What is it about Elm Court (now rebranded as Vanderbilt Berkshires Estate) that seems to bring out lack of transparency from its owners? Is it moldy air inside the mansion, or what?
Primary among our concerns: why, given the acrimony, misinformation and outright hostility that marred the previous chapter of ownership, has Linda S. Law not reached out to the neighborhood, despite several open invitations, made in good faith? Would such dialogue not be in her best interests? Might she not actually learn something about the character of Old Stockbridge Road, and its longtime residents, including those who live on former Gilded Age estates?
First, we relay a Letter to the Editor published in the Berkshire Eagle, written by neighborhood resident, Mr. Wayne Lemanski:
To the editor: As a neighbor of Elm Court, I read with interest Linda Law’s plan to bring a “bright light shining over Lenox.” (“Historic Elm Court has been rebranded Vanderbilt Berkshires Estate. What’s next for the Gilded Age mansion?” Eagle, Oct. 3.)
After purchasing a property that will have a significant impact on a neighborhood, you would think a successful real estate entrepreneur would touch base with the neighbors: introduce yourselves, let neighbors know you plans, how it will effect them and most important to the developer, begin to gain support for the project.
Having owned the property for close to 10 months, the owners have failed to reach out. Lack of neighborhood support killed the Travaasa project, and I would predict Vanderbilt in the Berkshires would face the same outcome. So maybe Linda Law is right to have an extremely pessimistic nature.
To the editor: As the community recognizes, Elm Court is steeped in a magnificent history over the course of the last 130-plus years.
It has both risen and fallen throughout the decades as a product of both care and neglect. Most recently, Travaasa proposed a plan over the course of 10-plus years that became mired in cost and time and created a groundswell of discontent on Old Stockbridge Road. This discontent was so contentious that emotions became the fuel for litigation that served no one productively.
Our efforts to date have been to carefully and calmly complete a substantive due diligence review on Elm Court’s current conditions while keeping a keen eye on it’s future. (“Historic Elm Court has been rebranded Vanderbilt Berkshires Estate. What’s next for the Gilded Age mansion?” Eagle, Oct. 3.) It remains abundantly clear to those of us who have the courage to rescue such an iconic property that it is essential to first fully understand all of the pressures that face any entity that accepts this responsibility. This process is time consuming.
I appreciate Wayne Lemanski’s point of view and agree that the neighborhood support is an integral component to its success. (“Letter: Elm Court’s new owners should do more community outreach,” Eagle, Oct. 5.) Elm Court’s success will also be ensured if the broader communities of Stockbridge and Lenox continue to be supportive and to partner with us at every opportunity to save this exceptional property. This combined commitment will ensure a pathway forward amidst astronomical costs and hurdles. I promise you, Mr. Lemanski, that your name is on our list when the invitations are extended.
We note there is no longer any pie-flying-through-sky talk of “bright lights” and “global beacons”. No, now there is the harsh reality of “astronomical costs and hurdles.”
Far from something “nobody has thought of before” nor something that is “accretive to the community,” to quote Ms. Law from an earlier sales talk, we are now anticipating a typical intensive residential and rental-unit development designed to squeeze every last dollar from those eighty nine acres and from the rotting manse.
As she also said recently, ‘’I think what we’re cooking up is going to be a killer.” Here we go again.
Old Stockbridge Road Neighborhood Association 