Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Dubow says: Let them eat cake somewhere else!

Just six months into retirement, Craig Dubow and his wife Denise have gone to court to block a neighbor from building a 25,424-square-foot mansion modeled on the Palace of Versailles, the former home of that other power couple, Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette.

In a Page One story today, The Washington Post says the Dubow lawsuit over construction of Le Chateau de Lumiere in Virginia's Hidden Springs enclave "largely boils down to a collision between new and old ideas about the way Washington expresses its success — and flaunts its wealth — in a place that has the region’s most concentrated affluence."

According to the Post, plans for the home, estimated to cost up to $20 million, show it will have five bedrooms, three two-car garages, an elevator, and a pool and a pool house.

"The basement alone," the paper says, "will have a wine cellar, an exercise room, a billiard room, a theater with a concession space, a spa, a sauna, a card room, a recreation room, a gallery, a kitchen and a large guest bedroom. On the third floor, the master bedroom suite will take up an entire wing and consist of a study, sitting room, gallery and four other rooms."

Well, tout de suite, the Dubows brought suit this month against neighbor Young Yi -- saying, according to the Post, "the chateau would ruin the 'sylvan character' of Hidden Springs, the plans violate the neighborhood covenants, and the chateau would sink local home values, according to court documents. The Dubows want the plans scaled back to fit the more 'conservative' aesthetics of Hidden Springs."

Who's paying for suit?
It appears Gannett itself could be paying for some of the costs, depending on when the lawsuit was filed.

Under terms of Dubow's retirement benefits, he and other senior executives get "legal and financial counseling services on the same basis as available to an active executive at the time his or her employment terminates, until April 15 of the year of retirement or the year following retirement,'' according to the newest proxy report to shareholders.

Dubow retired last October, so his legal services benefit should have ended nine days ago. The Dubows brought their suit this month, according to the Post. The paper did not give a specific date, however.

Earlier: the Craig and Denise Dubow scholarship fund saga.

37 comments:

  1. OK Jim.
    So who the hell is Young Yi?
    That's what I want to know now.

    Work on that, tout de suite, s'il vous plait.

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  2. This is a story? Who would want a hotel-size home next to their house?

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  3. Ah, les problèmes d'un riche oisif!
    Ah, the problems of the idle rich!

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  4. Let them eat cake? He should know.

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  5. The shareholders bought the house Dubow lives in. I say they should take it to a vote.

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  6. Doesn't Dubow get legal representation as part of his "retirement" package? If so, we're underwriting the lawsuit.

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  7. awwwww,,, poor baby!

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  8. Sorry to see Dubow is having difficulties in his retirement from Gannett. I was mad that he ran off with his $30 million plus and was having a blast. This at least tells me he's paying a price for his largess.

    Hang in there Craig.

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  10. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Perhaps payback time has begun.

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  11. Yi is a businesswoman who runs a chain of sleep-disorder clinics.
    So if CD is losing any sleep over this, he won't have far to go to get cured, HAH!

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  13. 2:59 raised a good question!

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  14. Yeah, it can get tough to maintain those exclusive enclaves from the nouveau riche!

    Don't like it Craigy baby? Give Big Al a buzz. Maybe he's got a treehouse to let.

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  16. I first read the Washington Post story to say that Dubow was building a$30 million home based on Verseilles. I thought, "the nerve!"

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  17. Gannett employees should buy the plot of land from Yi and build an amusement park on the site. Put the roller coaster next to the Dubow home. Not THAT would be justice.

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  18. Too ba Craig didnt put this much effort in when he was running Gannett.

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  19. Craig, your lack of self awareness continues to amaze the 20,000 workers you laid off and the shareholders you stole from. You should be happy you weren't run out of town.

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  20. hope the view from your estate is permanently blocked.

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  21. I guess it's time for Craig to move to a hood more to his liking. Hell awaits you, CD.

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  22. Another 1 percenter filled to his ascot neck with self entitlement. Craig, shut up and welcome your new neighbor to the hood. No one is ever gonna feel sorry for your plight. You carpetbagged your way out of the company with so much money you needed an 18'wheeler to haul it away. "suffer" in silence.

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  23. Dear Young Yi,
    May I suggest that next to the previously recommended amusement park, you install marching band practice fields for area schools and national competitions. To accommodate the hundreds of bands already signed up, practice should begin at 5 AM and end in time for the nightly fireworks show. For your comfort, I recommend building these useful, tax deductible, fields on the border of your property. Surely the Dubows will support a project that serves the youth of the USA and, should there ever be an air strike on Hidden Springs, they will be grateful for the many, many midnight air raid drills you are sponsoring.
    My wife and I look forward to the completion of your splendid Le Chateau de Lumiere. I've already signed the family up for a bus tour. Twenty buses a day, double that when the holiday decorations go up. Drivers and guides have been hired from Gannett's large unemployment pool. The old war horses have already been though orientations so they know that parking is next door.
    Kind regards.

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  24. I hope there are wild parties at the Yi estate 24\7.

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  25. Here's hoping there are room for character witnesses. Against Dubow.

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  26. Tsk Tsk Craig. Maybe you can have the foundation make a donation in his name.

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  27. Craigy, Yi has promised you own Romper Room.

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  29. Poor Craig....but I'm sure that in addition to wanting to block the building of the mansion..he will sue for the pain and suffering he had to endure when he realized he wasn't the richest boy on the block...he's already taken 37 million he hasn't earned, why not go after someone else's money..especially if Gannett or more commonly known as "we the furloughed to support Craig's retirement group" are footing the bill.

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  30. Craig--you need to embrace the transformation of your neighborhood.

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  31. Craig will cost Gannett another six figures in legal fees.

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  32. What would Jesus do?

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  34. I wish Young Yi all the best. May it be like Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch - she may even wish to add some animals to the property. Craig and Denise can move down to their Cashiers, NC palace if it gets to be too much; I don't feel an ounce sorry for them.

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  35. O Karma, you are a beautiful mistress.

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