The old-money crowd in the town of North Salem, in Westchester County, is worried that the area’s horsey, rural character could change if Grand Central Farm is subdivided and developed with dozens of McMansions.
But Scott Hakim, who bought the property — an equestrian training and breeding facility — in November for $14.9 million, assured me, “It’s going to remain a farm. It will be maintained for horses.”
Hakim, whose father Kamran emigrated from Iran in the ‘70s and now owns more than 200 buildings, is a horse lover. He bought Old Salem Farm, in the same town, from Paul Newman and spent millions turning it into a state-of-the-art facility for show horses.
“I used to be an equestrian. Now I’m a workaholic,” Hakim said.
The federal government sold Grand Central Farm after seizing the 286-acre property from Paul Greenwood, the hedge-fund Ponzi schemer who pleaded guilty to fraud in July 2010 and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
But Salem neighbors wonder if Greenwood, who forfeited $300 million and moved to a farm he bought in North Carolina, will ever go to jail.
They also wonder what happened to his collection of teddy bears. The 1,348 bears, displayed in glass cabinets at the top of a spiral staircase, were worth more than $3 million.