Watchcase Hosts Walk-Through at First Model Unit

It's been seven and a half years since a group of investors purchased the vacant brick behemoth of a building with 999 windows in the middle of Sag Harbor. And on Thursday, Cape Advisors — along with a team of architects, designers, salespeople and more — gave a group of about 20 members of the media an inaugural walk-through of the 122-year-old building's renovation.

Dubbed "Watchcase" after the building's former use — it's best known as a former manufacturing place for Bulova watches — the condo project is about a year away from being move-in ready, people behind the project said. The estimated total cost is close to $100 million to get up and running.

While plenty of work remains, Thursday's press event celebrated how far the project has come.

"We're very excited to be at this point," said Craig Wood, who co-founded the development company along with Curtis Bashaw. "We think the project is going to be great for the village. We're very happy to be restoring it, and keeping the historical fabric in place, and kind of integrating it into the community again."

In full, Watchcase will feature 64 residential units. Forty-six lofts, no two alike, are being carved inside the former watchcase factory itself. In addition, nine townhouses and eight bungalows are being constructed across a street that will run through the 2.5-acre parcel. Each unit will have an outdoor space of its own. While eight bungalows are in the construction stages, fewer could end up being built: the units are built-in below the townhouses, and buyers who may desire more space could have the option of picking up the attached unit should they so choose.

• Related: Click here for photos from Thursday's walk-through, and here for renderings of the final vision at Watchcase.

In addition to the living spaces, Watchcase will feature a pavilion with a fitness room, yoga studio, spa, catering kitchen and 62-foot-by-24-foot year-round heated outdoor pool.

Asked what the "village within a village" doesn't have, "A helipad," Bashaw said.

Since opening the units for sale 10 days ago, Corcoran Sunshine Senior Managing Director James Lansill said 19 units are in contract. Prices of the factory units, according to the Watchcase website, are running from $860,000 to $7.2 million.

The process of renovating the old structure itself has been a work in logistics, builder Nick Racanelli said, of Melville-based Racanelli Construction. Not only has organizing 100-plus workers on site been a never-ending math equation — only to increase closer to 200 per day as the job rolls on — but what was underneath the skin of the factory was a surprise to everyone, including him.

"This building was empty for 20-plus years," he said. "So nobody understood the extent of disrepair."

However, in preserving the historical integrity of the building, Rachinelli has saved 350 of more than 400 wood beams running the ceilings of the units. Floors on each unit are being slightly raised, which is where HVAC for the unit below is being installed. Still, ceiling heights run the gamut from 10 to 12 feet, since the original structure itself was built to let as much light in as possible.

"This is the biggest historical building in Sag Harbor's historic district," said Cee Brown, a former member of the village architectural review board.