
Once part of Thomas Carvel’s ill-fated Sports City development, the property has been the subject of debates for decades.
Patrick Grego/New Pine Plains Herald
Once part of Thomas Carvel’s ill-fated Sports City development, the property has been the subject of debates for decades.
This story was originally published in The New Pine Plains Herald.
In a move that could reshape the future of Pine Plains and its surrounding communities, The Durst Organization has listed its expansive property for $36 million. Put on the market on Oct. 14, the former Carvel estate spans 1,490 acres in Pine Plains and 456 acres in Milan, and has long been at the center of debates over land use and preservation.
“We have decided to list the property for sale as we are currently focused on our New York City portfolio, specifically the development of Halletts Point in Astoria, Queens,” Alexander Durst, principal and chief development officer at The Durst Organization, told the Herald. “Another property owner may be able to realize the full potential of this remarkable property. The Durst family has a longstanding appreciation for the Hudson Valley and we will continue to be a part of the community.”
The Durst Organization is one of the oldest family-run commercial and residential real estate companies in New York state. Established in 1915, its portfolio includes the New York City properties of One World Trade Center and The Bank of America Tower.
The company owns approximately 2,633 acres of land in Pine Plains, representing about 13% of the town’s total acreage, according to Dutchess County tax records.
The Dursts initially purchased the 1,900-acre core of the listed property from the estate of the late ice cream magnate Thomas Carvel, in 2002 for $7.78 million.
After the initial acquisition, The Durst Organization expanded its holdings in Pine Plains, purchasing an additional 711 acres between 2015 and 2019 for nearly $6 million. The property is owned by two limited liability companies: 1133 Taconic LLC and Stissing Mountain Properties LLC.
In the late 1960s, Thomas Carvel launched an ambitious development known as the All-American Sports City after acquiring several parcels of farmland in Pine Plains. His vision included a golf course, clubhouse, lake and 500 homes. While the lake, golf course, clubhouse and 16 homes were built, the broader project stalled and remained incomplete at the time of Carvel’s death in 1990. In the decades that followed, the property’s infrastructure — including roads, water, and wastewater systems — fell into disrepair due to neglect, ultimately leaving it in a deteriorated state by the time it was sold.
While the listed property encompasses the original Carvel property, it does not include 685 additional acres in Pine Plains that remain under Durst ownership. Separately, in early October, the company listed another property, featuring a historic 19th-century farmhouse on 65 acres at 115-133 Mount Ross Road, for $599,000.
The company touts the Carvel property as a “sanctuary offering endless possibilities,” with potential uses including a family compound, corporate retreat, or winery. The listing highlights the property’s views of the Catskills and Stissing Mountain, as well as its remaining structures — following the demolition of several houses and barns over the years — which include four single-family homes, a two-family residence, and an office and warehouse facility.
Over the past two decades, The Durst Organization has put forward three development proposals for the Carvel property and its expanded holdings. While each plan was scaled back in response to public concerns, the company worked to incorporate community feedback and adjust its vision accordingly. The final plan, submitted in 2020, envisioned a 2,700-acre “eco resort” including open space, farmland, outdoor recreation areas, and 237 residential lots in Pine Plains, along with 51 lots in Milan. While the project received preliminary approval from the Pine Plains Zoning Board, it went no further.
The first proposal, in 2003 was for a 951-unit residential development centered around Lake Carvel and prompted Pine Plains to impose a moratorium on development and, eventually, to implement zoning laws for the first time.
The new zoning code, passed in October 2009, included some of the strictest regulations in Dutchess County, limiting building sizes and preventing large-scale commercial projects. The Dursts returned in 2011 with a revised plan for 591 units, in compliance with the new zoning code, but in the face of public opposition, and the stock market collapse of 2011, that proposal lay dormant for nearly seven years.
In the first half of 2018, The Durst Organization tried to revive the project, hosting two public meetings at the Pine Plains Community Center to receive feedback from residents. In June 2018, the company presented a new proposal, a “conservation subdivision,” that included plans to restore the golf course Carvel had built in the 1960s and construct 281 homes, placed in small clusters, around a central “recreation-oriented resort.”
In April 2020, The Durst Organization submitted pre-sketch plans for the conservation subdivision to the Planning Board. This stage focused on determining the maximum number of residential lots permitted under Pine Plains zoning laws, with the Dursts proposing 223 lots.
By June 2020, the Planning Board had unanimously endorsed the pre-sketch plan, which designated more than 50% of the land — about 1,397 acres — as open space. The designated areas included wetlands, steep slopes and buffer zones around water bodies. This approval allowed The Durst Organization to proceed with developing a formal subdivision plan, which would undergo a full environmental review before any final decisions were made.
However, after the property was listed Monday afternoon, Oct. 14, it seems as though the back and forth has come to an end — for now.
“The Pine Plains countryside is an oasis in the Hudson Valley,” Durst said. “With 1,946 acres of land in an ideal location and unmatched natural beauty, the property offers the opportunity to create something special.”
As for what kind of buyer would purchase a property of this size? “It’s going to range,” said listing agent Larry Havens. “I don’t want to set any limitations on that.”
SHARON — Angela Derrick Carabine, 74, died May 16, 2025, at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York. She was the wife of Michael Carabine and mother of Caitlin Carabine McLean.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on June 6 at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Katri (St Bernards Church) Church. Burial will follow at St. Bernards Cemetery. A complete obituary can be found on the website of the Kenny Funeral home kennyfuneralhomes.com.
Sam Waterston
On June 7 at 3 p.m., the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will host a benefit screening of “The Killing Fields,” Roland Joffé’s 1984 drama about the Khmer Rouge and the two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg, whose story carried the weight of a nation’s tragedy.
