Ever wonder why billionaires act like they do: secretive, disdainful, building barriers between themselves and the other 99.9999% of the population? Here are a couple of stories which might shed some light on the development process.
Neither involves a billionaire, but both feature multi-millionaires striving to carve out a life of exceptionalism in the very heart of Aspen. First, we have Michael Sedoy and his wife, Natalia Svachko. Mike is a high roller in the investment business – playing with other people’s money in financial markets, and skimming large portions off the top, whether the actual investor wins or loses. Natalia is a former Miss Ukraine (1996), in her second marriage with a couple of children now to raise.
In 2011, apparently enamored with the idea of living in the heart of Aspen’s downtown, surrounded by the messy vitality which puts the community in a different category than, say, Vail or Whistler, purchased, for $6,200,000, a penthouse covering most of the top 2 floors of a 3 story building on “Restaurant Row”, the 300 block of Hopkins. At the time, The high end eatery, Syzygy, occupied the basement. The developer, in order to add height and convert the space to a salable condo, agreed to also develop “affordable housing” on the ground level and part of the second. So far, so good. Syzygy was a quiet little spot, and the “employees” who filled the affordable units seemed nice enough.
The Sedoys and the developer seemed to have had an under the table agreement that the penthouse owners would have exclusive access to the Hopkins St entrance, its interior lobby, and the attached elevator. This would relegate the users of the affordable units to an alley entrance at the back of the building, and the service elevator which was mainly used by the restaurant. The affordable renters complained, and the city brought suit to force the Sedoys to make the front entrance more public.
But wait, that’s not all! Despite their experience with New York City, the Sedoys (Natalia in particular) began lodging multiple noise complaints in the summer of 2013. Syzygy by that time had gone out of business, and the noise seemed to be coming from the nearby Aspen Brewing Company which often had music acts serenading guests in the evening. Natalia and the kids were trying to get to sleep by 9 o’clock, and this was just not working out for them. She called in numerous contractors to add better soundproofing around the windows and doors. Eventually, the city prosecutor brought a case against the pub, hoping that might shut the Sedoys up.
Noise experts armed with decibel meters testified, the pub’s owners detailed their efforts to keep the noise below the 65 decibel limit allowed at the penthouse, and Natalia testified, saying, “Because of the music they played, and they didn’t close doors, they didn’t try to mitigate noise. And I talk to somebody and explain I have little child, I go to bed at nine o’clock, she goes to bed at eight o’clock, and we cannot afford not to sleep days after days.”
You have to feel for her, at least a little. But yet … shouldn’t they have known buying a condo right in the middle of downtown Aspen’s major entertainment district might lead to a little noise now and then? Isn;t that part of what they were buying? Surely they didn’t think Aspen as simply a sleepy little western town, devoid of night life and other jet setters like themselves?
After a one day trial in Jan, 2014, a six person jury returned a verdict in favor of the Aspen Brewing Company. Natalia might not be able to get to sleep, but the city was not going to shut down the local offending establishments. As might be expected, this did not stem the noise complaints; if anything, they increased in number and magnitude. Through their lawyer, the couple asked the city to appeal the verdict (that, of course, did not happen). And they found themselves on the receiving end of an investigation into code compliance regarding the blocked main entrance.
So, in September, 2014, the courthouse once again hosted the penthouse owners, this time as defendants in a case brought by the city over that restricted access. After six days of testimony, including a visit by trial principles to the scene of the alleged crime, the judge (no jury this time, the Sedoys found them unreliable, I guess) retired to consider a verdict.
None has been forthcoming, and neither have any more noise complaints. The Aspen Times reports today that no noise complaints have been received by the authorities since early 2014. And rumor has it Michael and Natalia have left, or are seeking to leave, town. Oh, and some of those noise abatement contractors – they claim they were either never paid, or short-changed. All in all, a great lesson in how to act if you intend to be seen as an Aspen mover and shaker. Someone, it seems, took the bait, Late last year, a new building a block away from all this action featured a 5 bedroom penthouse, which sold for $15,800,000, or $3,100 a square foot. I hope they did a good job on the sound-proofing, and the private elevator.
Now, to the other penthouse story. Marc Bern, a local lawyer, owns units on two floors of the Crandall building, Spring and Hyman. The upstairs one is where he and his family live. The one below, he uses as his office. Supposedly. But when the city inspector came by to approve the plans, he noticed the commercially zoned space was being designed with a massage table and a wine cooler. As well as being directly accessible from the living quarters above. Suspicious that Bern was trying to illegally expand his living space, he denied the permit. Bern sued.
Here’s how the “he said-she said” seems to go in this case, according to the Aspen Daily News:
When Bendon [the inspector] conducted a physical inspection of the unit, he said he was told by Bern’s contractor, Matt Langhorst, that the penthouse didn’t have space for a massage table and there wasn’t enough room in the garage for wine storage. The unit is described in the complaint as an 8-foot-by-10-foot “storage room” that from time to time might be used “to receive massage therapy services.”
“Langhorst responded to Bendon’s skewed memory of this conversation and clarified to Bendon that the plaintiff is a high-profile nationally recognized trial attorney, experiences immense stress as an occupational hazard …, that the storage room could fit a portable massage table and that plaintiff may choose to use the storage room in connection with stress relief resulting from his practice — nothing more, nothing less,” the lawsuit says, including the claim that Bendon is basing his denial of a CO on his “personal opinion” that the commercial units “are too nice.”
Bern is the principal in a NY law firm which as represented some 10,000 9/11 sick and dying first responders and World Trade Center workers. From this case alone, he’s taken in tens of millions of dollars. The Costa Concordia sinking is another of his pet projects. Now, why might a “high profile nationally recognized trial attorney” need a massage table and a wine cooler? Well, this report from the New York Post might shed some light. Having a law partner like that might lead anyone to drink and needing a massage as part of the daily grind.
Back in Aspen, as often happens with these sorts of cases, charges are brought, but somehow things always seem to work out. Nothing has been heard out of the court system about this since last August. I bet Mr. Bern is enjoying his $8,000,000 office/second home exactly as planned, and Mr. Bendon is now checking parking meters for outdated debit cards.