A First Look At The Canoe Place Inn & Cottages: Touring The Site With Gregg And Mitchell Rechler

Doug Aitken’s “When I Was Alive” greets arrivals at the Canoe Place Inn. In shades of blue, the artwork quotes Adolfo Bioy Casares’s 1940 novel, “The Invention of Morel,” stating in part: “I merged with all that was around me, realizing there will be no next time, that each moment is unique, different from every other.”

“He created this during COVID,” Mitchell Rechler — who, with his cousin Gregg, offered The Express News Group a first look last week at the ambitious undertaking that is the redevelopment of the storied Hampton Bays site — said of the world renowned artist.

“It sets a whole tone about really appreciating life when it gets back to normal and enjoying the moments. It set a tone for us, for our guests who come in,” Rechler said.

As the years-long renovation of the Canoe Place Inn & Cottages in Hampton Bays reaches a conclusion, and with an opening date slated for August, the Rechlers led a tour of the grounds, a hive of activity on Thursday, July 21. From housekeepers to painters, from servers to kitchen staff, landscapers to reception help, all were busy getting ready for the opening.

The Rechlers pride themselves on taking properties deemed eyesores and converting them into valuable community assets. The pair brimmed with pride during the two-hour visit.

“I want you to see this,” Gregg Rechler exclaimed repeatedly, effervescing with enthusiasm.

The cousins worked with designers from the Brooklyn-based firm Workstead. “They’re hot,” Mitchell Rechler said.

“When we worked with them, we said, ‘We want this building to look like it’s lived in the last hundred years.’ … There wasn’t one period this building has not lived in. There’s so many different eras,” Gregg Rechler noted.

The brick floor throughout the entrance resembles the floor in the original reception room of the inn when it was rebuilt in 1922. “We started with that,” Gregg Rechler said.

From there emerged the property’s theme: “Garden by the Sea.”

An immense wood reception desk rests under the Aitken piece. It was constructed from the original timbers of the inn — they’d been removed to allow for infrastructure to reinforce the building.

In the ballroom, carpeting in soft greens calls to mind a meadow. Gregg Rechler couldn’t number how many separate gardens, conceived by Araiys Design landscape architects, are planted on the site — they’re everywhere throughout the nearly 6-acre property.

The ballroom is suitable for a party of 350 people. “We believe it’s the only room like this on the East End,” said Gregg Rechler.

Vaulted ceilings and pillars reflect the bones of CPI’s ballroom, a Greek Revival addition to the original building. But this one has been updated, with built-in high-tech features that allow for lighting, sound and a projection screen, as well as the projector, to slide down from the ceiling.

Normally, for certain events, party planners have to bring in equipment. But that’s not the case at Canoe Place Inn. “We have it all in the room ready for you,” Gregg Rechler pointed out.

The cousins recalled their earliest visits to the crumbling edifice, which the pair purchased in 2005, Gregg Rechler noted, gesturing to an elegant light fixture.

“When we bought the building, this had a chain hanging down, with a woman’s high-heeled shoe,” he said. There were go-go dancer cages in the erstwhile nightclub. The Rechlers decided not to keep them.

Every window in a curved wall that opens to a pavilion was replaced, using the expertise of historian Robert Strada to ensure accuracy.

“We had to rebuild every column. Everything was taken apart and done from scratch,” Mitchell Rechler reported. Detail on columns is based on the original design. “We wanted it to be genuine. We worked hard to find the right feel,” he said.

The first floor of the building “was buried,” Gregg Rechler said. “We dug that out.

“The one thing that was always a core competency of ours was redevelopment,” he continued. “Our company was the first in the 1970s to take an old, defunct Grumman building in Syosset and convert it to a class A office building.”

More recently, the Rechlers bought an old trailer park on the verge of condemnation in Amityville and turned it into Greybarn, a luxury apartment complex. They’re beginning another Greybarn in an old catering hall in Patchogue, and purchased property across the street to build an arts council building for the community.

“We usually take properties deemed an eyesore by the community and convert them,” Gregg Rechler said.

The pavilion area adjacent to the ballroom can serve as a separate event space or a preevent space — it opens to a curved terrace reflective of the rounded shapes that dominate the ballroom and pavilion.

Passing into the next area, is staff training. “We’ve been really lucky,” Gregg Rechler said, speaking of the inn’s ability to recruit personnel.

The Rechlers hosted a culinary arts program with the Hampton Bays School District’s continuing education program, and some two dozen of those students came forward for jobs. Additionally, the inn offers signing bonuses to job seekers, as well as additional bonuses for staff members who stay year round. The cousins want the inn to be an intrinsic asset in the community and plan to stay open all year.

Moving to the back of the house, the 5,160-square-foot kitchen spans the length of the 46,000-square-foot inn. A lower level plays host to freezers and refrigerators, plus a butchery. It will serve two indoor dining rooms and outdoor terrace, plus the ballroom.

On Thursday, Chef Ülfet Ralph from Relais & Châteaux, an association of luxury restaurants and hotels, was testing recipes, as waitstaff took turns playing guests and servers. COVID delayed the kitchen’s completion. “That’s part of what took so long with the development, getting the equipment,” Gregg Rechler said.

