Press
Eisenhower Kin Sells Old Mansion In Southampton
12/11/2010 – The Wall Street Journal
A historic 19th-century Southampton mansion owned by Anne Eisenhower, a granddaughter of the former president, has found a buyer, brokers said, in one of the most significant sales of the year in the Hamptons.
Harald Grant, a broker at Sotheby’s International Realty who represented Ms. Eisenhower, confirmed that the three-story house, with a pool and tennis court, was in contract and due to close before the end of the year. He declined to provide details.
The 12,000-square-foot house has been on and off the market for the past few years, brokers said, with a recent asking price of $35 million. Even not knowing the final price, brokers said it would likely rank as the second or third highest sale of the year in the Hamptons.
“We came to a price that was acceptable to us,” Mr. Grant said.
Ms. Eisenhower is a socialite active in many charity events as well as an interior designer. One East End broker said that Ms. Eisenhower has been looking for a smaller, easier-to-manage home in the Hamptons.
Property tax records show that she owns the mansion with her husband, Wolfgang Flottl, an investment banker and art collector. He was convicted in Austria in 2008 on charges he played a role in covering up investment losses at an Austrian bank linked to the failure of Refco, a New York financial-services firm. An appeal is pending.
Ms. Eisenhower was said to be traveling, and didn’t respond to several messages left at her New York office.
The house, originally known as Claverack, was built in the 1890s and was one the first oversized “cottages” of the original summer colony that sprang up in what is known as the estates section in Southampton Village. The house was modeled after a Dutch colonial mansion, with dormer windows and a peaked roof, that was built near Albany in the 18th century for a member of the Van Rensselaer family, one of the original families to settle in the Hudson River Valley.
The wife of the original owner was a descendent and gave the house its Dutch name. A later owner Americanized it and renamed it Keewaydin, the northwest wind in the poem “The Song of Hiawatha” by Longfellow. “It is one of the greatest houses of the original summer colony,” said Gary Lawrance, an architect and author of a book on houses in the Hamptons.
The house was originally part of a 30-acre estate, Mr. Lawrance said, with gardens designed by the Olmstead brothers, but all but 10 acres have been sold off. Now brokers said part of the grounds could be sold off again, for two additional housing sites. The house is protected as part of a Southampton Village historic district, but years ago, the site was partitioned into three separate building lots.
Papers filed with Southampton Village in connection with the sale show that the buyers plan to take title to the property using two separate limited liability companies—one for the mansion, and the other for the other two potential building lots.
Jim Ferrer, a Sotheby’s broker, represented the buyers, whom he declined to identify. “The deal is cloaked in confidentiality,” he said.
Ms. Eisenhower paid about $5 million for the property in the mid-1990s, during a market downturn, brokers said. The current deal shows how much values have risen in the Hamptons, even in properties far from the beach, despite the slump in prices and sales in recent years.
The highest price for a home in the Hamptons on a deal to close this year was the $43.5 million sale of a 6.5-acre estate in Sagaponack. The estate, with a 6,200-square-foot oceanfront home was sold by Joanne Corzine, the ex-wife of Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and senator, to David Tepper, a hedge-fund manager.
Tim Davis, a Corcoran broker, said while the high-end market in the Hamptons remained price-sensitive, it was coming back faster than other market sectors. “This sale is telling us that the high end of the market is resetting itself,” he said.
Chopping Trees
12/2/2010 – New York Post
The price of the 115-acre Two Trees Farm estate in Bridgehampton just received a whopping price chop. Once listed for an astounding $95 million, the property is now on the market for $55 million, which includes development rights. Or, for those looking to spend a bit less, 73 acres can be purchased without development rights for $20 million. That includes a renovated 17th-century farmhouse (about 4,000 square feet), a caretaker’s home, a pool, a tennis court and an equestrian facility with stalls for 100 horses.
The historic farm, owned by David Walentas, the father of DUMBO, is currently the site of the annual Mercedes-Benz Polo Challenge. Walentas bought the estate for $2 million in 1993. Corcoran Group broker Tim Davis has the listing. We hear that two finance hotshots from the city have already asked to see the newly priced property.
The Corcoran Group Appoints Senior Managing Director Of Southampton Office
11/5/2010 – Hamptons.com
Bridgehampton – The Corcoran Group has appointed Philip O’Connell as Senior Managing Director of the company’s Southampton office. A Hamptons native and longtime East End attorney, O’Connell will oversee all phases of the thriving Corcoran Southampton office which for 20 years has been managed by Tim Davis, the veteran 30 year broker and former principal of Allan M. Schneider, Associates. O’Connell will focus on agent career development and sales revenue.
“I am pleased to have Philip as the newest member of Corcoran’s dynamic East End Management Team. Working directly with our agents to assure they remain the best, most professional agents in this market, Philip will be an invaluable resource for our Southampton agents and Corcoran’s East End team as a whole,” said Rick Hoffman, Corcoran Regional Senior Vice President, East End.
Drawing on his own proven professional accomplishments as a real estate lawyer with extensive experience in sales management, O’Connell is well equipped to help agents – both new and experienced – to take their business to the next level. According to O’Connell, “Sales agents tend to hit several plateaus throughout their careers. One of my greatest assets is the ability to assess a situation, identify a salesperson’s unique skills, and assist them in developing a detailed tactical plan to raise the bar higher than they might have ever imagined.”
