Former Sago Palms Villa?

[Rebubula]

Greetings!
Meant to post this when we returned in April and was just reminded when a fb post from Tradewinds came up.

We stayed in Sago years ago and loved it, the most amazing north shore views! To our surprise in April as we were on Denis beach, we looked up and noticed the hillside opened up. Appeared Sago was gone and new construction going in?
Website confirmed it was no longer being rented.
Is this a personal residence, anyone have any insight? I can't seem to cut and paste the fb info, doesn't say much about what it will become. Sounds like they opened up the road beneath as well. Will keep trying.

What a spot!

[Rebubula]

Here is the text info from tradewinds, which I am assuming is ok to post here? They have a pic too, however can't get that to come over. Appears it may be old Sago. I will never understand the financial ability to take something already beautiful and create something so massive!

"North Shore neighbors and St. John residents were worried about a new construction site rising on an undisturbed knoll high above Hawksnest and Oppenheimer Beach even before contractors reportedly removed century-old trees on V.I. National Park land.

The construction site is accessed by an old road in Estate Susannaberg that begins near Cheyenne’s Heavy Equipment on Centerline Road and ends near Peace Hill on North Shore Road. After years of no use, the road was reopened by Department of Public Works with little fanfare and no public announcement several months ago.

The construction site is located on about an acre of land in Estate Denis Bay, on Denis Bay Parcel 2-A and Parcel 2-B. The owner of the project has been identified as interior designer to the stars, architect Anthony Ingrao, who owns Ingrao Inc. with partner Randy Kemper. The two have designed homes, garden spaces and more for the likes of Goldie Hawn, Howard Stern, Donny Deutsch and Kim Cattrall and are based on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

From the beginning stages of earthwork to actually changing the grading of the access road, the new construction has posed serious environmental threats, according to St. John attorney Raf Muilenburg who is familiar with the site.

“They’ve done a massive amount of earth work at the site,” said Muilenburg. “They haven’t just opened the road and made it smooth, they’ve widened it enormously. They’ve also graded the road and lowered it and changed the direction of water flow.”"

[Wanda Creech]

We have stayed at Sago Palms for many years. The owners sold the villa to the owners of the massive villa next door. They took down the master bedroom, the lower bedroom and the pool and left the other part of the house for a care taker house. Some people just have too much money. I will miss Sago Palms. It was my favorite.

[Rebubula]

Thanks Wanda! I wondered the status of other property, makes sense.

[Knolmom]

Makes me want to cry.

[Teresa_Rae]

I inquired about Sago Palms being taken off the rental market last November and this is what Mary-Eileen at Private Homes said:

The owners of the home next door to Sago Palm bought Sago Palms last September. Initially they had planned to renovate it and return it to the rental market. They have made the decision to turn it into a home for a full time caretaker for their property.


Here's the remainder of the Tradewinds article:

“There has been an enormous amount of loose dirt and mud sitting up there for a long time, and all of that is just waiting for one of our big rain storms to come and wash right into pristine Hawksnest Bay and Denis Bay, not to mention Gibney and Oppenheimer beaches,” said Muilenburg.

Even if contractors made every effort possible, construction seems likely to impact the area. And several environmental impacts have already been reported.

“Several of their gabion baskets already collapsed and sent yards of dirt down the hill,” said Muilenburg. “If more of that were to happen, it would be enough to really damage the bays below. They were supposed to be paving it all by early April and now they say they’re at least several months away from that still due to the problems with the baskets.”

Construction at the site has also already encroached on VINP land and resources, Muilenburg said.

“The park tells us they’ve already encroached on park land in several areas, including with their gabion baskets,” Muilenburg said. “And when we had a moderate rain recently, enough water got between the dirt road and the loose fill in the gabion basket that the whole thing collapsed down into park land — apparently due to lack of engineering.”

VINP officials issued fines and cited the developers for the instance, explained Muilenburg, who added that workers continue to fix the gabion basket collapse.

“They say they’re in the process of fixing the basket collapse and they’re going to do a concrete wall instead,” said the St. John attorney. “But that is going to take months apparently, and in the meantime that could mean a terrible amount of runoff right into Denis Bay.”

The most shocking incident at the Denis Bay construction site, however, came about reportedly because Ingrao and Kemper wanted to expand their commanding view.

“From the survey we’ve seen, they’ve also cut into the ridge line behind the home — which is VINP land — apparently to cut off enough of it to open the view to the west, ” said Muilenburg. “They did that with no authorization whatsoever, and in doing so they also cut down a great deal of tall trees which were 100-plus years old on park land and on neighbors’ land.”

