Oheka Castle Proposes 95 Condominium Units In Huntington

HUNTINGTON, NY — Oheka Castle, a historic hotel and restaurant mansion in Huntington, is looking to add permanent housing, a representative of the castle said at the Huntington Town Board meeting on Feb. 7.

The castle is requesting permission to build 95 condominium units on a portion of its 22-acre property, said lawyer Michael McCarthy, who is representing Oheka Castle. The proposed condominium unit would be 200,000 square feet.

Oheka Castle, a "crown jewel" of the Town of Huntington, is in "jeopardy" because of the current financial crisis, McCarthy told the board. Condominium buyers, who would pay annual dues in return for discounts at the castle's restaurant or hotel rooms, would supply a steady cashflow and allow the castle to satisfy its debts, McCarthy said.

Oheka Castle is owned by Gary Melius.

The "cash infusion" from the condominium owners would allow Melius to "satisfy his debts and keep the castle going in perpetuity," McCarthy said.

"Clearly, Mr. Melius and the neighborhood want to see the castle succeed," McCarthy said at the meeting. "It's very, very important."

Melius in 2012 proposed building a 190-unit senior community on part of the Oheka property and on land owned by the Cold Spring Country Club, but the deal collapsed, Newsday reported. Melius in 2020 withdrew another application to construct 90 condos in a four-story building on the lower part of the castle's front lawn, according to Newsday.

The Huntington Town Board is reviewing comments and documents submitted by residents, attorneys and developers, a town spokesperson told Patch. The town has not determined a specific time it would make a decision on the Oheka Castle proposal.

"Although this public hearing is now closed, if new or compelling information is disclosed, the Board can, at a future date, request another Public Hearing on this matter," the spokesperson said.

Residents were mixed on the plan.

"This would be great so long as the design is similar to or complementary of the castle and traffic studies would need to be done to ensure the added traffic would not negatively affect existing local residents with any costs for road or local infrastructure improvements to be paid by the developer," Martin Martello of Huntington wrote on Facebook.

Some expressed approval if the condos are affordable housing.

"Are they going to be 95 condos that are affordable to all or are they going to be [$1 million] each and only cater to the wealthy community?" Harmony Tanya of Huntington said. "At what point does a developer sit down and say, 'hey we need to add more complexes for the every day middle class family?' There are zero apartments on Long Island that cater to just your average family. You either have to be poor and qualify for rent control or rich to shell out 4K a month to rent. Can’t wait to see the cost of these unrealistic to society condos."

Jim McGoldrick said people living near the castle's opinions need to be heard.

"They are going to have to live with it," McGoldrick said. "It will also add tax revenue also. But the bottom line it is up to the neighbors."

A couple of Town of Huntington residents each gave a thumbs down to the idea.

"YUK - What a terrible idea," Poe Kasimakis wrote. "I don't think I'd choose GREED - we need MORE blank open space - NOT less - Long Island is already over developed."

The proposal comes shortly after New York state singled out the Town of Huntington, as Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration officials said the town permitted the construction of just 934 homes and apartments over the past decade, even though it is as large as Brooklyn, the New York Post reported.

Town of Huntington Supervisor Edmund Smyth responded, calling Hochul's criticism of the Town of Huntington "misplaced."

"The Town of Huntington is the gold standard for housing development in New York," Smyth said in response.

He noted Hochul's comparison of Huntington to Brooklyn.

"Fuhgeddaboudit!" he wrote. "We do not have the necessary sewers, drinking water from upstate reservoirs, paid firefighters/EMT’s and mass transit. Huntington relies on volunteer firefighters and ambulance crews. These selfless members of our community are already over-burdened with the current volume of emergency calls. This must be addressed with or without new development. The only garbage landfill on Long Island is expected to close in less than 2 years. The cost of shipping existing municipal solid waste (garbage) off Long Island is projected to increase dramatically over the next 5 years."

Oheka Castle was built in 1919 by financier and philanthropist Otto Hermann Kahn for roughly $11 million — or around $158 million today — in the middle of a 443-acre plot, according to Oheka Castle's about section.

Kahn used the 109,000-square-foot, 127-room estate as a summer home in the 1920s, where he hosted lavish parties and regularly entertained royalty, heads of state, and Hollywood stars.

After Kahn died in 1934, the French-style château changed hands several times, serving as a retreat for New York sanitation workers and a government training school for Merchant Marine radio operators. In 1948, the Eastern Military Academy bought Oheka, bulldozed the gardens, subdivided the rooms, and painted over the walls, according to the castle.

After the school went bankrupt 40 years later, Oheka stood abandoned, except by vandals who set numerous fires over five years. Melius purchased Oheka Castle in 1984, as well as the remaining 22 acres that surrounded the estate and began restoring it to its "original grandeur."