Tag Archives: Katonah NY

Katonah NY

Turnover of real estate market in Azerbaijan grew by 38.6% and exceeded AZN 3.495 bn in 2013 | Katonah NY Homes

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan reports that turnover of the country’s residential property market for the first 11 months of 2013 increased by 38.6% against the same term of 2012. In 2012 the index grew by 24.86% against 2011.

According to the CBA, turnover of residential property (the cash flow of notary’s offices) reached AZN 3.495 bn by 1 December 2013 versus AZN 2.52 bn a year earlier.

At the same time transfers to notary’s offices accounts for purchase/sale of residential real estate by individuals totaled AZN 1.548 bn for Jan-Nov 2013 versus AZN 1.1 bn a year earlier (+40.45%), and the withdrawals from these accounts AZN 1.947 bn versus AZN 1.419 bn (+37.22%).

At that, the CBA reports of a rise in revenues of mediators (banks, notary’s offices and realtors) for residential real estate transactions by 25.99% for Jan-Nov of 2013. As of 1 December 2013 mediators’ earnings were AZN 399.119 million versus AZN 316.795 million a year earlier.

Last year’s turnover of residential property totaled AZN 2.828 bn versus AZN 2.265 bn in 2011. At that, transfers to notary’s offices accounts for purchase/sale of residential real estate by individuals totaled AZN 1.599 bn versus AZN 1.2 bn a year earlier (+31.81%), and the withdrawals from these accounts AZN 1.228 bn versus AZN 1.05 bn (+16.84%). Last year mediators’ earnings grew 2.29-fold up to AZN 371.307 million versus AZN 162.3 million a year earlier.

 

 

 

http://abc.az/eng/news/main/78660.html

Katonah-Lewisboro Parents Propose New School Redistricting Option | Katonah NY Real Estate

Edward Burt’s third-grade son may have to change schools in the fall if the Katonah-Lewisboro school board decides to close an elementary school when it votes on the matter Thursday, Jan. 23.

He isn’t alone. The Increase Miller Elementary School parent was one of dozens to attend a forum on the matter Wednesday night, moderated by Goldens Bridge resident and former Assemblyman Robert Castelli.

Mirjana Jovanovic, a mother of two at Increase Miller, asked the two Katonah-Lewisboro school board members present to consider an alternative option to moving 94 students to Katonah Elementary. Since the school runs below capacity, she proposed letting those students stay at Increase Miller and send new and incoming students to Katonah.

The idea caught steam with the board members and parents. Other parents suggested to let just those in fourth and fifth grades finish out their time at Increase Miller.

The school board formed a School Closure Task Force in June to investigate the possibility of closing one or two elementary schools in response to enrollment that has dropped by 700-plus students since 2006. The task force decided closing Lewisboro Elementary would disrupt the fewest students possible and created a redistricting plan that spread the 300-plus students across the remaining three schools.

However, Lewisboro Elementary parents asked the board to alter its redistricting plan to send their kids to only two schools. By sending them in larger groups parents argued this would prevent some students from being torn apart from their friends.

Tobin said the board agreed and the administration develop a second scenario, in which some Increase Miller kids would be redistricted to Katonah Elementary to even out the distribution among the three remaining schools. This, Burt said, would send students, including his son, to Katonah alone, without any of their friends.

“You listened to them, well you should listen to us,” Burt said. “You agreed with them, now here’s the other side of it.”

The other side of it left Burt and scores of parents filling the small room in the Lewisboro Recreation and Parks Building debating which redistricting scenario they prefer, each choosing the one that would impact their child least. Most parents supported Jovanovic’s idea because it would keep their kids together.

The first scenario would give Increase Miller 470 students, Katonah 490 and Meadow Pond 426. The second scenario would give Increase Miller 467, Katonah 472 and Meadow Pond 447.

The second scenario also comes with a lower savings total at $1.74 million, down from $1.89 million.

Tobin said she will bring the parents’ third scenario to the board at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, where they are scheduled to discuss which scenario is best. If four of the seven agree the phasing in, or grandfather clause should be looked into, the administration will do so, she said.

A public hearing on the school closing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 and the final vote is Thursday, Jan. 23.