Raised in East Hampton, Philip earned his BS degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and was awarded a JD from Tulane University Law School. Most recently, he worked in legal consulting as a vice president, and as an independent consultant and attorney. He resides in East Hampton with his wife and two rescue dogs from the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons. He serves as a volunteer firefighter in East Hampton, and is extremely dedicated to all aspects of his community. Though he has traveled to many places, Philip has always been glad to come back to his roots in the Hamptons, which he considers one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Former Southampton Managing Director, Davis will now assume the new position of Corcoran’s Regional Brokerage Advisor, East End. Davis will continue in his highly successful career as one of Corcoran’s top sales associates as a Senior Vice President in the Southampton office.
New Manager at Corcoran
11/4/2010 – The East Hampton Star
The Corcoran Group has appointed Philip O’Connell, a real estate lawyer with a background in sales management, as the new senior managing director of the company’s Southampton office. Tim Davis, who previously held the position, has become Corcoran’s East End regional brokerage adviser.
Mr. O’Connell, who lives in East Hampton, will focus on agent career development and sales revenue at his new post.
The Corcoran Group Appoints Senior Managing Director Of Southampton Office
11/2/2010 – Hamptons.com
Bridgehampton – The Corcoran Group has appointed Philip O’Connell as Senior Managing Director of the company’s Southampton office. A Hamptons native and longtime East End attorney, O’Connell will oversee all phases of the thriving Corcoran Southampton office which for 20 years has been managed by Tim Davis, the veteran 30 year broker and former principal of Allan M. Schneider, Associates. O’Connell will focus on agent career development and sales revenue.
“I am pleased to have Philip as the newest member of Corcoran’s dynamic East End Management Team. Working directly with our agents to assure they remain the best, most professional agents in this market, Philip will be an invaluable resource for our Southampton agents and Corcoran’s East End team as a whole,” said Rick Hoffman, Corcoran Regional Senior Vice President, East End.
Drawing on his own proven professional accomplishments as a real estate lawyer with extensive experience in sales management, O’Connell is well equipped to help agents – both new and experienced – to take their business to the next level. According to O’Connell, “Sales agents tend to hit several plateaus throughout their careers. One of my greatest assets is the ability to assess a situation, identify a salesperson’s unique skills, and assist them in developing a detailed tactical plan to raise the bar higher than they might have ever imagined.”
Raised in East Hampton, Philip earned his BS degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and was awarded a JD from Tulane University Law School. Most recently, he worked in legal consulting as a vice president, and as an independent consultant and attorney. He resides in East Hampton with his wife and two rescue dogs from the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons. He serves as a volunteer firefighter in East Hampton, and is extremely dedicated to all aspects of his community. Though he has traveled to many places, Philip has always been glad to come back to his roots in the Hamptons, which he considers one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Former Southampton Managing Director, Davis will now assume the new position of Corcoran’s Regional Brokerage Advisor, East End. Davis will continue in his highly successful career as one of Corcoran’s top sales associates as a Senior Vice President in the Southampton office.
Philip O’Connell Is Appointed To Senior Managing Director of the Southampton Corcoran Office
11/2/2010 – Dan’s Papers
The Corcoran Group has just announced some changes and has appointed Philip O’Connell Senior Managing Director of the company’s Southampton office. O’Connell is a Hamptons native and longtime East End attorney, and will oversee all phases of the Corcoran Southampton office which for 20 years has been managed by Tim Davis, the veteran 30 year broker and former principal of Allan M. Schneider, Associates. Philip will focus on agent career development and sales revenue.
“I am pleased to have Philip as the newest member of Corcoran’s dynamic East End Management Team. Working directly with our agents to assure they remain the best, most professional agents in this market, Philip will be an invaluable resource for our Southampton agents and Corcoran’s East End team as a whole,” said Rick Hoffman, Corcoran Regional Senior Vice President, East End.
Former Southampton Managing Director, Tim Davis, will now assume the new position of Corcoran’s Regional Brokerage Advisor, East End. Tim will continue in his successful career as one of Corcoran’s top sales associates as a Senior Vice President in the Southampton office.
Southampton Feels Wintertime Blues
10/22/2010 – The Wall Street Journal
Winter is usually an uphill battle for businesses along Main Street in Southampton, but the past couple of offseasons have been particularly hard for area retailers, leading to the shuttering of several mainstays.
As a destination for affluent vacationers and those with second homes, Southampton has generated brisk summer business for many retailers, although last summer’s results were well below par for the peak season. But this winter, the lagging effects of the economic downturn are taking a toll on Main Street that has included some longtime retailers.
Leading the recent departures is Saks Fifth Avenue, which closed the doors on its majestic brick building, a former site of Southampton City Hall, on Oct. 9 after doing business in Southampton for nearly 60 years.
The company cited sluggish sales as the reason for the closure.
“The Southampton store did not meet the Company’s profitability standards,” said Julia Bentley, a spokeswoman for Saks, in a written statement. “The planned closing is consistent with our strategy of focusing our resources on our most productive stores.”
Locals mourned the loss of a landmark. “I’m saddened—it’s been there since I was a kid,” said Mary Callahan, 53 years old, who drove to the store from East Hampton, unaware that it had closed. “But I’m not surprised,” Ms. Callahan added. “I’ve been shopping online and only came in for makeup sometimes.”
Opened decades before most of the restaurants and boutiques on Main Street, the store had become a fixture in the community. “I did all my Christmas shopping at Saks for years,” said Bob Schepps, president of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce.
And just steps from Saks, year-round retailers Marie Chantal, a high-end children’s boutique, and Max Studio, a luxury fashion chain, have closed in the past few weeks.
A Max Studio official said the decision to close the Southampton store was a “difficult one, after many successful years,” and added that the company was seeking out larger spaces under a new retail strategy. Marie Chantal officials couldn’t be reached to comment.
