| Recommend |
| Comment |
| Email this article |
| Print this article |
| Get news alerts |
| RSS Feeds |
 Share
|
Digg
Mixx
Linked In
Facebook
Twitter
DeliciousFor the first time in more than 50 years, summer visitors returning to Amagansett for the Memorial Day weekend will not be met with open arms by the Struk family at the Struks’ Amagansett Farmer’s Market.
The market’s broad frontage on Montauk Highway is shuttered behind thick plastic tarp. Behind the flapping walls there are no fruits and vegetables, no coffee and donuts and no pastel T-shirts with “Amagansett” blazoned on them.
The Struk family’s 54-year run at the market is expected to officially come to an end this week with the signing of a four-way deal between the Pat Struk, East Hampton Town, the Peconic Land Trust and a wealthy preservation minded Amagansett landowner, Margaret de Cuevas. It will see the farmland behind the market preserved and turn the business over to the Land Trust, which plans to re-open it as a local farmer’s market, perhaps by the end of summer.
The arrangement depends on a generous offer from Ms. De Cuevas, whose family has helped the town preserve hundreds of acres of woodlands in northern Amagansett.
More than a year ago, with the market up for sale and the town unable to meet Ms. Struk’s asking price, Ms. De Cuevas offered to donate $5.4 million—$4.4 million that the town had paid her for the development rights on 24 acres of farmland, plus another $1 million—to pay for the 8-acre Struk property.
She would then sell the development rights of the farmland to the town and give the market building to the Land Trust.
The deal has been dangling in the wind since last summer. Over the winter, Ms. Struk, frustrated by the slow pace of the negotiations, put the market back up for sale, seeking a private buyer before agreeing once again to the town’s proposal.
Ms. Struk and her son, Brenndon, were still cleaning out the market building this week.
“I don’t have enough room for everything,” Mr. Struk said, standing in the driveway that separates the market building and Ms. Struk’s house, which she is keeping. “There’s a lot of stuff in there from over the years.”
Town officials are planning a ceremonial signing of the deal with the Struks once the terms are finalized. The specific timing depends on how quickly the attorneys for all sides can hammer out the complicated contract.
“It’s very close,” town land acquisitions manager Scott Wilson said last week, but he would not commit to saying it’s a done deal. “We’ve been close before. I’ve been working on this for two years. I’ll be happy to see it get done. It’s a good deal.”
more
Add a comment