Parents may email all seven school board members, the superintendent and assistant superintendents ahead of the meeting Thursday, which will be held at the John Jay High School library on 60 Cross River Road, Cross River.

http://bedford.dailyvoice.com/schools/katonah-lewisboro-parents-propose-new-school-redistricting-option

Teatown Lake Reservation updates | Katonah Real Estate

January 2, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We look forward to another year of engaging people with nature!

Photo taken by Elissa Schilmeister, Environmental Educator, at our Holi-Daze Mini Camp.

Visit Teatown

1600 Spring Valley Road

Ossining, NY 10562

914-762-2912

www.teatown.org

Nature Center hours:

9:00am-5:00pm everyday

Trails are open 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.

Teatown Lake Reservation’s

mission is to conserve open

space and to educate and

involve the regional community

in order to sustain the diversity

of wildlife, plants and habitats

for future generations.

Your donation can make

an immediate impact to help

conserve and protect the

diversity of wildlife, plants

and habitats…

today and into the future.

In Teatown’s Gallery

Recent Works by
Inez Andrucyk

Inez Andrucyk has exhibited at
The Hudson River Museum,
The Jacob Burns Film Center,
The Katonah Museum, The Arts Exchange, various galleries, colleges and universities, and was a guest speaker at The National Museum in Malta and Rutgers University. Murals are located in New York City (featured on Channel 11 News) and Port Chester, NY.

Photos of her work have been featured in The New York Times, and in “Crimes of the Beats and Unbearables.” Her Community Mural was listed in “On the Wall: Community Murals” by Janet Braun-Reinitz and Jane Weissman.

Inez enjoys teaching art to adults, children, youth and at risk populations. Her long term teaching position is at Silvermine Arts Center.

All photographs are for sale, and all proceeds will be donated to Teatown Lake Reservation.

www.teatown.org

Animal Adventures: Musky Mustelids
Saturday, January 4, 11:00am- 12:00pm

Meet a few of Teatown’s ambassador animals in this program featuring odiferous animals. Families with children 4 & over. Free for members, $5 for non-members.

First Hike of the New Year
Sunday, January 5, 1:00- 2:30pm

Kick off the New Year with a hearty hike in the frosty air. We’ll hike up into Hidden Valley looking for winter wildlife. On our return we’ll toast the New Year with a hot drink. Please dress for the weather and wear appropriate footgear for the trail conditions. All welcome. Free for members, $5 for non-members.

All programs require pre-registration

To register call 914-762-2912 x 110

unless otherwise noted.

Click for more info on Teatown’s upcoming programs.

Teatown’s Hudson River EagleFestsm
General Admission Tickets Now Available!

Click here to purchase general admission tickets.

To purchase bus tour tickets, call 914-762-2912 x 110.

For more information, click here.

Nature Girls

Tuesdays, January 28 – March 25, 3:30 – 5:30 pm

Come on girls get your nature on! Led by Elissa Schilmeister, girls will hike and explore natural habitats, engage in team-building activities, conduct mini-experiments and scientific investigations. *No program February 18. Girls ages 10- 14.

For more information, click here.

Little Tree Huggers: Wonderful Winter

Tuesdays, January 28 – March 11, 10:00- 11:15am

This class for 2- 3 year olds is packed with age-appropriate outdoor explorations, stories and activities. *No program February 18. Must be accompanied by parent or caregiver.

For more information,click here.

Reap the rewards

of being a Teatown member.

Click to join today!

Farewell to Jove

Our beloved little kestrel, Jove, passed away earlier last week. He had a beak handicap which meant that he would never survive in the wild. So he came to Teatown and spent the last 6 years educating the public about raptors, falcons, and especially, the right steps to take when encountering baby birds to prevent imprinting. He helped give those birds the chance he would never have – a wild life.

Jove had more character and personality packed into that tiny body of his than you could imagine. I am certain that at some point he landed on every handler’s head in his enclosure. He loved to fly to his dish and be hand fed his minced mouse tartar, making him one of the easiest birds to work with. And, “working” did not phase him – he was comfortable with his audiences, allowing countless people a chance to glimpse a beautiful falcon up very close and personal. He both wow’d and charmed his audiences time and again. He even had his five minutes of fame, starring in the opening scene of the locally filmed movie “A Birder’s Guide to Everything.”

