Press 2012

Current2020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008

The Top Five Largest Real Estate Deals For 2012 In The Hamptons
12/26/2012 – Dan’s Papers
Featuring Tim Davis’ sales at 174 Further Lane, East Hampton & 171 Great Plains Road, Southampton.

Hamptons mansion sales spike ahead of possible jump in tax rates
12/5/2012 – New York Daily News

Luxury Outlooks
12/1/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
Whether oceanfront or bay-side, East End properties in the $20 million range host divine views.
55 Parsonage Pond Road, Sagaponack This shingle-style, 12,000-square-foot estate features solar-cooled terraces, a Victoria Hagan-designed interior, a six- to eight-car garage, and 20-foot ceilings in the living room. The ceiling heights and details with views out to the: pond are breathtaking,” says listing agent Tim Davis. Listed for $19.95 million; The Corcoran Group, 88 Main St., Southampton, 283-7300; corcoran.com

The Hamptons: 2012 Goes Out With A Bang
12/1/2012 – New York Cottages & Gardens
IF YOU DIDN’T SEE ANY of your friends in real estate last August, it was because they were spending more time in their Range Rovers ferrying around customers than sunning on the beach. “August is typically a dead time, and people don’t want to waste their final month of the season looking at properties,” says John McHugh, vice president and associate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty. “But this past August was very busy, which led to a lot of activity and closings during the fall.”
According to the Long Island Real Estate Report, 2012’s top transactions occurred during the first four months of the year, ranging from the sale of 322 Meadow Lane in Southampton for $28.5 million to 171 Great Plains Road, also in Southampton, for $24 million.
Corcoran senior vice president Tim Davis personally handled ten sales over $10 million in 2012. “We started to set new pricing at the high end this year,” he reports, “and we had buyers waiting in the wings and sellers more realistic about selling,” though many sellers still held out for bigger deals. Davis is also on track to claim the top transaction of the year: His listing at 160 Ox Pasture Road in Southampton Village, which has an asking price of $49 million, is in contract-and it’s not even on the ocean. Designed by Grosvenor Atterbury in 1915, the 18,000-square-foot mansion was renovated to perfection by former Esprit executive Juergen Friedrich, who reportedly paid $8.5 million for the property pre-renovation in 2002. It sits on nine acres and features 12 bedrooms, indoor and outdoor pools and a tennis court, and an illuminated fountain.
In the past year international buyers from Asia, Russia, and South America have become serious competition for the hedge funders who typically seek our premium Hamptons properties. “You’re seeing $80 million-plus transactions in New York City, and those people have no problem buying second or third homes here,” says McHugh. “Once you buy your 10,000-square-foot duplex in the sky, you’ll want a weekend place where you can enjoy the beach.”
Instant gratification is still the name of the game, and turnkey properties and new construction are in demand. Consider the recent Saunders sale of luxury property developer Jay Bialsky’s 260 Jobs Lane for $23.15 million, pre-completion Bialsky spared no expense on the choice two-and-a-half-acre Mecox Bay parcel with tennis, pool, and private dock. Coming up next year are two more Bialsky projects (all have been listed with Saunders’s Terry Cohen): a 7,690-square-foot traditional on three acres in Sagaponack for just under $22 million and an 8,000-square-foot barn-style contemporary in Bridgehampton, already in contract for just under $12 million.
Not that it matters all that much at the high end, but anyone who borrows money to buy a Hamptons dream home is benefiting from the historically low interest rates. Davis just did a deal on a $2 million property whose buyer was able to finance at an adjustable 2.5 percent. “Even if you’re paying a little bit more than you want to,” he says, “you can borrow at such a low rate that you can afford to pay more. Buyers have incredible borrowing power right now.”

Heard & Scene
11/21/2012 – Brokers Weekly
Corcoran brokers were out in force for the grand opening of the New Parrish Art Museum (left) which has moved from Southampton Village. Founded in 1898, the Museum opened the doors of its new, 34,400 s/f Herzog & de Meuron-designed building on November 12. The new Parrish includes 12,200 s/f of exhibition space – three times that of the Museum’s former home on Jobs Lane in Southampton. Seven sky-lit galleries devoted to the permanent collection showcase the story of America’s most enduring and influential artists’ colony – Eastern Long Island. Pictured inset is Corcoran’s Tim Davis.

