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KFOURYWEINSCHENK

CAPE ELIZABETH'S NEWEST BUZZWORD

on Town Landing Road in Cumberland Foreside.

Though it may sound like a wine cooler, Kfoury - Weinschenk Inc. is the trademark of a design and development firm whose most recent project is the 128-acre Elizabeth Farms, off Sawyer Road in Cape Elizabeth. When completed in the next 2-21/2 years, the enclave willhave a total of 44 impressive shingle-style houses and a 40-acre meadow, nature walk, and fitness trail. Individual lots range from 80,000 to 131,000 square feet, with prices approaching $400,000 ...

At first glance, blond architectural designer Ric Weinschenk, 38, a sneakered, khaki-clad Camel smoker from New York, looks like he would be in his element on a starboard tack in Casco Bay. Weinschenk explains that his designs are "part 1850 (he spent some boyhood years on the Hamptons) and part 1990. Everything seems a little grotesque in scale. My designs overall don't come from a specific day or year - instead they are a combination of the best things I've seen in houses." Columbia University-trained Weinschenk got his start as an architectural designer by abandoning a brief career as a writer: "After I spent a week working for the New York Times, I knew that I was never going to make enough money as a journalist."

Enter partner Jim Kfoury, 46, president and founder of the New England Building Co. (a distributor and installer of glass), a Bostonian, father of two, husband, voracious reader, sailor, and, glows Weinschenk, "financial wizard." Kfoury got his start selling glass doors and windows out of a truck in Vermont. According to Weinschenk, the partnership was formed 1Oyears ago after they had worked together on a number of jobs in the Green Mountain state. .

The Elizabeth Farms project began 3 years ago when Weinschenk left the land of Ben and Jerry after 18 years in order "to go back to the water." He feels that "the biggest problem three years ago was that there weren't any big, fancy architectural homes in Maine. They were mostly turn-of-the-century. A new renaissance of style had to be introduced, as well as upscale pricing."

The development is divided into three sectors, known as Park Circle, Cole Field, and Farm's Edge, each resplendent with between 9 and 11 KfouryWeinschenks. Prices for the lots range from $50,000 to $140,000; the six limited-edition Kfoury- W einschenks range in price from $213,840 to $277,740. If none of these strikes your fancy, Kfoury- W einschenk will design a home expressly suited to your personal tastes.

To date, lots are being purchased typically by locals who are between the ages of 30 and 45, have three or more children, and own their own businesses. Also, W einschenk' s unique designs are not limited to 44 acres in Cape Elizabeth. Cumberland Foreside, Broad Cove, and Chimney Rock road are all refractory with Kfoury-W einschenk originals.

So wha.t makes something uniquely a Kfoury - Weinschenk creation? "Personal attention and high standards," as well as a whale of a lot of windows: "People ought to be able to look out -rooms shouldn't be oriented to one .. side or the other. Attention to shapes' -and proportions, so that a house doesn't look like it has too much eye make-up. You have to design the inside and outside at the same time. I've never built the same house twice in 18 years." Ruskin would be pleased ... "Real estate development is threequarters experience. and one-quarter luck," states Weinschenk. "Jim Kfoury is a good and successful businessman with a gut sense that fills in the onequarter mystery. He can see clearly through details that I get mired down .

In. "

In spite of having the mystery element licked and a trade name that's setting the Maine coast abuzz, KfouryW einschenk' s Elizabeth Farms project has taken a little longer than initially anticipated. "There are an extra set of (zoning) hurdles, as it should be, along the coast. I know a lot about the town of Cape Elizabeth. People there are very concerned with a wide range of things - septic systems, dead-end roads, aesthetics, and road compatibility. The only way to have growth is to have controlled growth - a gooa, comprehensive plan," philosophizes Weinschenk. He describes conservatism existing "in its purest form in Cape Elizabeth. However," he adds, "they are not opposed to innovation."