Jove has earned a special place in my heart, and I can honestly say that he will probably be one of the best raptor ambassadors that I’ll ever work with. I know those of you who will miss him most – miss him rousing on your glove, bobbing his head and tail. I think we can all be proud of our little friend’s legacy. He touched many lives and helped instill compassion and respect for wildlife and their local habitats.

-Written by Erin Baker, Teatown’s Animal Care Supervisor & Environmental Educator.

“From Garbage to Black GOLD: Realizing the Value of Food Waste”

January 24, 2014, 8:30 am-10:30am
Greenburgh Public Library

Conservation Cafe´presents

the next Conversations on Conservation.

“From Garbage to Black GOLD:

Realizing the Value of Food Waste”

Moderator: Braeden Cohen, Composting/Sustainability Specialist and educator at the Greenburgh Nature Center will be discussing the scope and expense of the food waste problem in Westchester; composting as a profitable solution to food waste; basic mechanics of composting food along with yard organics.

Jean Bonhotal of the Cornell Waste Management Institute and the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, will be speaking on the economics of food waste composting and case studies of food waste composting operations in New York State.

Terry Laibach, Recycling Specialist at NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Region III will talk about the New York State DEC requirements for food waste composting in New York and examples of food waste composting facilities currently in operation or in planning stages in New York State.

Sarah Groat, Manager of Soil, Recycling, and Compost Operations at Stone Barns Center For Food and Agriculture will present on how Stone Barns turns Garbage To Gold as part of both their mission and business operations.

Who Should Attend: Municipal officials, DPW officials, school facility managers, grocery store associations, restaurateurs, homeowners, the agricultural community, gardening enthusiasts, organizations that have high food waste disposal costs and those concerned about waste.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.; the program begins at 8:45 a.m.

This is a FREE program, and all are welcome to join.

US Default Seen Pushing Housing to the Brink | Katonah NY Real Estate

Housing largely dodged a bullet on the government shut down that went into effect October 1, the pending default, however, is an entirely different matter. As the October 17 default deadline nears, knuckle in the housing industry are turning white.

All the progress that the housing recovery has achieved since the crashed could be erased overnight if the US defaults on its debts, according to the president of the National Association of Realtors. But Gary Thomas is not the only housing leader raising alarms and the debt default clock ticks down.

In testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, NAR president Gary Thomas said that unless the debt ceiling is raised in “a timely manner,” the country would face a recession that would wipe out the recent progress made in home prices, home sales and new residential construction.

Robert Dietz, Vice President for Tax and Market Analysis for the National Association of Homebuilders, says the primary effect of a default or downgrade would be increased uncertainty. “Home buyers are making purchase of a capital asset that they will own, on average, for ten years. Given other sources of uncertainty, particularly from the labor market, the largest impact from a failure to reach a deal that increases the debt ceiling would be to further increase concern and anxiety of families attempting to make long-term economic decisions.

“What the housing market needs now is more, not less, certainty, with respect to housing policy and access to capital via the mortgage markets. This will help stabilize housing prices, thereby helping households repair balance sheets and set the stage for more robust economic growth.”

Writing in Friday’s New York Times, economist Paul Krugman argues that a default would create a shock to the economy on a scale of the Great Recession or the Housing Crash of 2007. The default would put the burden of paying interest on Treasury bonds. Currently the cash-flow deficit is a bit more than 4 percent of GDP, which would have to be closed immediately and the government would then fall even further behind on its bills, he says.

“So, when did we last see a spending shock this big? As it happens, we’re looking at something just about the size of the post-bubble housing bust, which was also about 4 percent of GDP:

NAR’s Lawrence Yun describes a similar scenario. “Should the government decide to pay bills other than interest obligations, we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise as investors look for more return to compensate for the increased risk of their not getting paid. And if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”

Yun says home sales can be expected to drop by 350,000 to 450,000 units for each 100 basis-point rise in mortgage rates.

 

 

 

Wayne Newtown’s Hideously Overpriced Ranch Asks $70M | Katonah Real Estate

29 images

Arabian horses and lemurs may have once frolicked on the 36-acre grounds of Casa de Shenandoah, Wayne Newton’s Las Vegas estate, but the real zoo these days is its price tag: it’s just been listed for a crazy—nay, insane, nay, utterly inconceivable—$70M. As Redfin Blog points out, there are eight separate homes on the property, a “car museum” (that must mean “garage,” in brokerbabble), 37 stables, an “equestrian pool,” a tennis court, and, best of all, a “jumbo jet and terminal” meant to be used—as if there were any doubt by those marbleized interiors—”for entertaining.” Yet it’s unclear from the photos where, exactly, the “excess of 15-20 Million in improvements” went.

