Robert Kraft is ready for lift-off.
The 81-year-old billionaire owner of the New England Patriots is battling Southampton officials to allow an elevator in his $43 million beachfront palace, claiming he is “mobility impaired.”
But some naysayers are whining that the sports magnate is doing an end-run around the town’s Draconian zoning and architectural statutes — pointing to recent photos of him spryly golfing, and playing tennis with his stunning fiancée.
During a Jan. 26 hearing of the village Zoning Board of Appeals, attorney Mike Sendlenski said his client urgently needs the lift for medical reasons.
“Doctors have advised him to limit his traversing stairs as much as possible,” he pleaded.
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.
Some in the village cried foul, given that Kraft was spotted just months ago playing tennis with Dana Blumberg, 49, in Sun Valley, Idaho. The couple married last October.
In February 2022, photos show Kraft hitting the links at the pro-am prior to The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“If you Google ‘Robert Kraft tennis’ and you see recent photos of him playing tennis and you get this feeling they are just willing to do anything to win,” fumed one frustrated local.
Kraft’s up-and-down battle began in November 2021.
The Architectural Review Board gave the elevator a green light in a contentious 3-2 vote in March 2022, but Kraft now faces a tougher challenge from the village’s zoning nabobs.
He might sue the village, citing the ADA.
“There is nothing subtle about this,” sniffed ZBA member Susan Stevenson at the January hearing.
The board would prefer the exterior elevator be hidden inside the seven-bedroom, 8 1/2-bath home on 40 Meadow Lane, members said.
Team Kraft challenged that, saying an interior elevator would cost $2.47 million, while an exterior one would cost $1.16 million.
“The cost is not something that the zoning board actually is asked to take into account,” Julia McCormack, a board member, told Sendlenski at the January hearing.
“You can and need to!” Sendlenski shot back.
Local insiders say the primary beef isn’t with Kraft, but the house itself.
The ultra-modern abode is in the heart of the village’s historic district — and a stone’s throw from the ultra-exclusive, old-money Meadow Club.
The village’s historic “A Wee Ly Mor” cottage, dating to the 1880s, was demolished in 2014 to make way for the mansion by its then-owner, the scandal-scarred developer Nir Meir.
“There were questions about the house not being built as approved,” said Curtis Highsmith, a former chair of the village Architectural Review Board.
Kraft does have his supporters as well.
Zach Epley, a village notable and son of former Mayor Mark Epley said he didn’t understand what the fuss was about: “It doesn’t bother me at all … It’s an elevator.”
Todd Shapiro, a PR executive with a place in Southampton, added Kraft “pays a lot of money for taxes” and “should have his right to do what he wants to do in his home.”
Reps for Kraft declined to comment.