Robert Lion Gardiner’s $26.5 Million Hamptons Estate
11/13/2012 – Haute Living
The late Robert Lion Gardiner’s 10,000-square-foot estate in East Hampton Village is on the market for $26.5 million. The 5.5-acre estate, which was completed in the 1930s, features 10 bedrooms and 8 baths.
When Gardiner passed away in 2004, the property was sold to a developer for $8.55 million. Subsequently, extensive renovations were made at the property, including the addition of funky modern art and neon pool lighting, all for a new price of $26.5 million. With expansive grounds, classical hedges and old-growth trees, this property evokes the glamour of another era. The property was originally built by the firm Wyeth and King.
The Corcoran Group has the listing.

Gimme Shelter: Sighting
11/1/2012 – New York Post
Corcoran Group broker Tim Davis at London’s Luxury Property Show, where a villa in the south of France is selling for 74 million euros.

Southampton Village’s Most Expensive Real Estate Listings
10/15/2012 – Patch.com
Normandy House, First Neck Lane, Southampton Village. Credit Corcoran Real Estate
Some of the most expensive real estate listings in Southampton Village check in at 10 times the amount an average zip code may see. But as most people know, Southampton Village isn’t the average real estate market. Take a look at the top five listings on the market at the moment.
Linden Estate
•Asking price: $49,000,000
•Bed/bath: 12/12(+ 3 halfs)
•Listing agencies: Corcoran, Brown Harris Stevens
•More: This estate owned by billionaire Esprit founder Jurgen Friedrich reportedly went into contract over the summer, though the listing remains online.
Normandy House
•Asking price: $35,000,000
•Bed/bath: 6/7.5
•Listing agency: Corcoran
•More: Built over 80 years ago, this mansion measuring nearly 8,000 square feet on 8.4 acres overlooks Lake Agawam and the Atlantic Ocean.
1900 Meadow Ln.
•Asking price: $31,000,000
•Bed/bath: 6/6.5
•Listing agency: Corcoran
•More: This estate of the late private equity manager Teddy Fortsmann sits on five acres on Meadow Lane, between the Shinnecock Bay and Atlantic Ocean.

Invited: Author’s Night Celebration
8/31/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
Hamptons magazine celebrated cover star Ali Wentworth with an Insiders’ Dinner at the home of Michael Braverman after Author’s Night at East Hampton Library. The evening’s guest list included authors Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus, Jennifer Gilbert, Robert Klein, Scott Annan, and Stewart F. Lane. Attendees dined on fare from Elegant Affairs and sipped drinks from Ciroc as well as wines from Barrymore Wines and Wilson Daniels. Brunello Cucinelli provided special gifts for guests, and each table featured a message in a bottle courtesy of Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton.Reserve. Guests were treated to a viewing of a stunning Aston Martin Vantage.

Invited: Ricky Lauren Book Launch
8/24/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
Hamptons hosted a star-studded event to celebrate cover star Ricky Lauren’s new book, The Hamptons: Food, Family, and History at the Ralph Lauren East Hampton store. Guests toasted the author with Ciroc cocktails and Whispering Angel rose and enjoyed fare prepared by Elegant Affairs and inspired by recipes from Lauren’s book. Noteworthy attendees included family members Ralph and Dylan Lauren as well as Bruce Weber, Andy Cohen, Hilaria and Alec Baldwin, and Russell Simmons.

