Sandy Hutchens Chronicle

Sandy Hutchens likes the potential of building Mansions with this novel strategy

Simone Development of New Rochelle, N.Y., has plans to build 10 houses on 30 wooded acres in well-to-do Purchase, N.Y. But each $4-million-plus house will go up only after a buyer signs a contract and reaches a deal on how the house will look and which high-end features it will have.

In the current market, building homes on “spec” when there’s a surplus of existing ones for sale “would be silly,” said Joseph Simone, the president of the company. “What we are selling customers is the ability to build their dream home on their own land.
When buyers are obliged to go for an existing house, “they have to compromise on their desires,” Mr. Simone said. “This is about not settling for less.”

The land for the planned subdivision, called Sarosca Farm Estates, was bought as two tracts in 2007. Bordered by three private golf courses, it was once part of a 50-acre estate owned by the late Oscar S. Straus, whose family operated the R. H. Macy & Company department store. Sarosca is an amalgam of Mr. Straus’s given name and that of his late wife, Sarah L. Straus.

The lots range from 1.5 to 3.8 acres and are being sold — house included — starting at $4 million. A road, utilities and sewer lines are already in place and the area has been roughly landscaped. Once the buyer and developer hammer out an agreement on the design and features and sign a contract, a finished house can be delivered within 12 months, Mr. Simone said.

Anchoring the subdivision is the Straus family’s 7,500-square-foot summer home, a Tudor mansion. Completed about a century ago and elegantly updated after its acquisition by the developer in 2007, it has six bedrooms, six baths, six working fireplaces and a kitchen — at 33 by 25 feet — big enough to cater a hunt breakfast, hounds included.

Priced at $4,995,000, it includes maid’s quarters, a swimming pool, terraces and a detached three-car garage.

The property’s original owner was Harry S. Black, the chairman of the New York City-based United States Realty and Construction Company.

It was Black who had the mansion built, commissioning the architect Bruce Price to design his country home.

Price had laid out and designed the original cottages for Tuxedo Park, an exclusive Orange County, N.Y., community, as well as the Château Frontenac hotel in Quebec and other landmark Canadian Pacific Railway hotels and stations. But the architect, the father of Emily Price Post, the renowned authority on etiquette, died in 1903 before the plans for the house could be completed.

Black nonetheless broke ground on the house in 1904. It is unclear when construction was completed, but Straus acquired the estate from Black in 1914. Part of the mansion’s roof and rafters were replaced after a fire in 1985, according to the developers.

The manor house went on the market four months ago, and “we have had quite a bit of traffic, both local and from New York City,” said Kathleen S. Murray, the manager of the Rye office of Houlihan Lawrence, which has an exclusive listing for the house.

Ms. Murray said the concept behind the rest of the subdivision offers advantages to buyer and developer alike. The developer doesn’t have to pay construction bills until a deal is struck, and the buyer can weigh in on every detail before the foundation is poured — meanwhile taking up to a year to sell his old house, if any. “It’s a win-win situation,” she said.

Sheila R. Clarke, an agent with Steckler Real Estate in nearby Scarsdale, said that she had not seen the property but thought some buyers might like the idea of buying a house before it was built.

“It’s something that hasn’t been tried, and you really don’t know,” Ms. Clarke said. “But that is a great concept and I think they’ll do well, because the area is so beautiful and very exclusive.”

While high-end sales are still in the doldrums, she said, “there are still people out there with lots of money. We’re seeing improvement in the market in spurts, and from what I am observing, there are more people looking for new construction than for something that’s been around, even something that’s been renovated.”

Mr. Simone has already had a small stable of architects draw up suggested floor plans and specifications for mansions in five styles.

The asking price for each lot is based on its size and location as well as the estimated cost of building the house. The designs range in size from about 7,000 to 9,000 square feet and have five or more bedrooms and baths.

It’s a guesstimate; once the buyer decides how many rooms, and the type of heating and cooling system, appliances, flooring and finishes — not to mention additional amenities like a home theater, wine cellar, pool, tennis court and so forth — the developer can put a final price on the lot and house.

The buyer then signs a contract and makes a down payment, with the cost of additional details to be worked out during construction.

Mr. Simone calls Purchase, a hamlet of about 3,500 people in Harrison, N.Y., a “hidden secret. It’s the Beverly Hills of New York.”

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