Cold Spring Country Club to sell undeveloped land near Oheka Castle

The Cold Spring Country Club has placed 13.25 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to Oheka Castle for sale, according to brokers marketing the property.

Cushman & Wakefield, the brokerage marketing the land, intends to target “major local and national developers” interested in building high-end residential units on the site. Zoning allows for up to 185 residential units to be built on the forested parcel in West Hills. The parcel is also adjacent to the golf course, which is not for sale.

Brokers said they anticipate interest from potential buyers over the next two weeks.

“Where do you find on highly-developed Long Island such a beautiful setting,” said Andrew Merin, who is vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield. “You’re not overlooking highways. You’re surrounded by a golf course and a castle. It’s not your average subdivision.”

While Merin said it was too early to tell how much housing on the site would sell for, he said he expected them to be “seven-figure housing units.”

The country club’s property and the neighboring Oheka Castle have been proposed as a site for potential residential development in recent years.

In 2012, the Huntington Town Board approved a zoning change allowing for development subject to certain conditions associated with transferring development rights from the neighboring country club to Gary Melius, owner of Oheka Castle.

In March 2015, Huntington officials said requirements had been met to change the zone from residential and general business to an “Open Space Cluster District,” allowing Melius to build 190 condos.

In 2016, Melius and the board of the Cold Spring Country Club were in talks to turn over Oheka and the course to golf great Jack Nicklaus and developer Stanley Gale in a 99-year lease.

The deal, which fell through later that year, would have resulted in $20 million of improvements to the course, development of condos, and transformation of the castle into a course clubhouse with locker rooms, dining and a pro shop. The castle currently operates as luxury lodging known as Oheka Castle Hotel & Estate.

A club board member confirmed late Wednesday that the club does not have an arrangement to work with the Oheka Castle owner on a redevelopment project.

Melius said Wednesday that he had been notified of the club’s plans to market the parcel. While the club’s decision to sell the land “affects me,” he said that he can “do my own small project over here” on his land.

The club was formed in 1947 after the property was sold to the former members of Willowbrook Country Club. The design of the course, once owned by Otto Kahn, dates back to 1919.

Merin is overseeing the property’s marketing with Cushman & Wakefield brokers Brian Whitmer and Ryan Dowd of the firm’s East Rutherford, New Jersey office, along with Tom Donovan from the brokerage’s Queens office.