The film, which earned three Academy Awards and seven nominations — including one for Best Actor for Sam Waterston — will be followed by a rare conversation between Waterston and his longtime collaborator and acclaimed television and theater director Matthew Penn.
“This came out of the blue,” Waterston said of the Triplex invitation, “but I love the town, I love this area. We raised our kids here in the Northwest Corner and it’s been good for them and good for us.”
Waterston hasn’t seen the film in decades but its impact has always remained present.
“It was a major event in my life at the time,” Waterston said of filming “The Killing Fields,” “and it had a big influence on me and my life ever after.” He remembers the shoot vividly. “My adrenaline was running high and the part of Sydney Schanberg was so complicated, so interesting.”
Waterston lobbied for the role of the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for years, tracing his early interest to a serendipitous connection while filming in England. Even before Joffé’s production was greenlit, he had his sights set on playing the role. “I knew I wanted the part for years even before it was a movie that was being produced.”
What followed was not just critical acclaim, but also a political awakening. “The film gave all of us an intimate acquaintance with refugees, what it is to be a refugee, how the world forgets them and what a terrible crime that is.”
In Boston, at a press stop for the film, two women asked Waterston a pointed question: now that he knew what he knew, what was he going to do about it? “I said, ‘Well, you know, I’m an actor, so I thought I’d go on acting.’ And they said, ‘No, that’s not what you need to do. You need to join Refugees International.’” And join he did, serving on the organization’s board for 25 years.
Both Schanberg and Dith Pran, whose life the film also chronicles, were “cooperative and helpful … in a million ways,” Waterston said. Upon first meeting Pran, Waterston recalled, “He came up to me, made a fist, and pounded on my chest really hard and said, ‘You must understand that Sydney is very strong here.’ He was trying to plant something in me.”
There were more tender gestures, too. Schanberg used the New York Times wire to relay that Waterston’s wife had just given birth while he was filming in Thailand, adding to the personal and emotional connection to the production.
Though “The Killing Fields” is a historical document, its truths still resonate deeply today. “Corruption is a real thing,” Waterston warned. “Journalism is an absolutely essential part of our democracy that is as under siege today as it was then. It’s different now but it’s the same thing of ‘Don’t tell the stories we don’t want heard.’ Without journalists, we are dust in the wind.” Waterston added, “Democracy is built on the consent of the governed but the other thing it’s built on is participation of the governed and without full participation, democracy really doesn’t stand much of a chance. It’s kind of a dead man walking.”
When asked what he hopes the audience will take away from the screening, Waterston didn’t hesitate. “This is the story that puts the victims of war at the center of the story and breaks your heart. I think that does people a world of good to have their hearts broken about something that’s true. So, I hope that’s what the impact will be now.”
Tickets for the benefit screening are available at www.thetriplex.org. Proceeds support Triplex Cinema, a nonprofit home for film and community programming in the Berkshires.
Scott Reinhard, graphic designer, cartographer, former Graphics Editor at the New York Times, took time out from setting up his show “Here, Here, Here, Here- Maps as Art” to explain his process of working.Here he explains one of the “Heres”, the Hunt Library’s location on earth (the orange dot below his hand).
Map lovers know that as well as providing the vital functions of location and guidance, maps can also be works of art.With an exhibition titled “Here, Here, Here, Here — Maps as Art,” Scott Reinhard, graphic designer and cartographer, shows this to be true. The exhibition opens on June 7 at the David M. Hunt Library at 63 Main St., Falls Village, and will be the first solo exhibition for Reinhard.
Reinhard explained how he came to be a mapmaker. “Mapping as a part of my career was somewhat unexpected.I took an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), the technological side of mapmaking, when I was in graduate school for graphic design at North Carolina State.GIS opened up a whole new world, new tools, and data as a medium to play with.”
He added, “When I moved to New York City, I continued that exploration of cartography, and my work eventually caught the attention of the New York Times, where I went to work as a Graphics Editor, making maps and data visualizations for a number of years.”At the New York Times, his work contributed to a number of Pulitzer Prize winning efforts.
In his work, Reinhard takes complex data and turns it into intriguing visualizations the viewer can begin to comprehend immediately and will want to continue to look into and explore more deeply.
One method Reinhard uses combines historic United States Geological survey maps with “current elevation data (height above sea level for a point on earth) to create 3-D looking maps, combining old and new,” he explained.
For the show at Hunt Library Reinhard said, “I knew that I wanted to incorporate the place into the show itself. A place can be many things.The exhibition portrays the exact spot visitors are from four vantage points: the solar system, the earth, the Northwest Corner, and the library itself.” Hence the name, “Here, Here, Here, Here.”
He continued, “The largest installation, the Northwest Corner, is a mosaic of high-resolution color prints and hand-printed cyanotypes — one of the earliest forms of photography. They use elevation data to portray the landscape in a variety of ways, from highly abstract to the highly detailed.”
This sixteen-foot-wide installation covers the area of Millerton to Barkhamsted Reservoir and from North Canaan down to Cornwall for a total of about 445 square miles.
For subjects, he chooses places he’s visited and feels deeply connected to, like the Northwest Corner.“This show is a thank you to the community for the richness that it has brought to my life. I love it here,” he said.
The opening reception for the show is on June 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. On Thursday, June 12, Reinhard will give a talk about his work from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the library.“Here, Here, Here, Here” will be on display until July 3.
Scott Reinhard’s 16-foot-wide piece of the Northwest Corner is laid out on the floor prior to being hung for the show. L. Tomaino