New owners say Lee farm will stay in agricultural use

SALISBURY — One of the largest remaining parcels of available land in Salisbury has sold but will remain in agricultural use, according to its new owners.Chris and Lucy DeStefano of Essex Fells, N.J., purchased a 119-acre portion of the property known as the Lee farm. The sale date was Jan. 20 and the price was $916,000.The DeStefanos are somewhat limited as to what they can do with their new property, which is one of the last working farms in the region. The development rights to the property were sold by the Lee family to the state of Connecticut in 1988. However, the new owners do have the right to build one home on the property. And, said Chris DeStefano in a phone interview on Feb. 3, he and his wife are delighted to have the farm continue to be used for keeping cows and for growing crops such as corn and hay.They will keep the sprawling faded red barn that is a landmark on the north side of Route 44 (on the right side of the road as one drives from Salisbury into Millerton). Many people in the area recall that another massive barn on the property (well, actually half of the barn) burned down in 2007; that was a controlled burn organized by local firefighters, in partnership with the former property owners (who requested that half the barn be left standing). The barns and farmland are used by the Jacquier family, who are North Canaan dairy farmers. They use the red barn for their heifers, cows that are not yet old enough to be milked. The Jacquiers will continue to be the farmers of the property.Also to remain is the yellow farmhouse on Route 44. It is the residence of one of the property owners, Abel Lee Jr. He will continue to lease the property for another year or so from the DeStefanos. As for their own residence, the DeStefanos plan to take it slow and get to know the land a bit before they dive into building a new residence. They have two small children and a third on the way and are not in a rush to move. They felt that purchasing the land at this time was a prudent financial move, and they are happy to let it sit until they are ready.Chris DeStefano works in commercial real estate, and is a partner at North Light Capital Partners in Norwalk, Conn. His wife works in hedge funds at Pine River Capital Management in New York City. She is a graduate of The Hotchkiss School, and she introduced her husband to the Northwest Corner. They have vacationed and visited here often. Although they explored property all across the United States, especially out west, they were drawn to the community here and said they are looking forward to becoming a part of it.Lucy DeStefano was visiting here last fall and called Elyse Harney Morris to suggest they drive around and look at some properties. When she saw the Lee farm, DeStefano instantly knew it was the right place. She brought her husband up to see it and he agreed that it was the perfect property for their needs.Morris and John Panzer of Elyse Harney Real Estate represented the DeStefanos in the deal. Representing the sellers (Abel Lee Jr. and his brother, John, and John’s wife, Eileen Lee) was John Harney Jr., who is Morris’ brother. When the initial conversations were had about the sale, Harney had his own agency in Salisbury. He and his team have recently joined William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty at its Lakeville office. The deal is credited to Sotheby’s, Harney said. All parties involved remarked at how smoothly the sale progressed. DeStefano, who has attended many real estate closings in his career, said, “It was the best closing I’ve ever been to.”Both Harney and Morris said that working together on this deal was wonderful. “It was a fabulous experience working with John and with Tom Metzger [who was an agent with Harney at his own firm and moved with him to William Pitt Sotheby’s].”“It was a great reunion,” Harney said. One parcel of the Lee farm remains on the market. It is the larger piece, known as the south parcel (the DeStefanos bought the north parcel). It is 314 acres and is at a higher elevation, on the left side of Route 44 as one drives from Salisbury to Millerton. Harney said that, although it is not officially listed there is another 200 acres there (known as the Rossiter farm) that could be included in the deal.Eileen Lee (who works for Salisbury Bank and Trust) shared some of the history of the property in a phone interview on Monday afternoon, Feb. 3.The farm has been on the market off and on for many years, in different configurations, she said. In total there are about 700 acres, although the farm when the Lees bought it was only 300 acres. It was John and Abel Lee’s parents (Abel and Agnes Lee) who bought those 300 acres in 1951 (the year that John was born; his brother Abel was already 18 at that time). “In 1955, this acreage that was just sold to the DeStefanos became available and my in-laws bought it,” Eileen Lee said. “In 1967, John and Abel and I bought the farm from their parents and then we bought Ken and Anna Rossiter’s farm in 1987, that’s the 500-or-so acres on the other side of the road.“When we bought that land from the Rossiters, it was a similar situation to what we have now with the DeStefanos. Initially, nothing changed. The Rossiters had life use of the house on that land.“The DeStefanos are also planning to leave the farm pretty much alone, at least for now. They might work with the Jacquiers to spruce up the barn a little bit, but nothing major is going to happen.”She said she and her husband and brother-in-law met the DeStefanos at her house before the deal was finalized. “We had coffee and cookies in my kitchen, and I showed them old photographs of the farm and gave them some of its history.”Everyone involved agrees that it went beautifully, every step of the way. Everyone got along, and everyone seems to have a similar vision of the future of the land.“It’s so beautiful here, and we’re so excited to become part of the community,” DeStefano said. “We look forward to being good stewards of the land.”