begun. You have to be ready to put in a long time to sell anything this big in Litchfield County.” A case in point is the Lendl estate. No serious buyer has stepped up since it went on the market, and that was over two years ago.