The Reader’s Digest campus in the town of New Castle

The developers who purchased the Reader’s Digest campus in Westchester in late 2004 with plans to build housing on the 114-acre property are suing the town of New Castle for repeatedly refusing to approve their development plans, charging that racial, age and socioeconomic motivations were in play in their decisions. According to the Wall Street Journal, Summit Development and Greenfield Partners paid $59 million for the site six years ago and have since spent another $10 million on it, but between the financial crisis, the bankruptcy of Reader’s Digest, which forced the company to renege on its 20-year lease at its landmark headquarters there in 2009, and the town’s alleged resistance to affordable housing in the wealthy Chappaqua hamlet, the developers have had enough. They filed a lawsuit in New York state Supreme Court Friday, seeking to force the town to buy the property back from them. [more]

The Clintons and Clover Hill Farm in Bedford Hills

Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton are reportedly looking to upgrade in
Westchester, trading their suburban home in Chappaqua for a $10.9
million estate set on 20 acres in Bedford Hills, according to the Post.
The property, called Clover Hill Farm at 525 Harris Road, is located
down a private road with a 7,000-square-foot main house, heated pool,
artist studio, stable, plus two guesthouses. The 10-year-old main house
has five bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms and is
currently owned by Paul Wallace, the retired founder of the real estate
firm Broadstone Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
in May. The home hit the market in December, and the Clintons have
visited multiple times and are planning to sign a contract within the
month, a source said. Mady Wengrover of Coldwell Banker has the
listing. Bedford Hills is also home to Richard Gere, Martha Stewart and
Glenn Close. [Post]

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From the February issue: The New York City real estate world has closely followed as brokerages here have downsized and shuttered offices. But just north of the city, in Westchester, the real estate industry has quietly seen a shift of its own. Indeed, some say the brokerage world there has been irrevocably altered during the downturn as some firms have announced closures, and others have set up shop or merged with larger corporate entities, poaching agents along the way. The biggest shake-up, of course, was Sotheby’s International Realty’s October decision to terminate its presence in the county altogether. Sotheby’s sold four of its offices — its three “golden triangle” offices in Scarsdale, Rye and Larchmont, as well as one in Chappaqua — to an affiliate, William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. In addition, it shut down a fifth office in Katonah, farther north in Westchester. That follows Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, which has seven offices in Westchester with roughly 340 agents, joining the Realogy umbrella at the end of April.  [more]

Former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton are looking to buy a house or two in New York, the Post
reports. Sources said the Clintons checked out a possible weekend home
in Willow, a hamlet of Woodstock. The $1.2 million home and an adjacent
property would give the Clintons about 7 acres of land and separate
quarters for their staff. The Clintons are also looking for something
closer to their Chappaqua home, and sources said they are looking in
other towns in Westchester for a larger estate. A Clinton spokesperson
denied that they are looking for a new home. [more]