On course for sale

By Dawn Wotapka Hardesty

Friday, September 8, 2006

HUNTINGTON – The Cold Spring Country Club, one of the North Shore’s most valuable developable properties, is set to be sold.

Club leadership voted this week to work with Gary Melius, owner of the adjacent 23-acre Oheka Castle resort, after he offered more than $70 million for the 169 acres straddling the Nassau-Suffolk border.

A deal is said to be imminent, sources close to the club’s board said.

The transaction still has to be approved by the club’s 200 or so general members, poised to make hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

A woman who answered the phone on Friday at Cold Spring, which has 18 holes and a 70,000-square-foot clubhouse, said no one was available for comment. Melius, who wasn’t aware of the decision, also didn’t comment.

Mark Cuthbertson, a Huntington board member, said Melius approached the town with the idea of maintaining the golf course and building townhomes.

Cuthbertson said the town’s primary goal is preserving open space. He added that Melius’ idea could work.

About a year ago, JPMorgan Chase began marketing the sprawling Cold Spring parcel as an ideal housing site, touting it as “a unique residential development opportunity as one of the largest land parcels remaining on Long Island.” It is set in an established neighborhood filled with million-dollar homes.

When news of a potential sale leaked out, Huntington officials realized the bulk of its eight private golf courses, totaling nearly 900 open acres, were still zoned for houses set on half-acre plots. So, Cold Spring Country Club is zoned for up to 225 residences.

In response to a civic frenzy, town leaders enacted a six-month development moratorium for courses. That was recently extended until early next year.

A development blackout posed a problem for some potential buyers, sources said. Big-name residential brokers were interested, but not willing to deal with the town’s moratorium.