Owners Poised to Raze Canoe Place Inn

The fate of the former Canoe Place Inn, now the Coliseum nightclub, is in jeopardy as the developers make final plans to demolish the historic building where celebrities of a bygone era such as Lucille Ball used to party.

Gregg and Mitchell Rechler, owners of the six-acre property, filed demolition permits Monday at Southampton Town Hall. The Rechlers, of the Melville-based R Squared LLC, plan to tear down the structure this fall.

"The plan is to take the building down before winter," said Drew Renter, director of development and construction for R Squared LLC.  Renter said the owners need to cut their losses and described a costly 2010 winter during which pipes froze, leading to major flooding inside the nightclub. In addition, Renter said there have been break-ins and other liability issues.

Renter said there are no plans for a specific new development.

The move appears to quash a proposed deal under which the Rechlers would preserve the exterior of the building, turning it into a catering hall, in exchange for permission from Southampton Town to build 40 luxury condos on land they own on the east side of the Shinnecock Canal. The condos would require a special zoning allowance called a Planned Development District.

Last week, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst called for a moratorium on all such districts.

Jefferson Murphree, Southampton Town Planning and Development Administrator, confirmed that the demo permits were properly filed Monday.

"The town is pursuing numerous options at this time on how to proceed," Murphree said.

The Canoe Place Inn, where Lucille Ball, Gary Cooper, Babe Ruth and Franklin D. Roosevelt reportedly stayed, was a stagecoach stop and tavern in the 1700s. 

The original structure, once headquarters for British officers during the Revolutionary War, burned in 1921. The inn was rebuilt and became a popular hangout for celebrities, political leaders and judges. The social elite ate in the restaurant and danced in the grand ballroom.

The building has undergone a series of renovations over the past five decades, which destroyed much of the interior historic value.

But despite its long history, the structure has never been protected as a designated historical landmark, giving the owners the legal right to demolish.

The Hampton Bays Historical and Preservation Society, along with many community members, say the property has significant historic value and should be saved. Hundreds of letters supporting preservation have flooded the Southampton Town Clerk's office.

The Rechlers purchased the property in 2004 and soon began negotiating with the town over development ideas. Their initial plan was to build timeshares on the site — construction that requires a costly and time-consuming change of zone application. Later, both sides began discussing the option of the semi-preserved catering hall plus an additional 40 condos on the east side of the canal. But this deal did not sit well with many community members.

Susan von Freddi, president of the Hampton Bays Beautification Association, said at this point the HBBA membership would prefer the owners reconsider the original plan for timeshares.

"We don't want to lose the east side of the canal and we feel that giving it up for 40 condos is too high a price to pay," von Freddi said. "If the original plan is considered with an effort to retain some of the building's historic character on the Montauk Highway side then that might be the best option."

But Brenda Berntson, president of the Hampton Bays Historical and Preservation Society, believes the condos on the east side are worth considering because it would ultimately save the inn property.

"They will build on the east side anyway," Berntson said. "So why not get some benefit from it? The inn is well worth saving and this could be our last gasp at preserving something in Hampton Bays. There is not much here left to save."

Berntson said the community has put so much effort into convincing the developers and town officials to work together to avoid a demolition. "I could cry," she said.