And just off Main Street on Jobs Lane, the Diane von Furstenberg fashion boutique also has closed. While also a year-round location, a company spokeswoman said the Southampton store wasn’t intended to be permanent.
The Hamptons, on the southern fork of Long Island, were becoming more of a year-round destination in recent years. But recent economic woes are making it harder for local retailers to remain profitable with only the summer to fall back on.
“It was a seasonal issue during our best years,” said Michael Leclerc, owner of Renaissance, a vintage-clothing boutique on Main Street in Southampton for 18 years. “But in the last couple of years, we’ve had 40% to 50% reduction in sales—we are suffering.”
Recent economic woes are a key factor affecting consumer confidence, according to local retailers.
“People who live here are shopping at Tangers [an outlet mall] because even people with money aren’t spending the same way they did five years ago,” said Joann Hale, a sales associate at Complements lingerie boutique. “It’s the nouveau riche that go out and spend without hesitation—Southampton is a lot of old money.”
Business experts in the area see a number of different factors bearing down on retailers along the strip, ultimately turning a challenging environment into an impossible one for some.
“Retail in the area had been under pressure from Internet sales, Tanger outlets and high rental costs for years,” said Mr. Schepps. “But with the market conditions in the past couple of years, it’s a perfect storm.”
The effects of the downturn aren’t limited to retail in the area. Real-estate listing prices in the town are being slashed by the millions to attract buyers.
“Sellers who’ve had their properties listed for a while—some at a high price—are realizing nothing is happening,” said Janet Hummel, a partner with Town & Country Real Estate in the Hamptons. “Things are not like they were back in ’07.”
Still, others reason that weak market conditions are forcing sellers to come to grips with reality. A classic estate cottage in Southampton that was originally listed at $17.5 million was reduced to $13.5 million over the summer and was eventually sold at that price in August.
“You can’t price your property based on prices from even a couple of years ago,” said Tim Davis, senior managing director at Corcoran Group in Southampton, who currently has several listings currently on the market at reduced prices. “No question, prices have come down and in some areas they are 25% to 30% off from the high.”
Peter Turino, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens in East Hampton, says the market in Southampton is starting to emerge from a dark period last year. “The story of 2010 is a leveling story,” said Mr. Turino, “and that’s not all bad considering we were in so much trouble in 2009.”
Given the economic climate, local business owners say it is no surprise that discounters are the only retailers doing well.
“Since Labor Day, this place looks like a ghost town,” said Karen Leclerk, co-owner of Renaissance boutique. “But you walk into T.J. Maxx in Bridgetown and it’s like Christmas in there.”
Rich Cribs: A Brookville house with a tanning room, and more
8/30/2010 – Newsday
FORMER SHOW HOUSE: A Southampton mansion with ties to the Vanderbilt family has gone into contract. The asking price for the Great Plains Road home is $14.25 million, according to the The Corcoran Group’s website. Westlawn, the former summer cottage of Mrs. Edward Tiffany Dyer, granddaughter of tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, is a six-bedroom, 5 ½-bath traditional home designed by architect F. Burrall Hoffman. The mansion has been owned for many years by the family of the late businessman Emmet Blot. In 2003, the home served as the location for that year’s Hampton Designer Showhouse. The three story dwelling features a 60 foot Gunite pool and a three-car garage. The listing agent is Corcoran’s Tim Davis.
Deeds & Don’ts
8/24/2010 – Hamptons Cottages & Gardens
On the sizzling side, one of the season’s biggest celebrity purchases comes from fashion designer Tory Burch, who bought the Westerly Estate on Ox Pasture Road in Southampton. Burch paid $16.5 million for the late Howard Gittis’s home, a 25-room Georgian estate with grounds worthy of a European chateau. Built in 1929 by the architectural firm Hiss & Weekes, the property also comes with a pool and tennis court. One highlight: the backyard is a meadow with what seems like endless fields of green grass.
The interiors feature hand-plastered vaulted ceilings, a grand foyer with a curved staircase and a spacious living room. New York architect and designer Daniel Romualdez is updating and decorating Burch’s home. Tim Davis from Corcoran had the listing.
It’s Free to Look Hamptons: 127 Main Street, East Hampton
8/19/2010 – New York Observer
‘Great Stone House’
This is a true real estate miracle. One twenty-seven Main Street has been transformed from a mess to a modest $29 million piece of property, fresh on the market, waiting for a buyer.
From a piece of junk to an expensive Hamptons jewel, how did they do it?
“It was completely run-down,” Tim Davis, a real-estate agent for Corcoran in Southampton, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this summer. “It was really quite a mess.”
The property was originally designed by the Architectural firm Wyeth and King and built in the late 1930s for Robert Lion Gardiner, apparently one of East Hamptons most prominent residents, the Corcoran listing says.
And meticulously refitting and restoring a great stone house on a 5.5 park-like acre plot of land is not a quick task. The property is on the market now after a five-year renovation.
If you are less interested in the construction history, maybe this will sway you. The property sits on a “tree lined village street set back behind a high hedge.” Sounds nice!
If you still aren’t sold, check out all the press this place has gotten, which the listing so conveniently makes available. In addition to the Journal, Newsday, Curbed, and The Real Deal have all wanted to know about 127 Main Street. It must be good.
Agency news
8/16/2010 – 27 East
The Real Deal recently ranked the top 10 real estate brokers in the Hamptons by adding up the total dollar amount of held listings so far this year. The information used to determine the ranking was taken from each agency’s website in early June and doesn’t include sold properties.
