Conversion: 1940 Former CBS Transmitter Building Turned Green Home with Two Islands in New Rochelle, New York

There is quite and interesting history to this island and building. You can read about it in the full post.

LISTING DETAILS

Columbia and Pea Islands. Accessed via boat this unique innovative residence on Columbia Island offers 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. The great room is ideal for entertaining with views from every angle.An open kitchen and gracious dining area overlook LI Sound and nearby Pea Island naturally offering spectacular views and unending beauty. The lower level space has exposed brick walls and can be used for a media/game room, art studio or anything one is inspired to create. Head up to the roof and enjoy views of NYC and the City of New Rochelle from your own perch atop this self-sustaining private island in Long Island Sound. Be inspired by nature, enjoy the solitude or enjoy the most distinctive entertainment space in the area. Pea Island is a brief paddleboard or dinghy ride just .2 nautical miles from Columbia Island with almost 5 acres of land including open beach with lush indigenous plants - what will you do with your private islands just minutes from NYC?

HISTORY via Wikipedia

Columbia Island (formerly Little Pea Island), is an island in the Long Island Sound and part of New Rochelle, New York. It is situated off the south-eastern coast of Davids' Island, immediately adjacent to Pea Island. The island varies in size from about one acre to 175 square feet depending on the tide.

It was once owned by the Iselin family who sold it to the Huguenot Yacht Club along with Pea Island in 1936. Three years later the club sold Little Pea Island to CBS, which renamed it "Columbia". As a result of engineering surveys designating the area around New Rochelle and Port Washington on Long Island Sound as the ideal locality for a radio transmitter to serve the metropolitan New York area, new stations were constructed on these sites by both Columbia ("CBS") and National ("NBC") broadcasting systems in 1940. CBS purchased the island as the site for a new broadcast antenna tower for WCBS-AM (then known by the call sign WABC).
 
CBS spent approximately $500,000 to construct the transmitter building with emergency housing for ten workers, and the 410 foot (125 m) broadcast tower. The station contained a 50,000-watt transmitter housed in a 75-square-foot (7.0 m²) copper-walled building. There also was a 5,000-watt transmitter unit for emergency use. Electric power was supplied through two submarine cables, which were connected to separate power plants to prevent interruption of service. Emergency generators were installed on the island for protection against power failure. The men who operated the station lived within a grounded metal shell under which were living quarters for engineers, workshops, electrical units that supplied tube voltages, and the backup generator. The transmitter remained in operation until 1963 when it became obsolete, and the station was moved to nearby High Island. CBS's work to build a high-power broadcasting station included drilling through bedrock to a source of fresh water, found at the 910 feet (280 m).
 
The island was then purchased by the show-business couple Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, who broadcast a breakfast conversation show from their home there. It was part of a package that included a strip of waterfront property, a speedboat, and a tugboat. The couple later gave the island to the College of New Rochelle. In 2005, the then-current owner of the island sought to demolish the old transmitter building and replace it with a private residence.
 
Pathologist Al Sutton bought Columbia Island in 2007. To make the island more livable, he constructed an off-the-grid "green" home within the concrete building with solar panels. In June 2019, Columbia Island and nearby Pea island were jointly put on sale with a list price of $13 million. According to The New York Times Sutton described the property as a "money pit". Sutton spent $8 million on the property.
FOR SALE  $13,000,000
1 Columbia Is, New Rochelle, NY 10805
4 beds  |  2 baths  |  5625 sqft  |  5+ acres

LINKS:
Listing Agent, Zillow, Realtor, Video, Wikipedia, 

Video

Featured Photos