The anonymous blogger MarkAtLarge must have his ear to the ground in Fire Island, because he’s got more scoop about the future of the Pavilion and the remainder of the Pines’ business district.
Last week, Mark posted that Andrew Kirtzman, Seth Weissman and Matthew Blesso of FIP Ventures—which owns the Pavilion, the Canteen restaurant, the Blue Whale and more than three-quarters of the commercial space in the harbor area—were looking to sell.
Rumor had it Kirtzman was committed to rebuilding the Pavilion and adjoining areas after November’s fire, but that his more conservative partners got cold feet and just wanted to cash in their chips.
But, as Mark reports now, it looks like the sale won’t happen—or at least it’s been postponed:
Let’s start by giving some clarity to the chief rumor: It looks like the sale of the Fire Island Properties owned by FIP Ventures will not happen. The properties were being shopped around as far back as December according to Eric Von Kuersteiner, the prior owner, who was approached by an interested buyer seeking advice on the deal.
Eric didn’t reveal the details of his conversation but told markatlarge that he feels the property without the Pavilion is not even worth the $10 million mortgage against it. Considering the purchase price was $20 million ($17 million plus capital and closing costs) just two years ago, it’s highly unlikely a majority of the 39 total investors will agree to sell the property at such a massive loss.
We’re no Donald Trump but we’d imagine it’d be hard to sell the gay-resort hub when it’s just a charred lot. But will the temporary structure that’s allegedly going up for summer 2012 draw big enough crowds to help fund renovations? We’ll have to wait and see.
