08/18/08 EASING THE $QUEEZE Nick Paumgarten examines the impact of the subprime-mortgage fiasco on Greenwich, a place he calls "more prime than sub."

Nick Paumgarten, of The New Yorker, examines the impact of the subprime-mortgage fiasco on Greenwich, Conn., a place he calls
"more prime than sub."

Nick Paugmgarten's piece considers the effects of the foreclosure crisis on Greenwich, Conn., as the town tries "to maintain, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, that they are immune, more or less, to the ravages of the credit crisis." Given the economic downturn, Greenwich real-estate developers who "made a great deal of money buying up empty lots or teardowns and building enormous speculative ready-to-occupy mansions" cannot find buyers for the luxury houses.

Here Is A Sneak Peak

New Yorker Abstract

Nick Paumgarten, And Local Correspondents,
"A Greenwich of the Mind,"
The New Yorker, August 25, 2008

OUR LOCAL CORRESPONDENTS about Antares Investment Partners and the high-end real estate market in Greenwich, Connecticut. Writer notes that it is illegal for a real-estate agent to post a “For Sale” sign in front of a house or tract of land in Greenwich. The absence of such signage has been a blessing in recent months, as the town’s brokers have sought to maintain that they are immune, more or less, to the ravages of the credit crisis. Tells about a thirty-five thousand square foot spec house called Lake Carrington Estate developed by a local real-estate firm called Antares Investment Partners. It is one of eight houses Antares had planned to build in the Greenwich backcountry. Tells about Jim Cabrera and Joe Beninati, the founders of Antares, who live next door to Lake Carrington. The house went on the market in April, 2007, listed at twenty-eight million dollars. A year later, it had yet to sell. Describes how the influx of wealth from hedge-fund managers has changed Greenwich during the last fifteen years. The town experienced a frenzy of buying, selling, subdividing. The town’s vestigial claim to dignity and discretion is at odds with its feverish wealth. Discusses Greenwich’s history as a town where the wealthy settled. Mentions that President Bush, in effect, renounced his Greenwich provenance. Greenwich is a much more ephemeral place than it would appear. Its proximity to New York has made it a way station for transient businessmen, which has been good for the real estate business. Tells about the founding of Antares in 1996. By the summer of 2007, Cabrera and Beninati were managing a portfolio of real estate that they valued at six billion dollars. They positioned themselves as hedge fund Pied Pipers. In 2004, Cabrera and Beninati bought twenty-six backcountry acres and began building houses on them under the aegis of Antares Mansions. The company raised $12.9 million from investors and borrowed twenty-seven million from two banks. Writer has lunch with Charles Mallory, an owner of the Delamar hotel in Greenwich. Mallory says that Greenwich is now a “more diverse and fascinating community than it was.” Writer visits Beninati at Antares’s office in Stamford. Discusses the troubled Putnam Green apartment development venture. Writer meets spec-house developer Mark Mariani, who doesn’t feel much remorse for the houses he knocks down. Unlike Antares, Mariani says he finances his own projects. Tells about Antares Mansions entering default on loans for their mansions project. Describes the foreclosure auction for a property on Round Hill Road. In August, the writer went on a “windshield tour” of Antares’s projects with Beninati. Tells about some of the developments, including an office building that will, Beninati says, house three hedge funds. Beninati has optimism about the market in Greenwich.

Source URL:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/25/080825fa_fact_paumgarten

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