This week, friends and family will enjoy a test stay. Their role is to offer feedback.

A restroom off the ballroom shown as an example of public spaces, features marble counters, tiles in a herringbone pattern, plus custom-designed mirrors and toilet partitions. It has an Art Deco feel, but “it’s meant to be timeless,” Gregg Rechler said.

In the Good Ground Tavern, an onyx bar that seats 14 is a focal point. The aim for the restaurant ambiance is intimacy, with a pub-like atmosphere. So, too, is the aura in the casual “bottle room” across the hallway. There, diners can check out bottles and pottery recovered from an old shipwreck.

A curved wooden door — an ode to the speakeasy age — leads to the library, where the style is a mix of modern and traditional in what was the original reception room. A banquet along the wall provides space for those looking to read or work. Media is, again, built in, and an original wood-burning fireplace beckons guests to relax on a luxurious sofa.

A health spa reveals one of the innkeepers’ collaborations with elite partners — ONDA Beauty of Sag Harbor. Sarah Eustis, the CEO of the Massachusetts-based Main Street Hospitality, who is managing the property, another leader of the tour, said the spa was designed with ONDA and tailored to offer a soothing atmosphere, with three treatment rooms and a curated menu of offerings. “Their specialty is unbelievable facials,” Eustis said. This is ONDA’s first spa in a hotel.

First-floor doors open onto a terrace with outdoor dining for 120, and another specially designed bar. Retractable awnings in classic green-and-white stripe can keep diners shaded during the summer, while fire pits and heaters will warm come winter.

Looking toward a back entrance, where an array of shrubs and flowers lead from the spacious parking lot, an outdoor waiting area features old-school gliders painted sparkling white. Across from another garden, another “Insta-worthy” setting, is the 48-foot-by-20-foot pool. Poolside chaise lounges match the hue of hydrangeas flowering nearby.

The inn itself boasts 20 unique rooms — seven with balconies. Huge wood-framed beds made up with Italian linen nestle between night tables playing host to custom-designed lamps. Some suites offer the opportunity for a long soak in a cast iron tub near a gas fireplace: Original fireplaces were refitted to allow the guests to control them. Guests can step out across a heated floor to a balcony.

In the luxurious loo, guests may try body products by Francisco Costa, of Costa Brazil. Canoe Place Inn is the only hotel to offer the line. “We’re weaving in exclusive partnerships,” Eustis explained.

Rooms made handicap accessible feature lower sinks and beds and special shower access. Others provide cozy alcoves with window seats or comfortable reading chairs near historically replicated arched windows in dormers. Thanks to soundproofing and double-paned windows, the rooms are quiet, despite the inn’s proximity to Montauk Highway. Wall coverings — unique to varied rooms — were designed by an artisan in Connecticut. Suites include sitting areas with pull-out couches. In a smaller room, a vintage radio decorates a shelf while built-in technology allows guests to communicate with staff.

Down an elevator to the lower level is the inn’s health club. State-of-the-art equipment includes the high-tech Free Motion mirror that comes alive with a trainer.

Beyond the 20 rooms in the main structure, the property hosts five cottages, all built in the footprint of original bungalows with historic input from Strada. There’s one four-bedroom house, two with three bedrooms each, a single one-bedroom cottage and two two-bedroom abodes.

Alfred E. Smith, New York’s four-term governor and a one-time presidential candidate, stayed in a cottage on the property, Gregg Rechler noted.

In the largest cottage, the fireplace is surrounded by hand-painted tile from Portugal, another idiosyncratic touch. While guests may eschew the chore of cooking during their stay, if they want to, they can use a Viking stove tucked into the kitchenette.

Each cottage has its own private backyard, with flower plantings, a fire pit, barbecue grill and outdoor shower. Porches and architectural details replicate exteriors of the original cottages. The Rechlers researched old photographs to ensure the new buildings replicated the look of the originals.

“You can come for a weekend or you can come for a month,” Eustis said. The cottages, with a “turnkey experience,” are expected to open in September.

Nestled into the hillside on the western side of the site, the cottages share space with a permanent guest, a 16-foot sculpture. “The Deer,” by Tony Tasset, arrived last month.

As the tour ended Thursday, another significantly smaller creature, a box turtle, made its way across the lot, presumably, also intrigued by the long-aborning development, or the giant deer.

The original Canoe Place Inn, which burned to the ground on July 5, 1921, predated the Revolutionary War. During the war, British soldiers used it as a headquarters. Its four-story replacement was constructed in 1922. Its most recent iteration was the nightclub known simply as CPI. It closed in 2010.

Construction on the Canoe Place Inn & Cottages began in 2018.

Concurrently, the Rechlers are developing land across the Shinnecock Canal. Dubbed The Boathouses at Canoe Place, once completed it will comprise 37 luxury rental townhomes. Nineteen homes remain to be completed, the balance are available for nightly or long-term rental through the luxury vacation club partner Inspirato.

Looking across the property from the cottages, across the Shinnecock Canal to the Boathouses, Gregg Rechler marveled at the view. “That’s a great picture,” he said.