Leading the pack is Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty, who at the time of the compilation had 26 listings with a combined asking value of nearly $652 million. His listings include Two Trees Farm in Bridgehampton, which is currently listed at $75 million and Three Ponds Farm in Bridgehampton, which is listed at $68 million.
Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group came in at number two with 33 listings totalling $606 million.
Tim Davis, also at Corcoran, was ranked number three for holding 17 listings worth a total of $272 million.
Another experienced Corcoran agent, Gary DePersia, ranked number four with 19 listings totalling $222 million.
Beate Moore from Sotheby’s rounded out the top five with 17 listings totalling $221 million.
Ed Petrie of Sotheby’s came in at number six for holding 13 listings totalling $138 million. Dana Trotter, also of Sotheby’s had four listings worth a combined $122 million.
Christopher Burnside with Brown Harris Stevens, ranked number eight and was the first agent on the list not affiliated with Sotheby’s or Corcoran. He represented seven listings totalling $111 million.
Enzo Morabito of Prudential Douglas Elliman, who works with a team of several agents, including Cynthia Beck, Greg Geuer, Amy Fitzpatrick Martin and his son, Tim Morabito, held eight listings totalling $99 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was Peter Turino of Brown Harris Stevens, who held six listings totaling nearly $90 million.
Gallery
8/4/2010 – Brokers Weekly
Nancy Hardy, Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate (far left), and Tim Davis, the Corcoran Group, (far right) assisted at the groundbreaking for The New Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York. Designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron, the new facility will triple the Museum’s exhibition space and allow for the simultaneous installation of its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.
The Hamptons’ Heaviest Hitters
8/1/2010 – The Real Deal
While the Hamptons market has severely suffered for the last two years as buyers have steered clear of second homes, deals are finally closing again — albeit with price cuts and negotiations.
According to data from Suffolk Research Service, the total value of home sales on the East End dropped from $784 million in the first quarter to $777 million in the second quarter (still 96.2 percent higher than the year-ago quarter). But the number of home sales continued to increase.
This month, The Real Deal looked at the crème de la crème of the East End market and ranked the 10 Hamptons brokers with the highest dollar volume of listings over the $5 million mark. (Think tennis courts, horse stables and guest houses.)
The listings — which were all active exclusives or co-exclusives listed on each firm’s website in early June — offer a unique insight into the movers and shakers for many of the top Hamptons properties.
While the data doesn’t include closed sales, it clearly shows which brokers are attracting the biggest listings. At the front of the pack is Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty, who had 26 listings with a combined asking value of nearly $652 million. The No. 2 broker, Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group, had listings worth a total of $606 million.
Those two, along with all Hamptons brokers, are feeling the market boost. In the second quarter, the median sales price in the East End dropped a bit, from $720,000 to $710,000, but that still surpassed the first-quarter median sales prices for the past five years. (In 2007, its previous peak, it was $690,000, according to Suffolk Research.) In general, “the trend is up, and we expect it to continue,” said George Simpson, the president of Suffolk Research Service.
That is, unless there is a “W-shaped recovery,” meaning a double dip into another recession before a sustained rebound.
In the meantime, the sun has started to shine again for those in the Hamptons real estate business. Of course, the 10 brokers on The Real Deal’s list aren’t the only prominent brokers in the Hamptons. Some other high-profile brokers that sources mentioned are: Diane Saatchi, who left Corcoran in January with her team to join the boutique firm Saunders & Associates; Prudential Douglas Elliman brokers Paul Brennan and Vince Horcasitas; and Sotheby’s agents Molly Ferrer and Marilyn Clark.
For a guide to those with the most expensive listings, however, see below for our who’s who.
2. Susan Breitenbach
A broker frequently in the Hamptons spotlight, Susan Breitenbach, a senior vice president at Corcoran, took the No. 2 spot on The Real Deal’s ranking with a stunning 33 listings worth a total of nearly $607 million. Breitenbach is sharing the $68 million listing for Three Ponds Farm — which features an 18-hole golf course, a grass tennis court, a 75-foot pool and three stocked fishing ponds on more than 60 acres — with Grant, above. Breitenbach also has the $34 million listing in Bridgehampton for a 26-acre parcel at 94 Highland Terrace that can be purchased in its entirety or broken into several $6 million lots.
Breitenbach keeps it all in the family. Her son, Matthew, a Corcoran vice president, is part of her sales team, and husband Stephen is a popular custom East End homebuilder. She told The Real Deal that she’s marketing all of well-known builder Jeffrey Collé’s estates, with one listed at $40 million and another at $35 million — but some of those listings are being shared with other brokers.
Of the current market, Breitenbach said, “I never worked so hard in my life.” But she also attributes her success to the technological savvy, creativity and energy of 27-year-old Matthew, who set up the team website and handles videos and other high-tech advertising.
3. Tim Davis
Tim Davis, a senior managing director who runs Corcoran’s Southampton office, ranked No. 3 with 17 listings worth a total of $272 million. Currently Davis is handling the marketing of the Gardiner estate in East Hampton, a stone mansion built on 5.5 acres in the late 1930s that was recently renovated and listed for $29 million last month.
Davis said he’s had to do price-chopping on some properties — a $16.5 million property was reduced to $14.25 million — but “nothing dramatic.” In fact, the 30-year Hamptons real estate veteran said most people are more realistic about the market now than they were three to five years ago.
“It’s easier to align buyers and sellers,” he said.
Davis said in a challenging market like this one, a broker has to ensure that sellers have gotten the proper market exposure. “I had a sale last year where the property was featured on the garden tour,” Davis said. “You have to think outside the box.”