In Hamptons, Privacy Is Always Welcome
8/16/2012 – The Wall Street Journal
The pool area of the Southampton home of Carol and Anthony Mayo.
Forget high fences, large gates or security patrols. Most privacy-seeking homeowners in the Hamptons stick to nuanced, natural approaches: large estate layouts, long driveways, green landscaping and hidden locations.
Judi Desiderio, chief executive of Town & Country Real Estate who has been working in the Hamptons for 31 years, said while there is always a market for a “sleek modern home,” she estimates two-thirds of the houses being built are more traditional—with privacy one of the top priorities.
“Whether you’re on a half acre or 10 acres, people who come out and purchase homes here don’t care to know what their neighbors are having for dinner,” she said.
Landscaping is a common strategy for keeping wandering eyes out, she said, and over the years it has gotten more creative. People are “framing their properties with different vegetation, so [the trees] don’t look like a bunch of soldiers.”
Pamela and Michael Jacobus bought their house in Amagansett in 1978, and after a renovation in 1997 that saw the addition of a second floor, they replaced an old wooden fence with a row of arborvitae trees. Now the trees are 40 feet high, and the property is also shielded from view by a bamboo hedge, privet hedge and 30-foot-high rhododendron trees. Their four-bedroom, 3½-bathroom house is nestled in the dunes, 50 feet from the street below, and is on the market for $2.5 million with Brown Harris Stevens.
Using landscaping for privacy has an environmental aspect, says Mr. Jacobus, 67 years old. “Everybody would like a natural environment where they can enjoy the landscaping and gardens without seeing a neighbor’s house or road,” he says.
Large walls require special permits to build in Hamptons hamlets, and as a result, they are not common, says Ernie Cervi, an executive managing director for Corcoran Group, who has lived in the Hamptons for 12 years. The “green barrier” trend is a popular alternative because “people do prefer greenery to gates—it gives you a good screening and it is green all year. It’s the first thing they do” when they buy, he says.
Another popular strategy is the layout of so-called “flag lots” with a long driveway that leads to a property set back from the road, like a flag waving from a pole. The flag lot and estate layout of a home in Water Mill was a major draw for Jonathan Spier, 51, as he craved privacy and separation from a “bombardment of people and noise” in Manhattan, where he ran a clothing company.
Mr. Spier bought his nearly six-acre property in 2004. Seeking “quiet time,” he instead found that the property—with segmented areas for a swimming pool, tennis court and reflecting pond—was so good for entertaining that he frequently had guests. The eight-bedroom, 7½-bathroom property is on the market for $3.999 million with Prudential Douglas Elliman.
Carol Mayo, 74, was less than thrilled about leaving behind the buzz of New York. But when her attorney husband Anthony, 76, decided to open a car dealership in Southampton in the mid-1970s, she figured she might as well commit full-bore. “I told him, if he’s going to make me live out here full-time, I want to feel like I live in the country.”
Tall hedges felt too much like “suburbia” to her, so after searching for four years, she and her husband found a property a short drive from the Village of Southampton. It abuts 65 acres of conservation land to the west that provided additional privacy. Their 10-acre property, which includes two ponds and a 5,500-square-foot Colonial, is for sale for $9.75 million with Corcoran. Additional buildable land, for a total of 22-acres, can be purchased for $18.5 million.
Sticking with traditional styles and estate designs might reflect changes in the attitudes of homeowners.
Ms. Desiderio says the financial crisis has been a “reality check” for homeowners. Ten years ago, Hampton properties were being built to flip for a profit, she says. “Today’s buyer is in it for the long haul,’ she says.

House of the Day: Country Living in Southampton
8/16/2012 – The Wall Street Journal
Price: $9,750,000
Location: Southampton, NY
Type of Home: Detached Home
Looking for an alternative to oversized, ‘suburban’ mansions, the owners of this Colonial home in Southampton, N.Y., put a premium on open spaces and easy living.
Anthony Mayo, 76 years old, and his wife Carol, 74, purchased this Colonial-style home in Southampton, N.Y., in 1981, Ms. Mayo said. She declined to state the purchase price. The couple decided to leave New York City around 1976, when Mr. Mayo, an attorney, decided to pull up stakes and start a car dealership in the Hamptons.
The couple first moved with their three children to a home in the Village of Southampton, but the property wasn’t Ms. Mayo’s style. The estate section of the village, as it’s sometimes called, with its 12-foot hedges, felt too much like ‘suburbia,’ she said. So she made her case to Mr. Mayo: ‘I told him, if he’s going to make me live out here full-time, I want to feel like I live in the country.’ After a four-year search, Mr. Mayo bought this 1913 home that abuts 65 acres of conservation land.
The main residence, a 5,500-square-foot Colonial-style home, instantly appealed to Ms. Mayo, she said. It wasn’t like some of the newer houses popping up in the area. ‘Today the homes are so big. I keep going, ‘Who’s using all the bathrooms?’ Ms. Mayo joked. The living room is pictured above.
‘It’s just a beautiful old Colonial house,’ Ms. Mayo said. A built-in bar in the living room is pictured above.
Some of Ms. Mayo’s fondest memories of the home involve using the 22-acre property for family activities. When they first moved in, the couple’s young children made full use of the land, with hobbies that included remote-control model airplanes and skating on a frozen pond. For a number of years, a tenant farmer used about 10 acres of the grounds.
As the children moved out and the Mayos got older, ‘Now we’re just maintaining it as a lawn,’ Ms. Mayo said of the property, which is a large part of the reason why they’re selling. The horse stables on the property are shown here.
The dining room, with fireplace, is pictured….
The main residence includes six bedrooms, four full bathrooms and one half bath. A third-floor bedroom is pictured….
The property also includes a pool house and pool area.
There are covered porches on both sides of the home, where Ms. Mayo has spent a lot of her time. She said it’s not uncommon to spot turkeys, deer and other wildlife wandering the grounds.
Ms. Mayo, who is also one of the real-estate agents listing the property, said the home will require some upgrades by today’s standards. The home and all the outbuildings, encompassing about 10 acres, are listed for $9.75 million. For the home and a total of 22 acres, including buildable land, the price is $18.5 million. Ms. Mayo and Tim Davis of Corcoran Group have the listing.

