FBE plans 120 luxury condos in Huntington

FBE’s Abraham Fruchthandler with 22 East Gate Drive (Daniel Parker, Google Maps)

Abraham Fruchthandler’s FBE Limited is aiming to bring more than 100 luxury condos to Cold Spring Harbor.

FBE is in contract to purchase 13 acres from the Cold Spring Country Club in Huntington, Newsday reported. It’s not clear how much FBE is paying for the land.

The developer wants to build 120 luxury condo units in a four-story, 340,000-square-foot building. The facility would have underground parking. FBE would preserve the golf course and open space on the land.

Cold Spring Harbor is next to Oheka Castle, where the owner is also pining to build.

Whether or not the condo development will come to fruition remains to be seen. The developer has met “preliminarily” with town officials, a spokesperson told Newsday, but no site plan or documents have been filed.

FBE could have some competition, too. Oheka Castle owner Gary Melius has made overtures about building on Cold Spring Country Club land. In 2012, he proposed a 190-unit senior community on castle land, stretching to a parcel of the country club. The deal never happened.

More recently, Melius proposed building 90 condominium units in a four-story building on the castle’s front lawn. That also never came to pass.

Melius is planning to submit a new application this week for a 95-unit community on his property, which he is confident will be approved because of a preliminary agreement for sewer connection.

As for FBE’s planned building? “I think they have a better chance at winning Lotto than getting that approved by the town,” Melius told Newsday.

Financial duress is part of the reason Melius is pushing to build at the famed castle, where Kevin Jonas was married. In 2019, a judge pushed the potential foreclosure of the property closer to reality after dismissing Melius’ claim that lenders withheld escrow payments and didn’t discuss a loan workout in good faith.

In October, FBE continued a march into South Florida, purchasing The Club at Emerald Waters for $31.9 million. The six-building, 300-unit complex marked one of several recent South Florida deals for the developer, which typically keeps its real estate efforts to New York City, particularly Brooklyn.

[Newsday] — Holden Walter-Warner

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