Elevated Anger: Patriots Owner Robert Kraft in Fight Over Southampton Mansion
As if his team's playoff drought and unstable quarterback situation weren't enough headaches to deal with this offseason, New England Patriots multi-billionaire owner Robert Kraft is now enduring a problem we can all relate to:
Persnickety neighbors.
According to the New York Post, the 81-year-old Kraft is in a form of HOA battle with Southampton, New York zoning officials over his $43 million beachfront home. He's trying to install an elevator because of his declining mobility; they're trying to block construction because he's frequently seen playing golf and even tennis with his 49-year-old wife.
During a January hearing of the Southampton village Zoning Board of Appeals, Kraft attorney Mike Sendlenski said his client urgently needs the lift for medical reasons because he's become "mobility impaired." In an affidavit, Dr. Mark D. Price - the Patriots’ team physician - said it was his view that Kraft’s “progressive knee pain” was a “medical disability,” making the elevator necessary under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
But neighborhood skeptics contend Kraft is simply trying to skirt the rules and that he's fit enough to climb stairs - evidenced by photos of him playing sports. Kraft was spotted just months ago playing tennis with wife Dana Blumberg in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The board also wants Kraft's elevator to be hidden inside the seven-bedroom, 8 1/2-bath home. Kraft argues that an interior elevator would cost $2.47 million, while an exterior one would cost only $1.16 million.
Essentially the affluent neighborhood residents are fighting over an "eyesore" of an elevator and $1.31 million.
Kraft was recently tabbed by Forbes as the 59th wealthiest individual in America with a net worth of $10.6 billion. The Patriots, whom he bought in 1994, sit as the second-most valuable franchise in the NFL behind only the Dallas Cowboys, with a value of $6.4 billion.
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