Mr. Las Vegas and his wife, Kathleen, lived at Casa de Shenandoah for nearly 45 years, but in recent years the place has been riddled with lawsuits and squabbles. In 2010, a developer purchased the estate for $19.5M in an agreement that would help the Newtons out of bankruptcy, so long as they agreed to vacate and build a smaller place for themselves right on the property so that the main house could be turned into a Wayne Newton-themed theme park, complete with a museum, gift shop, and dinner theater. Newton didn’t actually seem against the idea; in fact, he retained a 20 percent stake in the development company and seemed to see the financial potential in the museum idea. An excerpt from 2010 AP coverage:

“In Newton’s vision, visitors to Casa de Shenandoah would tour select parts of his 10,000-square-foot home amid the plush white carpets, gold-trimmed doors, impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and 17th-century antiques collected from European castles. 

They might glance at the singer’s favorite space, a cramped office just to the right of his lavish living room, where the ominous red paint splashed on the walls is barely visible behind the shelves and stacks of mementoes collected during his 50-plus years in show business.”

 

Things didn’t go as planned, though, and last year the entertainer was sued for allegedly dragging his feet on moving out, not handing over the agreed-upon memorabilia, and, uh, “deliberately thwarted construction efforts, including sexually harassing construction workers,” according to the International Business Times. The Las Vegas Sun has a brilliant breakdown of the suit, as well as Newton’s countersuit; as a sneak preview, it involves people accusing each other of shooting Rhodesian ridgebacks.

Back to the estate at hand: this summer, Newton settled for an undisclosed sum and finally left; the animals, according to Redfin, have been sold to wildlife centers; and the developer dropped its plans to proceed with “Graceland West,” as the theme park has been called. Last Dec., a judge greenlit Casa de Shanandoah to go to auction—at which point a relatively decent crop of listing photos surfaced online—but the auction never actually happened. Now, of course, the home where Ellen Griswold has her date with Newton, playing himself, in the 1997 flick Vegas Vacation is seeking someone to shell out $70M. Let’s just hope some of those “impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir” are factored in.

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/09/10/wayne-newtowns-hideously-overpriced-ranch-asks-70m.php

A Look at the (Future) Tallest Vertical Garden on Earth | Katonah Real Estate

one-central-park-sydney-image-sept-2010.jpgRendering via Patrick Blanc

Any building posed to have the tallest vertical garden on Earth isn’t just any ol’ boring monolith, no siree! And if Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker Prize-winning French architect who’s simply obsessed with light, shadow, and ambitious, glassy structures, has anything to do with it, well, then the results promise to be fairly bonkers. Such is the case for One Central Park, a largely residential mixed-use project currently underway in Sydney and scheduled to be finished next year. According to Dezeen, half the façade will be covered in 350 plant species in a massive vertical garden-type thing designed and installed by French botanist and artist Patrick Blanc.

But that’s not all! The 624-unit building is actually two towers of different heights—the taller one rises more than 380 feet in the air, beating out a crazy vertical garden planned for Milan by about 20 feet—conjoined at the center, and

“The tallest tower features a large cantilever that contains 38 luxury penthouse apartments. On the underneath, there is a heliostat of motorised mirrors that direct sunlight down onto the surrounding gardens. After nightfall the cantilever is used as a canvas for a LED light installation by artist Yann Kersalé.”

 

Here now, a sketch, a rendering, and a 45-second video of Blanc talking about the project:

one-central-park-sydney-sketch.jpgSketch via Patrick Blanc

dezeen_tallest_living_wall_sydney_jean-nouvel_patrick_blanc_sq_3.jpgRendering via Dezeen

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/09/09/a-look-at-the-future-tallest-vertical-garden-on-earth.php

Land Banks Help Clear Paths For Neighborhood Renewals | Katonah NY Real Estate

What do Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri, Georgia, and Nebraska have in common? Your first thought might be practically nothing. But all of these states have passed comprehensive legislation in the past two years that authorized the formation of land banks for the purpose of reclaiming real estate whose market value in its present blighted or tax-delinquent condition is all but worthless.