4. Gary DePersia
Rounding out a Corcoran hat trick, senior vice president Gary DePersia had 19 listings, for a total value of $222 million. DePersia has the distinction of marketing the 55-acre waterfront oasis Tyndal Point — which can be subdivided into six lots and was listed at $45 million last month. He also has the $28 million listing for Sagaponack Greens, 40 acres of rolling farmland ready to be subdivided into eight lots.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, not all East End properties have lingered on the market longer during this rough stretch, DePersia said. Still, he said he sold a property in June that he’d been marketing for three years.
“It’s all a function of what it is,” DePersia said. “I’ve had some things this year that have come on and sold rather quickly.”
Grappling with the challenging market, DePersia, who has three assistants, said he’s stepped up already-aggressive advertising efforts.
It’s Free to Look Hamptons: 160 Ox Pasture Road, Southampton
7/26/2010 – New York Observer
If your mansion sits on more than nine acres, you have to do something with all that space. Why not construct an enormous athletic complex and consign the leftover land to “incredible landscaping”? Why not build such an elaborate estate that the Corcoran listing just throws up its hands and says the amenities are “too many more to mention”?
Why not? Because it costs $49.5 million. But hey! If that sounds like chump change to you, keep reading.
With that kind of cash on the line, the property has to have a history dating back at least to 1915—which, luckily, this one does. Having been “lovingly restored,” the 18,000-square-foot palace features “intimate elegant rooms, many with fireplaces.” But the real treats are outside: The yard includes “rose gardens,” “flowering shrubs,” “evergreen perimeters” and, our favorite, “old trees.” The other amenities are “resort-like”: two pools (one indoor, one outdoor), a tennis court, a paddle court, a carriage house, a four-car garage and, oh yes, a gymnasium. The listing says “no expense was spared,” and we finally understand what that means.
Best Sellers
7/16/2010 – Hamptons Magazine
Green Acres
7/9/2010 – Hamptons Magazine
Envision yourself approaching your very own little house on the prairie. Except this one’s not so little. This $38-million, nine-bedroom mansion-set on four and a half beech-tree-filled acres-boasts five fireplaces, a separate staff-quarters wing and bathrooms galore. Climb the grand staircase, or use the Destiny elevator to reach a charming master suite complete with a private sitting room, office, kitchenette, balcony overlooking the estate and your very own safe room with thick fireproof walls. Toast guests in the media and billiards room with vintages from your custom wine-storage area, then work off those extra calories at your gym, tennis court or pool. Good-bye, city life. Listed by Timothy Davis, The Corcoran Group, Southampton.
Coastal Living Highlights Top Hamptons Broker’s House
6/28/2010 – Newsday
The makeover of a cottage owned by a top Hamptons real estate broker is featured in the June issue of Coastal Living.
The 930-square-foot Southampton guest cottage of Tim Davis, a senior managing director at The Corcoran Group, and his wife, Susan, was completely revamped. The once plain and drab cottage is now a charming blue-and-white cottage with a classic shingle-style, located in the Cedar Crest area of Southampton.
It’s the epitome of Hodgson kit architecture, but was in much need of some updates, according to the article.
Interior designer John Bjornen of Sag Harbor’s Bjornen Design added fresh white paint and new furnishings to instantly update the house. Bjornen also vaulted the ceilings and widened the room openings to make the house appear larger, the magazine reports.
The designer says that it’s less daunting for people to update the inside of their homes because the “renovation is more contained,” he says.
And how do the homeowners like their new cottage?
“It exceeded my expectations,” Davis raves.
This property now has two bedrooms, two baths and an extended deck. It overlooks Davis Creek and Peconic Bay.
Gardiner mansion in East Hampton hits market for $29M
6/9/2010 – Newsday
What, exactly, will $29 million buy you out east this year?
Well, you can get luxury on the grandest scale — a sprawling stone mansion perfectly restored, in the heart of East Hampton.
Set on 5.4 acres and screened by hedges, the 2½-story house has a pool and Provencal garden plus an elaborate veranda. Indoors, there are 10 bedrooms, four fireplaces, an updated kitchen, a formal dining room, a living room, a library and a media room. There also is a separate carriage house with an apartment.
Built in the 1930s, the house was originally home to the Gardiner family, who own Gardiner’s Island. It was occupied, until his death in 2004, by Robert David Lion Gardiner. It is currently owned by real estate investor Shahab Karmely, who purchased the property in 2005 for nearly $9 million and renovated it for nearly $10 million.
“Very seldom does a home of this prominence and pedigree come to the market for sale in perfect condition,” says Tim Davis, senior managing director of Corcoran Group real estate, which has the listing.
On Offer in Hamptons
6/8/2010 – The Wall Street Journal
Asking Price for Restored Gardiner Estate Is $29 Million
One of the Hamptons’ most elaborate restoration projects has gone on sale for $29 million.
The historic home, known as the Gardiner Estate, was owned and occupied for decades by Robert David Lion Gardiner, a descendant of the prominent Long Island family that has owned Gardiner’s Island for nearly 400 years. The 3,300-acre island, between the South and North Forks of Long Island, is still owned by the family. Mr. Gardiner died in 2004 at age 93.
The current owner of Gardiner Estate in the Hamptons, Shahab Karmely, is a New York-based real-estate investor. Records show he purchased the 5.4-acre property and house for nearly $9 million in 2005. Mr. Karmely declined to comment.
The home’s listing agent, however, says Mr. Karmely put at least $10 million worth of improvements and updates into the home, built in the 1930s.
