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By Jennifer Davis
With more and more Montauk motels being remade into condominiums, the hamlet is getting a face-lift and this fall Traditional Home magazine will launch an interior design challenge there to test the know-how of three veteran designers and three design students.
Their canvas: the Panoramic View—a 50-year-old hotel on Montauk’s waterfront. Their cause: The Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation.
Each design team will be given the task of reinventing a condominium unit at the Panoramic View, which will subsequently be offered for sale.
Entitled “Oceans 3: Showhouse Showdown,” the daily drama of the three design teams will be documented on film and in print. The results will be plastered in the magazine over a seven-issue pictorial spread beginning later this year, streamed in video on the magazine’s website and a broadcast as a reality television show on a network to be named later.
Design pros Eric Cohler, Philip Gorrivan and Amanda Nisbet will be leading their younger counterparts—two of whom are students at Parsons School of Design and New York School of Design, a third is yet to be chosen—through the process. Each apprentice will be given six to eight challenges to tackle while being mentored by the designers. The students will compete for prizes, which may include big ticket items like a new car.
Traditional Home publisher Debi Brandt said that in selecting the experts, her editorial staff chose three of the most highly visible designers in the industry.
“They are all incredibly talented,” she said.
Mr. Cohler, who is no stranger to the East End, has also worked on design projects in Southampton and Bridgehampton such as the Rogers Memorial Showhouse and the Hampton Designer Showhouse, sponsored by House & Garden magazine. “I love working in the Hamptons,” said Mr. Cohler, who spent summers growing up on Georgica Lane in East Hampton. “I love the quality of light. I love the air. ... To me, the best month is October.”
With a limited budget—that Ms. Brandt would not elaborate on—and only 90 days to complete the units once the challenge begins—Mr. Cohler said he is already strategizing his approach.
“For me, the whole excitement with this is trying to take an empty cold box and turn it into a family home,” he said. “I want you to feel the ocean. I’m envisioning really crisp and clean and fresh. I want it to make you feel like you’re at the seaside.”
Although he did not want to give too many of his ideas for the space away before the challenge begins, Mr. Cohler revealed that he visualizes the space as a writer’s escape with lots of white and cream linens and shades of blue that mirror the sea and, of course, books, lots of book.
“A lot of books because I love to read,” he said. “Right now it’s a little raw, but it’s going to be great.”
The Panoramic View was purchased half a century ago by the French family. Neighboring the popular resort and spa Gurney’s Inn, the Panoramic was made into 110 small vacation units. The project developer, Adam Manson of Distinctive Developments, purchased the property four years ago and began working on a plan to restore and renovate the units into 68 multimillion-dollar condos.
“Basically the hotel had become obsolete,” said Ms. Brandt. “It wasn’t really a nice place to stay.”
Familiar with the drab façades of many of the hotels on “The End,” Ms. Brandt worked at the Montauk Yacht Club while in college and was excited to be returning to the vacation town for this project.
“Designers were coming to us wanting to showcase their design skills. ... We wanted to see what different designers could do with similar spaces,” Mr. Manson said. “They are going to be creating something which we feel is very, very special.”
While the reality show is a new concept for the magazine, showhouses are not.
“We are experts at Traditional Home and doing showhouses,” Ms. Brandt boasted during a recent phone interview. She explained that the magazine’s advertising partners, which are mainly home furnishing retailers, want the readers of the magazine to be able to touch the products outside of the pages of Traditional Home.
“That’s why a showhouse is so great,” she said. “People can walk into this incredibly cool luxury villa and see how it’s all used.”
Mr. Manson has given each designer tours of the property and heard some of their ideas for each unit.
Unlike traditional design shows, these designers don’t have to worry about pleasing the homeowners, but making the unit as marketable as possible, Mr. Manson said.
The renovated units, which run the gamut from 2 to 5 bedroom condominiums, are currently for sale starting at $1.5 million and climbing to $5.5 million.
The developers were required to work within the existing footprint of the buildings, but stripped each building down to its bare bones to get a fresh start.
Currently, the three units that will be part of the design challenge are not more than exposed beams framing the potential spaces. Come fall, they will be re-created in each designer’s vision.
But potential homeowners will have the option of purchasing the units completely furnished after the challenge, or stripped down, Mr. Manson said.
Ms. Brandt said she anticipates the show will be like nothing on television today.
“It’s Project Runway meets the Apprentice,” she said.
Just in time for Mr. Cohler’s favorite time of the year, the showhouse schedule calls for the units to be unveiled in October.
The Panoramic View residences will play host to a variety of events during the summer and fall, including a partnership with the Hamptons International Film Festival. This will include participation in the film festival opening night screening and gala at Gurney’s Inn, Panoramic View’s neighbor, as well as a Hamptons Film Festival unveiling party for the showhouses at the Panoramic View on Saturday, October 18, for a few weeks of showings.
Tour and event proceeds will benefit Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation. For the last few years, the playhouse foundation has been raising money to meet a $7 million goal that will fund a new 300 seat theater and an aquatic center with lap and recreational pools.
Very excited to team up with the magazine for this particular venture, Maureen Rutkowski, project director for the foundation said the funds will help the foundation come even closer to its goal.
“We’re on our way,” she said.
on Jun 13, 2008