For adventurous builders and developers, especially those whose business models include infill aspirations, land banks hold out the promise of inexpensive, albeit risky, redevelopment options. And if this phenomenon expands, as some experts predict it will, land banks could become a more important component in helping metros resuscitate left-for-dead neighborhoods and achieve their larger goals of attracting more residents and businesses.

“It’s an exciting time for land banks,” says Wade Kapzukiewicz, treasurer of Lucas County, Ohio, and chairman of the county’s three-year-old land bank, one of 16 in the Buckeye State.

Between 100 and 150 authorized land banks are in operation across the United States. Typically, the banks are set up to serve counties or metros like Chicago, whose Cook County Land Bank Authority is scheduled to open this fall. And if all things fall into place as planned, Philadelphia could have its first land bank by mid 2014, says Rick Sauer, executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations.

Philadelphia has more than 40,000 residential and commercial properties that either haven’t paid taxes in years, are vacant, or abandoned. Various public agencies own about one quarter of these properties. The game plan over time, says Sauer, is to move a sizable portion of the land and buildings into the land bank, and repurpose as many properties as local real estate conditions will allow to get them back on the tax roles via redevelopment that could include everything from open space to market-rate and affordable housing.

Why Land Banks? Land banks “are a new tool based on a new reality,” says Dr. Frank Alexander, Sam Nunn Professor of Law at Emory University in Atlanta, and cofounder and general counsel for the Center for Community Progress, which advocates the creation of vibrant communities primarily through the reuse of problem properties in America’s cities and towns. Historically these properties have been located in dilapidated neighborhoods within a city’s urban core. But, says Alexander, the last housing recession spread this plague to the suburbs, where he’s seen whole subdivisions succumb to foreclosure.

A Quicker Fix. Land banks have become a solution for cash-strapped cities that want to rehabilitate rundown neighborhoods, but don’t have the money or manpower to chase down owners of abandoned properties or to tear down buildings.

Land banks have the legal authority to take ownership of properties within days or weeks, settle (often by voiding) title and lien obstacles, demolish what can’t be salvaged, and assemble and resell land and buildings through commercial brokers. By authorizing a land bank in the spring of 2012, Syracuse, N.Y., last November was able to initiate foreclosures on 3,900 properties that were at least two years behind in their taxes. Having someplace where the city could transfer ownership of those properties was a prerequisite for completing the foreclosure process.

 

http://www.builderonline.com/land-acquisition/land-banks-help-clear-paths-for-neighborhood-renewals.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=jump&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBP_100813&day=2013-10-08

 

 

Westchester County ‘Fortress of Solitude’ Asks $1.575M | Katonah Real Estate

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Location: Harrison, N.Y. Price: $1,575,000 The Skinny: In 1998, a cosmetics executive paid $625K for a 1960s house on more than an acre of land in Harrison, N.Y., a small, verdant town some 25 miles north of Manhattan. Coming as close to a teardown as possible without actually tearing it down, she spent seven years renovating the place so it would fit the only type of home she had had ever known—a high-rise apartment—giving the quiet suburban property the “feel of a high-end Manhattan loft in the middle of Central Park,” the owners explain by email. The spiky, geometric exterior (actually “the original home’s cedar siding covered with a malleable material that could be molded to create sharp angles,” according to a 2011 Wall Street Journal piece) and confident use of glass were also inspired by Superman’s Fortress of Solitude from the comic series she read as a kid. Inside the 4,247-square-foot contemporary are three bedrooms (including a bi-level master suite with a home office), Volga blue granite floors, remote-controlled skylights, and a Snaidero kitchen with a wood-burning pizza oven. Outside, there’s an 1,800-square-foot deck (with ramps for accessibility), a sculptural waterfall, and “plenty of space for a swimming pool and tennis court,” according to the brokerbabble. Though it’s been on and off the market for a few years, the Fortress of Solitude is currently awaiting for a superhero to pay $1.575M.

 

 

http://curbed.com/archives/2013/10/16/westchester-county-fortress-of-solitude-asks-1575m.php