For 46 years, Rick Benson has lived at the top of Compo Hill
For the last 11 of those years, he has watched as 233 Hillspoint Road — the property at the bottom, diagonally across from Old Mill Grocery — has been the scene of a long-running drama.
Positano restaurant closed, and was demolished. A new home was planned. Construction stalled. It sat for years, a blue Tyvek-swathed eyesore.
233 Hillspoint Road, in February 2024. (Photo/Totney Benson)
Last year, building began again. Soon, it stopped again.
Soon, Benson will be able to see the finished product.
In early November, he’ll be the new owner of 223 Hillspoint.
“When I find a problem I can solve, I try to do it,” Benson told “06880” yesterday, by phone. He’s in France, celebrating his 78th birthday.
Just before he left, he learned that a foreclosure auction — postponed from September — would be held this past Thursday. He quickly got ready.
There was one other bidder: the lenders, looking to recoup their investment.
Benson had a different motivation: to end “this 11-year nightmare.”
Construction halted again, this past July.
He’s motivated by more than neighborly interest. He’s been a builder since 1981. He’s constructed over 60 homes in Westport, and many condos.
He knows his way around a building site. And architectural plans.
What he’s acquired is a partially completed exterior: the view that’s visible to the hundreds of people passing by every day.
Inside, there’s almost nothing: some frames, temporary stairs, virtually no mechanicals.
“Basically, we’re starting from scratch,” Benson said.
To make things as painless as possible for neighbors — and get the completed home on the market by spring — Benson will make very few changes.
(He does hope to replace the windows on the beach side, which don’t open, with ones that do.)
The view from Old Mill Beach.
“I watched the decay and slow progress for a decade,” Benson noted. “I want this to be a complement to the neighborhood.”
There is “some market risk,” he admitted. But he is confident it will sell.
In the meantime, he said, “if anyone wants to make an offer, we’re happy to talk.”
Plans for the finished product.
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