It was completely run-down,” says Tim Davis, a real-estate agent for Corcoran in Southampton who also represented Mr. Karmely when he bought the home. “It was really quite a mess.” Several bathrooms weren’t functional, windows had been painted shut and the roof had leaks.
Using historical photographs and documents, some found stored in a wine cellar at the home, Mr. Karmely was able to get a sense of what the stone-built home and its landscaping looked like in its heyday.
He also has made upgrades, including adding geothermal heating and a closed-circuit TV system that monitors the home from 32 security cameras. A climate and security system can be accessed from afar by computer.
The home’s 8½ bathrooms are now all functioning, and many of them have custom slab marble and heated floors. All the home’s arched French doorways have been restored, along with its windows.
An old elevator has been replaced with a new one. Several fountains have also been added, as has a large, original U-shaped hedge in the front of the home along a stone path that has been restored. There’s also a mahogany screening room.
The home, which is a short walk from East Hampton village, maintains its original 1930s layout, with a grand entry foyer flanked by a formal dining and living room. Originally set up for a prominent family that likely had an extensive support staff, one wing of the house has five bedrooms meant for the help near a butler’s pantry and laundry room.
There are also five main bedrooms and a two-bedroom guest apartment above a carriage house, which has its own kitchen. Mr. Karmely and his wife, Libby, have since hosted a 2008 Nature Conservancy benefit.
Real estate in the Hamptons has picked up momentum in the first quarter of this year, according to a report released in April by Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The number of sales more than doubled compared with the first quarter of 2009.
But brokers in the area say despite growth in sales volume and price the luxury market (there were 28 home sales at $5 million and above during the first quarter of 2010, up from seven in the year-earlier period), sales in the $20 million-plus range have languished.
Though there are a few other listings in the $30 million-plus range in the Hamptons this summer, most others are spec homes or houses that were custom-built in the past decade.
Mr. Davis says the Karmelys are selling the home because they plan to spend more time in Europe.
Hamptons Gardiner estate on sale for $29M
6/8/2010 – The Real Deal
One of the Hamptons’ most elaborate restoration projects, the Gardiner Estate at 127 Main Street in East Hampton, has gone on sale for $29 million, the Wall Street Journal reported. Once occupied by Robert David Lion Gardiner, a descendant of the prominent Long Island family that has owned Gardiner’s Island on Long Island or nearly 400 years, the current owner of the estate is Shahab Karmely, a New York-based real estate investor. Records show he purchased the 5.4-acre property and house for nearly $9 million in 2005. The home’s listing agent, Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group, however, says Karmely put at least $10 million worth of improvements into the five-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bath home, which was built in the 1930s. Karmely also made upgrades, including adding geothermal heating and a closed-circuit TV system that monitors the home from 32 security cameras. Davis says the Karmelys are selling the home because they plan to spend more time in Europe.
Former Gardiner Estate Hits Market for $29M
6/7/2010 – Curbed
The one-time estate of an old Long Island family, the Gardiners, has entered the marketplace for an unworldly $29 million. But the fun doesn’t stop there! The estate also encompasses an unheard of 5.4 acres of land—right on East Hampton’s Main Street.
The property’s history starts in 1934, when the Gardiners commissioned the above mansion to replace a previous homestead, which was destroyed in a hurricane. A few decades later, it traded to real estate developer Shahab Karmley and his wife, Libby. The two put the house through a five-year renovation, found historic documents and photographs in an old wine cellar (read: buried treasure!!!), and even hosted the Beaches and Bays Gala, which earned the place a spread in Vanity Fair. But the stories that unfold as the couple tries to unload $29 million worth of blood, sweat, and tears (in this market?) might be its best.
Properties of the Month
6/1/2010 – AVENUE
This 6,000-plus-square-foot traditional residence with sunlit vaulted interiors, 7 bedrooms, west-facing terrace with gunite pool, 4-car garages, detached carriage house with studio and bath and a north/south tennis court offers great value, This complete, pristine offering is located on 1.5 private acres in a convenient south ¬of-the-highway location. The home and property is clearly one of the best values on the market today, $5,8 million, Please call Tim Davis at 631 ,2 83,7300 ex, 211.
The 2010 Power List
5/28/2010 – Hamptons Magazine
On the waterfront
5/13/2010 – New York Post
A pristine piece of Southampton land with more than 1,000 feet of waterfront is just hitting the market for $36 million. The two-parcel, 8-acre property, off of Captains Neck Lane, is owned by descendants of Standard Oil founder Henry Rogers. The land includes a modest 2,800-square-foot cottage (with a detached two-car garage), which will likely be a tear-down for the next owner. The Corcoran Group’s Tim Davis has the listing.
Two Southampton lots sell for $24.5 million
5/11/2010Source: Newsday
Two adjacent four-acre parcels in Southampton Village recently sold to an unnamed buyer for $24.5 million. The Captain’s Neck Lane land was owned by Danmi, LLC, backed by developers Bruce Lifton and Jason Green.
Tim Davis of The Corcoran Group and Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty were exclusive co-listers on the property, and Harald Grant and Corcoran’s Rik Kristiansson worked with the buyer.
The nearly nine acres of waterfront property was purchased by Danmi LLC in 2007 for $21.3 million, and subsequently divided into two lots. In 2009, Danmi presented plans to Southampton Village to build an 11,000-square-foot home on one of the lots. Grant cited a confidentiality agreement in not divulging the identity of the buyer, but says that plans are afoot to build two homes, one on each lot. “It’s wonderful property, with over 600 feet of waterfront and beautiful docks,” Grant says.
Tim Davis says that the property, which is situated on Heady Creek, is, “one of the most prime locations, and one of the few bodies of water within the village with access to Shinnecock Bay and the ocean. It’s quite unique.”