The 10 Priciest Sales Of The Year In The Hamptons
8/15/2012 – Dan’s Papers
Photo 1 – 174 Further Lane (East Hampton)
Photo 2 – 171 Great Plains Road (Southampton)
As everyone knows, the summer is the biggest time of year for the Hamptons, and as it comes to a close so do sales on some of the most priciest homes of the year. We have collected a list of the Top 10 Priciest homes sold in the Hamptons this year, so enjoy!
2. $28 million: 174 Further Lane (East Hampton), bought/sold by private parties represented by Corcoran agent Tim Davis in March. This dreamy oceanfront Hamptons hideaway is like having a vacation spot all your own. With 3.5 acres of secluded property, private access to the beach, lush greenery, oceanside lawns, upper and lower decks, and some of the East End’s most spectacular ocean and dune views, you can’t help but revel in relaxation and enjoy nature’s beauty all around. You and your guests can also lounge by the heated ocean-side Infinity Edge swimming pool or play a game of tennis on the tucked away north/south court. How rare an opportunity to own a uniquely special beach house in an ocean resort setting! Located off a long private drive on legendary Further Lane in East Hampton, the 7-bedroom, 8.5-bath contemporary home with an attractive maintenance-free stucco exterior was originally built in 1997 by Wright & Co Construction and brought to life by James Merrell Architects. The home and terraced landscape was recently re-styled by world renowned designers Fox Nahem Design.
4. $24 million: 171 Great Plains Road (Southampton), Sold to an anonymous buyer by Corcoran agent Tim Davis who represented Sellers Robin and John Pickett, Jr. back in March. Inspired by the allée of 200 year old beech trees on this 4.5 acre estate parcel the current owners embarked on a three year planning and building process with renowned architect Francis Fleetwood. The result is a stunningly beautiful country home built to the highest quality in design and construction. Nearly 17,000 sq. ft. and offering the finest of everything, executed to within an inch of perfection, this wonderful residence is now available for sale to the discriminating buyer.
6. $18.5 million: 329 Highland Terrace (Bridgehampton) Corcoran’s Gary DePersia and Brown Harris Stevens’ Martha Gunderson had the co-exclusive on this spec house that was sold in May to an anonymous buyer. This is a Single-Family Home located at 329 Highland Terrace, Bridgehampton NY. 329 Highland Ter has 3 beds, 2 baths, and approximately 12,949 square feet. The property has a lot size of 2.53 acres and was built in 1994. The average list price for similar homes for sale is $2,360,000 and the average sales price for similar recently sold homes is $2,450,000. 329 Highland Ter is in the 11932 ZIP code in Bridgehampton, NY. The average list price for ZIP code 11932 is $5,872,501.
8. $15.1 million: 200 Bay Lane (Water Mill), sale closed in April to anonymous buyers and sellers represented by Susan Breitenbach and Peter Huffine of Corcoran and Sotheby’s. Sweeping water vistas and gentle bay breezes define your experience from this newly built custom home in Water Mill South. Incorporating all of the latest technology, modern amenities and sophisticated systems, this luxurious 10,500+/- sq. ft. classic shingled residence features 7 bedrooms, 10 baths, formal living and dining rooms, library with hand bleached white oak paneled walls, elaborate chef’s kitchen and many other beautifully detailed spaces. The finished lower level has an additional 3,350+/- sq. ft. and includes a theater, gym, sauna, wine room and large playroom. The property accommodates garaged parking for 5 cars; 3 in the main residence and 2 in the stylish carriage house. The grounds designed by Edmund Hollander include mature plantings, a pool pavilion with kitchen and bath, 22′ x 52′ pool with separate spa and gated pathways leading to a dock on Mecox Bay.

