Land trust closes $4.5M deal to preserve 2-acre Hart Castle property

By Lisa Chamoff
Staff Writer
March 4, 2008

NORWALK - Since he bought the 2-acre, waterfront Hart Castle property on Sammis Street for $4 million in 2006, Charles Schoendorf has made frequent visits.

But yesterday Schoendorf became just another citizen who may enjoy the land's undeveloped splendor

The Norwalk Land Trust has closed on a $4.5 million deal to buy the parcel from Schoendorf, celebrating with a champagne toast in front a 100-year-old stone barn they hope to turn into a nature center.

"Now it's for everybody, and that's how it ought to be," Schoendorf said.

The nonprofit trust raised $3.4 million to buy the property since the start of last year.

As part of the deal, the land trust will pay Schoendorf $2 million in cash and raise $1 million. The rest will be covered by a $500,000 grant from Schoendorf, $500,000 in pledges this year and next, and a $500,000 state grant, which the land trust will receive once the fundraising is complete.

The parcel will be connected with 4 acres on Farm Creek already owned by the land trust and 10 acres owned by the city, creating a stretch of protected land totaling 16 acres.

Last year, the Common Council voted to grant the land trust an easement to keep the parcel as open space.

"Children just don't have that many opportunities to be out in nature," said Marny Smith, president of the Norwalk Land Trust. "This is a nature preserve where children can come, with or without their parents, and just look at the ducks and the boats."

Rowayton resident Gaylen Nash, who organized a recent visit to the property for children, said it gives residents another view of the village.

"Pinkney Park doesn't have woodlands. Bayley Beach has sand," Nash said as she carried her 2-year-old daughter, Alice, in front of the barn.

"This place reminds me of what Rowayton used to look like before it was developed."

Nash said she isn't worried about the land trust raising the remaining funds, considering how well it did in the last year.

"A lot of people said it couldn't be done," Nash said.

Schoendorf doubted the land could be protected. When he made an offer of $4 million for the property two years ago, after it was placed on the market for $3 million by the Hart estate, he wasn't sure what he would do with it. But immediately after the "for sale" sign was put in the ground, there was a "bidding frenzy," he said.

"I had to act fast," Schoendorf said. "I just knew it represented an incredible opportunity, but I wasn't sure in which way."

Schoendorf decided it was a chance for preservation in an area where home construction is almost constant.

"The point is to achieve a balance between conserved open space and the development," he said.

Copyright (c) 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

This article originally appeared at: http://www.norwalkadvocate