Chris Burch, Tory Burch's ex-husband, is looking to pull out all the stops when it comes to the renovation of his $8.55 million First Neck Lane home (which sits only a few minutes away from Tory's manse). Back in 2009, it was reported that Mr. Burch would "completely make-over the southern portion of the house," and "add a one-story addition onto the rear." Since then, the SH Village Review also notes that he filed plans to reconstruct the pool house and beef up the detached garage.
But the Post just uncovered the renovation's real show-stopper: an outdoor television for the backyard, which would stand 10' tall and 16'9" wide. Neighbors are concerned the $200,000 project will turn his property into a lowly neighborhood drive-in. However, the company behind the screen insists "that the TV will not be used to create the ultimate man-cave—it would be put solely to the highbrow pursuit of displaying images of famous art works." So will actually buying famous works of art become really, really highbrow?
Unsurprisingly, Village Officials don't feel too great about the huge television. One building inspector tells the Post: "I'm totally against it ... It's not going to fly. A drive-in movie theater screen like that? I know that TVs that have gotten bigger, but this is, 'oh, wow.'" Adds another: "This ought to be funny." With this much disgust, the odds Burch gets a variance from the Town Board, which already has codes against "monster TVs," are slimmer than the latest flat screens.
· Tycoon's Trouble Feature [NYP]
· Demolition Consequences Update [SH Village Review]
· All Chris Burch coverage [Curbed Hamptons]