The site, while located adjacent to pristine VINP land and towering over sensitive VINP beaches below, is not part of Department of Planning and Natural Resource’s Tier 1, meaning plans were not scrutinized by the St. John Coastal Zone Management Committee.

There has been virtually no public input on this project and no information on the plans have been shared at a public forum by DPNR, DPW or any other government agency.

[Teresa_Rae]

Oops...deleting double post.

[Rebubula]

Ugh! Thanks for the rest of the article, I couldn't find that.

Another reminder of the growing divide between the have and the have nots, and the power of the almighty dollar.

And expand the view, my goodness the existing view wasn't enough?!?

[Teresa_Rae]

Ugh! Thanks for the rest of the article, I couldn't find that.

Another reminder of the growing divide between the have and the have nots, and the power of the almighty dollar.

And expand the view, my goodness the existing view wasn't enough?!?

You have to have an account and be logged in to read the entirety of the online articles.

The whole thing is very disappointing. If I was wealthy (one of the "haves"), I wouldn't be an a$$hole, thinking that I could cut down trees on property that I didn't own. Cutting down trees on VINP property? Sounds like someone should go to jail for that one!

[Knolmom]

I was informed by someone who was privy to the Sago Palms sale but who wishes to remain anonymous that the initial purchase offer was so good that the owners accepted and did not even return to collect their furniture and personal belongings. Money to burn, I guess.

[Wanda Creech]

We were there last June and the new owners had already bought Sago. New owners had
been through the house and picked out some things they wanted without asking management.
Just from what i have seen and read they don't seem to care about anyone or the island.
It is sad that someone could come in and not take care of St. John. That breaks my heart.

[golfdesign]

We were the last guests to stay at Sago. It was basically forced out of existence to create a view for the new villa towards STT and the environmental damage was well underway when we were there. The beautiful old trees had already been removed and the grading of National Park land had begun. We reported it to the Park Service in hope that they would stop it in time so I was surprised to see the photo and hear that it was the residents below that have brought this to attention.

This was one of those pristine spots with every step taken to protect nature, the historic road, and National Park land until the construction of the mega villa began. It is a massive villa way out of scale with the site. It just doesn't fit or blend like Sago did and it's not in harmony with nature.

The vertical cut into the National Park mountain is massive and basically permanent damage that can't be undone. It destroyed all the character of the historic sugar mill road that existed and has severely damaged a considerable amount of park property. The material was just being pushed down the switchback at Sago and down into National Park forest and the dump they had created behind the construction site. I wonder if the stated architect owner is aware of all this because I know many architects and have never met one that would ever contemplate doing anything like this or allow a foreman on a job that would. They are pledged to be stewards of the land and would never ruin their legacy with blatant disrespect and destruction of protected and sensitive public lands.

That blemish you see there now will remain and as stated in the article and will cause long term environmental consequences. It is outrageous that the beauty of STJ can be destroyed by someone developing it's public land. I was told that money has been a factor in this project all along and I guess it's obvious now but this needs to be stopped. If this was in the States the Corps and Park Service would stop work immediately, levy enormous fines, and require the damage to be restored regardless of costs. It seems to be an all they can do is fine me attitude and I can't understand why the Park Service hasn't taken the normal very aggressive lead on this major situation.

[Knolmom]

This new monstrosity has been under construction with fits and starts for the last 10 years.i understand that the interior finishes have been redone at the whim of the architect owner's partner at least twice. This refinish included with ripping up of over 15,000 sq ft of brand new and not inexpensive tile even before the project has been completed. The former owners of Sago walked away in disgust at the right price I might add, owing to the encroachment of their air rights propert rights and privacy. The sad part of it is that I understand from those" in the know" that these folks have no intention of ever living here or even visiting here. The home will be used as a showcase for entertainment and auction purposes only.

[Randy in MD]

A little more to the story: In 1998 my then-girlfriend and I made our first visit to St. John and stayed at Villa Marisla, a villa that sat beside Sago Palms. Villa Marisla was an older island home that had no "modern" amenities, but had 30 foot wide sliding doors that led to a deck with the most amazing views over the North Shore.

We spent our mornings there with coffee and the bananaquits, and happy hour there with rum drinks and huge smiles... It was at Villa Marisla that we decided to get married, and we returned to the home in 2000 to do so. Friends and family stayed with us at Villa Marisla and my Dad and stepmom stayed next door at Sago Palms...

On subsequent trips we always drove down the very rough road to the villas and saw first the decay and destruction of Villa Marisla, then the construction of the monstrosity.

Around 3 years ago one of the construction workers invited us inside to look around. Nothing in this home spoke of or to St. John... It was hideously garish inside and out.

We never went back after that... It was just too sad...