From the Publisher
8/3/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
At the Forstemann Estate with Tim Davis for an elegant cocktail party.

Haute Property: Old World Charm
8/3/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
DISCOVER A HIDDEN SLICE OF EUROPE IN THE AGRICULTURAL RESERVES OF WATER MILL.
Compared to the other villages on the East End, Water Mill is a late bloomer. True, it was founded by colonists in 1644, but it took the boom of the 1980s for many of the homes in this hamlet to be constructed. Unfortunately, that is often too easy to tell. But there is one home in Water Mill that eschews the cookie-cutter Hamptons style for an Old World charm. “It’s a wonderful balance to al the overstated gambrel houses,” says Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty. “Even though this is not an old house, it feels like it has always been there. It has a very unique, European feel.”
That feel is apparent the moment you turn off of Little Noyac Path and head up the winding drive to the $12.5-million, 11,000-square-foot home, (listed by Moore), where you are greeted by an Italianate garden, designed by renowned local artist Robert Dash. The founder of the Madoo Conservancy, a two-acre sanctuary in Sagaponack that incorporates everything from High Renaissance to Oriental influences (not to mention a Matisse sculpture), Dash brought that same perfection to this private garden, meticulously placing each element to guide visitors into the home and set the tone for the interiors.
“When you enter the main house, it has this huge hall that almost has a little bit of a mini-castle feel to it,” says Moore, though for a six-bedroom home, the estate features a surprising number of intimate spaces. That coziness is on display from the wood-covered library (located just off the main hall) and each of the home’s four en suite bedrooms to the rounded rooms in the home’s turrets, one beyond the den that serves as a reading area, the other off the dining room that is perfect for enjoying breakfast.
Sitting on an enormous 13.6 acres and bordered by another 25 acres of protected agricultural reserve land, the Newport shingle-style home, designed by architect Daniel Romualdez, offers the ultimate in privacy and pastoral living. “It’s not overbuilt. You have no houses in front of you and no neighbors to deal with,” says Moore. “Plus, it’s elevated, so you have these open vistas and panoramic views from all the bedrooms. All you see is nature.”
This was no accident. The current owners selected this site precisely because it is one of the highest points in Water Mill, giving the home stunning views of the Atlantic, and also because it offered room for the grounds to include a heated pool, a sloping great lawn (that leads to a pond), and bocce and tennis courts that, in yet another nod to Europe, are accessed through a flower bed and not visible from the main house.
Having both ocean views and elbow room may seem impossible to Hamptonites who are used to cramming into tight East Hampton lots just to see the water, but that’s what makes this area of Water Mill so special. “It’s not south of the highway, but when you’re north it’s about the best location,” Moore explains. “The couple who built this home are socially established peo¬ple with means. They could have been anywhere, but they chose this spot because of the view and the privacy.”
This locale didn’t always attract the area’s elite, however. “Water Mill was really discovered in the ’80s,” says Ann Lombardo, board presi¬dent of the Water Mill Museum, located in the very mill that gave the hamlet its name. In fact, until recently it was primarily farmland. “It became very expensive for farmers to own, so it made sense to parcel it off and sell it,” Lombardo explains. “All of a sudden there was this beauti¬ful land available, and at the same time there was a market beginning to form for it. It was a perfect storm.”
Despite the excitement, Water Mill has desig¬nated much of this acreage agricultural reserve land-including those 25 acres bordering the home off Little Noyac Path-guaranteeing that a new neighbor cannot swoop in and build a colos¬sal eyesore. It is yet another reason why those who had the foresight to pick Water Mill have been rewarded. “There were a few intrepid peo¬ple who ventured north,” Lombardo explains. “I bought 10 acres there at the height of the reces¬sion in the early 1990s, and I was ridiculed. But I don’t have to tell you how that turned out. It just took people who had the vision.”
A few short decades later, Water Mill can compete with any part of the East End and make other town¬ships feel cramped, even a little tedious, by comparison. “Everything looks alike,” says Moore. “It’s like a formula. At this home, there are no wasted spaces or triple-wide hallways. It goes to show that not everything has to look like everything else. If you have imagination, wonderful things can be created.”