Monster Deal
4/29/2010 – New York Post
Here’s more proof the Hamptons are back in the money. Developers Bruce Lifton and Jason Green just sold nine vacant acres on Captains Neck Lane in Southampton for $24.5 million — the East End’s biggest deal of the year so far, reports The Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil. Brokers Harald Grant and Tim Davis had no comment, but sources say the buyer is a powerful South American family building a compound with 500 feet on Shinnecock Bay.
Thinking of Summer
4/25/2010 – The New York Times
WITH spring having settled in and summer not far behind, it is tempting to let your mind wander to the Hamptons, where the lucky few will cool off when temperatures rise while the rest of us wade along steamy city sidewalks.
One of the fortunate, Charlotte L. Beers, a longtime advertising executive who served as an under secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, just closed on a four-bedroom house in East Hampton for $4.7 million.
The house, which is near Georgica Beach, was designed by the architect Deborah Berke.
“It’s a very slick, beautifully appointed house,” said Ms. Beers’s agent, Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty. “But the most important thing is that she liked it.”
The house was listed by Peter Huffine, a broker at the Corcoran Group. He declined to comment.
Ms. Beers was the head of two advertising agencies — JWT and Ogilvy & Mather — and spent her career selling brands like the American Express Card. Then, in late 2001, she was hired to improve America’s image abroad.
The choice to place Ms. Beers — who had no diplomatic experience — in such a role raised some eyebrows at the time. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended her before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by telling its members: “Well, guess what? She got me to buy Uncle Ben’s rice. And so there is nothing wrong with getting somebody who knows how to sell something.”
Ms. Beers resigned from the State Department in 2003, citing health reasons. She is now on the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
Dueling Water Views
The real estate mogul Aby Rosen, a co-owner of RFR Holding, bought a $5.36 million bayfront home on Meadow Lane in Southampton — across from the oceanfront home he already owns on Meadow Lane.
His new house has three bedrooms and three baths on 1.2 acres, as well as a boat dock. Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group was the listing agent on the property. The closing was in late January.
Mr. Rosen’s old house, which he bought in 2001 for $6.8 million, does not appear to be on the market. But he is trying to sell a limestone town house on East 94th Street in Manhattan, which he bought for $8.8 million in 2005. It has been on and off the market with different brokers since the end of 2008, when it had a sticker price of $29.5 million. Last week he lowered the price to $22.9 million.
Mr. Rosen is said to have a remarkable collection of art. It seems he’s off to a nice start collecting waterfront homes in the Hamptons, too.
The Bonus Bounce
2/7/2010 – The New York Times
IF the mix of optimism and uncertainty that pervades the New York residential real estate market right now can be symbolized by one property, a leading candidate may well be the penthouse at 1055 Park Avenue.
The two-bedroom two-bath duplex, atop a new all-glass condominium building on the narrowest of lots in one of the most exclusive of neighborhoods, went on the market on Oct. 5, at an asking price of $9.3 million. Within 17 days the price was slashed, to $7.5 million. And there it has stood.
Now, at last, a buyer has come along who wants to make an offer. But one thing is holding him back. He won’t proceed until he learns the exact dollar amount of the bonus he is expecting from his employer, a Wall Street bank.
And so it is with much of the New York-area market, from downtown lofts to Hamptons mansions. With the outsize bonus returning to Wall Street this year, brokers and sellers are holding their breath. For the past few months there have been signs that the market is reawakening, and an infusion of “banker cash” could be just the catalyst it needs to spark a full-fledged recovery.
But just how powerful a force the bonus money will be is still in question. For all the bankers showing up at open houses, deal after deal seems to be in limbo, its fate hinging on bonus money, as with the penthouse at 1055 Park.
“The bankers are back,” said Pamela Liebman, the president of the Corcoran Group. But, she said, this year the effect is “more about the confidence than the cash.”
By that she means that reports of large bonus pools at Wall Street firms have contributed to an overall sense among prospective buyers that things are getting better, not worse. And brokers say that the rise of the stock market last year, along with very low mortgage rates and prices that have sunk a good 20 to 25 percent below 2007 highs, had already started to calm the nerves of buyers at all income levels. Now there is a growing sense that the best deals will be history once the bonus buyers start signing contracts.
In one indication of increasing interest in higher-end properties, searches for listings of New York City homes priced above $2 million and above $5 million on the real estate search engine Trulia.com have grown significantly. In December 2009, the latest full month for which figures were available, searches for homes over $2 million grew 24 percent compared with December 2008. Searches for homes priced above $5 million increased 13 percent over the same period.
No one expects a return to the days when a banker, bonus in hand, went out, looked at five fancy properties in a day and picked one. Brokers say that Wall Street clients are much more careful in their shopping and deal-making these days – and that, like everyone else, they are looking for bargains.
“Even my customers who are billionaires are shopping smart,” said Susan Breitenbach, a senior vice president at Corcoran in the Hamptons. Another change: many bonuses – particularly those of the highest echelon of earners – will be paid in stock this year, not cash, a curb on any impetus toward reckless spending.
Nevertheless, some transactions that seem more reminiscent of 2006 than the past year are starting to emerge:
In the Hamptons, a buyer from Wall Street paid $19 million for an oceanfront property in Sagaponack last month. Word is he plans to tear it down.
A three-bedroom condo at 1 Morton Square in the West Village went on the market for $2.75 million in early January. It was snapped up in just four days, for more than the asking price. There were three all-cash offers – from a Goldman Sachs banker, from a banker at another Wall Street firm, and from someone in “new media,” said Darren Sukenik, the listing broker and a managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman.
