And yes, it is properly pronounced “COG-nee-wog”.
This was a beautiful place built by builder John Diamontopulos. Its selling price of $3,700,000 puts it in 4th place for Cognewaugh sales. Presently the record is held by 200 Cognewaugh which fetched $5,250,000 back in (sigh) 2007.
502 Cognewaugh (plus the other 7 sales at $3M+)
502 Cognewaugh, just off Stanwich Road. Beautiful, inside & out.
There’s a sorry tradition of tasteless jokes supposedly spread by “Wall Street traders” after every horrific incident. But the traders appear to have missed the boat on this latest horror, the “voodoo-cursed” Eugene Rudy (or is that Rudy Eugene?).
Herewith, my contribution:
1. Why didn’t Mr. Rudy select a Japanese victim? Because he knew they’re all about “saving face”.
2. Mr. Rudy was about to publish his list of recipes…it was to be called “FaceBook”.
3. What did Mr. Rudy say to his victim when he observed him biting his lip? “Hey, you gonna eat all that?”
Hey! This humor isn’t tasteless, it tastes like face!
162 properties priced at $4.995+ presently on the Greenwich market.
Ok, I’ll admit it, this is our slowest segment. And it has been my experience that when Greenwich’s high-end is slow, so goes the rest of the state’s high-end segments (up in Fairfield, for instance, that would be the $1M+ range).
Why is this the case? Probably a bunch of reasons, most falling into the category of “economic uncertainty”, both domestic and international. If you care to plow through Amity Shlaes’s most excellent book, The Forgotten Man, you will read about how President Roosevelt’s daily demonization of businesses, banks, and profits gradually eroded the confidence of the market and ultimately, people’s willingness to invest and put capital at risk. Happening again!
In the last six months or so, here’s what has sold in the $4.995+ range:
2 land sales One of these is broker Chris Fountain’s $6M (ask) deal on this North Street land.
487 North Street (the part for $6M). Called “Stuttering Breezes”..no, wait.. sorry, make that “Whispering Winds”. Broker Chris Fountain’s got it under contract, one of only two major land deals so far this year.
Cover story “Who Killed George Smith“, typically well-written by crime-writer Tim Dumas, who’s authored a couple of books about the Martha Moxley murder, “A Wealth of Evil” and “Greentown”, but I’m still not convinced this was murder. With all due respect to the prodigious efforts of my pal Mike Jones, stalwart attorney at Ivey, Barnum & O’Mara, who was hired by the Smith family to get to the bottom, and Mr. Dumas’s exhaustive research, it still sounds to me like an accident.
When reading this article, pay particular attention to the statements of Clete Hyman, a deputy police chief from Redlands, California. He was in the room right next to Smith’s, and heard and saw much at the hour of 4:18 AM, somewhere off the coast of Turkey.
Will the recently revealed existence of an apparently self-incriminating video-tape, by the notorious, slimy, and suspicious Russian-American men, who were the last people to see George Smith alive in his cabin, on board the Royal Caribbean cruise liner, turn out to be the key to the mystery? I stand ready to be convinced.
The current issue of Greenwich Magazine (I’ve linked to the story but you gotta buy the magazine to read the whole thing; you should.)
Seriously, a great game going on now in Anaheim, California. How do I know? Because I’m listening to it on WCBS news radio, 880 on your AM dial. I can’t watch baseball on TV because I can’t stand 3 hours of nose-picking, spitting, and crotch-grabbing*, so I listen instead to John Sterling and Susan Waldman as they perfectly describe what’s going on and why.
Baseball on the radio; where the players are all gentleman (in your imagination).
*And that’s just the people in the bar, the players on TV are worse!
This would be the LEAST disgusting thing these guys do for the obliging cameraman.
This week’s free plug goes to….
“The J House Greenwich”. Ok, it’s actually in Riverside, but J House Greenwich sounds so much more…so much more…you know.
This is a great place. I was immediately reminded of Los Angeles, or Malibu, perhaps. Very cool, beautiful interior, outdoor bar & restaurant, indoor bar & restaurant, but none of it too fussy or too chic, just nice to look at and a fun place to be. How do I explain this…it’s hip but it doesn’t exude that phony intimidation that most “hip” places exude, know what I mean?
I got a tour (so can you) of some of the hotel rooms and they are as amazing as the rest of it. At $219/night, practically a bargain for this area.
The staff is unfailingly friendly, starting with the guys in the parking lot, right through to the front desk, the bars, the restaurants, up to the Guy In Charge (as his business card reads), Manager John Sheedy, either a genuine Irishman, or a hell of an accent specialist.
It occurs to me that the reason you don’t get a creepy vibe here is the staff. They make you feel welcome.
1114 East Putnam Avenue, Riverside, CT 06878 (where the old, decrepit Howard Johnson’s used to be)
(203) 698-6990
JHouseGreenwich.com (not a great website, but I’m sure they’ll fix)
The J House: Much better looking than this dopey computer simulation. Next time I’m there, I’ll snap a few shots. You MUST see this place.
You’ll recall in an earlier post it was revealed we had 13 closings for the week of May 14-18. For the week just completed, we had 11, here’s the link:
Take a look at these closing prices, they are all interesting in different ways. A couple of properties, 67 Lockwood Lane and 341 Stanwich Road, both sold instantly at their asking price, but some of the others went at steep discounts, particularly the two Mead Point waterfronts.
549 Indian Field Road, out on “Mead Point”, one of two waterfronts that came on out there. Both were the very definition of “rare opportunities”, but still needed to be marked down in order to sell. This one started at $15.9M, sells for $11M. (“Horse Island” off in distance)
For this past week, we had 19 accepted offers…
120 Oneida Drive (you can see this place from the Bruce Park bridge). Listed as “land” with architectural plans and all approvals, at $4.5M. Sold in 2010 for $3.517M.
The week just past was GREAT, but before we get to that, here are the previous week’s numbers…
A total of 38
38 Round Hill Road, biggest deal of the week, asked $11,950,000. Sold twice before: 2003 at $7.825M and 2005 at $9.950M. My guess this time? $10.5M.
accepted offers and contracts made up of:
33 houses and condos, priced $349,000-$11,950,000.
and
Greenwich Bored And Razed 