The banker from the other Wall Street firm prevailed.
“It’s like this flight to sanity,” Mr. Sukenik said. People in finance aren’t using their bonus money to buy “a red Ferrari or two weeks in St. Barts,” he explained. “Now they’re using their bonuses to enter smart, sound real estate purchases.”
Given the outrage in some quarters over bonuses, house-hunting recipients are both discreet and reluctant to be interviewed.
“More important these days than ever before is anonymity, doing it under the radar,” said Tim Davis, a senior managing director at the Corcoran Group, who has been selling real estate in the Hamptons for 30 years. Most Wall Street buyers, he said, are “staying away from high-profile properties, saying, `I don’t want to be seen as buying X.’ ”
Stephen Seremetis, 37, an executive director of investments at Oppenheimer & Company, is in contract to buy a 2,994-square-foot loft in a new Jersey City development called Mercury Lofts at the Beacon. The space has a 60-foot living room, 20 windows and, he says, “phenomenal views” of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. (Amenities in the complex include a Bloomberg box, a clear sign that the place is catering to the Wall Street set.)
Mr. Seremetis said he was content with his bonus this year, but he stressed that it was not his only reason for buying. Instead, he said, after a year of searching in Manhattan, New Jersey and Long Island City, he became convinced that prices had fallen as low as they were going to go.
“It’s more the value now,” he said. “Real estate has bottomed out, and it’s time to step in.”
Mr. Seremetis paid under $1 million, he said, for a half floor of space – a bargain by Manhattan standards.
Traffic is up markedly at open houses all over the city for apartments with asking prices over $1 million, and buyers who work in finance account for 40 to 75 percent of the crowd. More than 100 people turned out for an open house for a two-bedroom in the Village a couple of weeks ago. The elevator broke, but people took the stairs without complaining.
Last Sunday, a frigid winter day, Kathryn Higgins, an associate broker at DJK Residential, accompanied clients to an open house at a prewar co-op in the East 80s. So many people showed up, she said, that “for the first time in two years, I had to wait in the lobby. My mouth was hanging open.”
Although reports of large bonus pools at a number of firms have been widespread, some employees have yet to hear their personal “number.” That will happen over the next several weeks.
Karin Posvar-Picket, a senior vice president at Corcoran, recently reached a deal on a four-bedroom condo for more than $4 million at the Georgica on the Upper East Side. But, she said, the buyer “is waiting for his bonus to hit” before he proceeds with the closing.
One of her colleagues, Ms. Breitenbach in the Hamptons, had an offer on a property from a Wall Street buyer; the owner responded with a counteroffer. A day went by, but she heard nothing from the bidder. Ms. Breitenbach called his broker to find out what was going on. The answer: The buyer’s bonus was to be paid in stock, and he had to see how much he could borrow on it before he could raise his offer.
Wise bankers know that it’s best not to put the cart before the horse even when a fat payout is anticipated. Adrienne Albert, the chief executive of the Marketing Directors, a marketing and sales agent of residential real estate, said her firm lost a bonus-inspired sale at the Crystal Point luxury development on the Jersey City waterfront. The buyer, who had already signed a contract, backed out when she learned that her bonus would be smaller than she had hoped.
“It was heartbreaking for us,” Ms. Albert said.
But, behemoth bonus, so-so bonus or no bonus at all, buyers appear to be stirring from their fear and torpor. Take the recent bidding on a one-bedroom condo with a terrace on East Ninth Street.
The property was first listed in June 2009. “We were holding open houses diligently every other week,” said the broker, Tristan Harper, a senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman. But the traffic was almost nonexistent. “Zero to five parties, max,” Mr. Harper said. The seller took the property off the market for the December holidays, then put it back on in early January in hopes of benefiting from a bonus bounce. At the first open house, 18 parties showed up, 30 to 40 percent of them from Wall Street. Mr. Harper was stunned.
Within a day he had an offer. It was under the asking price of $1.049 million, but the owner was able to negotiate for a little more.
While the place was in contract, the seller received a significantly better offer – above the asking price – from two men. One of them worked on Wall Street.
Then the original bidder matched that offer with all cash. In the meantime, a third offer came in, but the specter arose of all three bidders’ fleeing if a bidding war ensued, so the seller never really entertained it. The first bidder won, at a price slightly over asking.
“It was like the good times again,” Mr. Harper said.
Fashionable Acquisition
2/5/2010Source: Newsday
Designer Tory Burch has paid $16million for a portion of the Westerly estate in Southampton.
The sale closed two weeks ago.
Tim Davis of The Corcoran Group confirms that Burch purchased six acres of land and the 25-room Georgian Revival mansion once owned by the late attorney Howard Gittis. Davis says a neighbor has paid $16.5 million for the remaining 7.3 acres on the former estate.
A carriage house on the estate is now also in contract for $6 million. That sale will close in a few weeks, Davis says.
Tory Burch buys $32.5M estate
1/23/2010 – New York Post
Somebody has been selling a lot of tunics. Tory Burch just closed on her $16 million deal to buy the late Howard Gittis’ mansion on Ox Pasture Lane in Southampton, reports The Post’s Jennifer Gould Keil. The house comes with six acres. An unnamed neighbor is buying the rest — 7.4 vacant acres for an additional $16.5 million, bringing the total deal to $32.5 million. Together, it’s the biggest Southampton sale since the economic downturn and especially noteworthy since it’s on a fancy street in the tree-lined “estate section” — but not on the ocean. Corcoran’s Tim Davis had the listing.