The Hampton’s 10 priciest sales of the year
8/1/2012 – The Real Deal
The 10 most expensive sales on Long Island’s East End so far this year range from a $28.5 million sale on Southampton’s ultra-ritzy Meadow Lane to the $13 million sale of the “Windmill house” in Bridgehampton.
Those eye-popping figures still don’t quite compare to the priciest sale of 2011: Florida billionaire Jeffrey Greene’s $36 million purchase of the 55-acre Tyndal Point. In fact, the top 10 sales of last year all exceeded $20 million. And 2012 is not over yet.
Below, TRD examines the most expensive residential deals to close in the first six months of this year, based on our own research and an analysis of records from Internet data providers StreetEasy, PropertyShark and Hamptons Real Estate Online.
1. $28.5 million: 322 Meadow Lane (Southampton)
322 Meadow Lane in Southampton and Marc Rowan
The $28.5 million sale of finance bigwig Marc Rowan’s six-bedroom home, which closed in February, is the most expensive deal on the East End in 2012 to date. Marcella O’Callaghan, a senior vice president at the Corcoran Group, had the listing.
Rowan, who cofounded Apollo Global Management, bought the Southampton estate for $16.3 million in 2005, public records show. He first listed it in late 2008, although he took it on and off the market in the intervening years; the last asking price was $34 million, according to StreetEasy. The 9,000-square-foot home, situated on a 2.3-acre oceanfront parcel, has floating staircases and panoramic ocean views, according to the listing. The buyer was reportedly fellow financier Carlos Alejandro Pérez Dávila, a managing director of investment advisory firm Quadrant Capital Advisors.
2. $28 million: 174 Further Lane (East Hampton)
174 Further Lane in East Hampton and Corcoran’s Tim Davis
Listed with Corcoran’s Tim Davis, this seven-bedroom contemporary mansion sold for $28 million in March. It originally went on the market in 2011 for $38 million.
Davis declined to identify the seller or buyer, other than to say that they both work in finance.
According to public records, the seller bought the property for $9.85 million in 2004, then enlisted New York design firm Fox-Nahem Associates to renovate and enlarge the home, bringing it up to 7,500 square feet. The buyer purchased the 3.5-acre estate while the renovation was still in progress, said Davis, who represented both parties.
“This person came along and said, ‘I’ll take it right now from you,’” he said. “There are so few oceanfront properties that ever come on the market for sale in East Hampton.”
4. $24 million: 171 Great Plains Road (Southampton)
171 Great Plains Road and John Pickett, Jr.
The so-called “Beechwood” estate in Southampton sold for $24 million in March —another coup for Corcoran’s Tim Davis, who had the exclusive.
Sellers Robin and John Pickett, Jr. — the latter best known for owning the New York Islanders NHL team in the 1980s and 1990s — spent three years constructing the house.
The home is a 17,000-square-foot, nine-bedroom, 11.5-bathroom mansion. It was intended to host the whole Pickett brood, but proved too large when one of their children moved to the West Coast and another bought his own Hamptons abode. “It didn’t make any sense to own a house of this size,” Davis said. So the couple purchased a smaller home nearby, and Beechwood was listed for $38 million.
The purchaser works at Deutsche Bank, according to Davis.
6. $18.5 million: 329 Highland Terrace (Bridgehampton)
329 Highland Terrace in Bridgehampton
In May, an anonymous buyer purchased a Bridgehampton spec home known as the Edgefield estate for $18.5 million.
James Michael Howard, an interior-design firm based in Atlanta, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla., built the 11,000-square-foot house, putting it on the market for $19.75 million in June 2011 while it was still under construction. Corcoran’s Gary DePersia and Brown Harris Stevens’ Martha Gunderson had the co-exclusive.
The house, situated on 2.6 acres, has seven bedrooms, two staff suites, a wine cellar and exercise and massage rooms, the listing said.
7. $17.6 million: 1360 Meadow Lane (Southampton)
1360 Meadow Lane in Southampton
Seller Judy Rosenberg’s six-bedroom, six-bathroom contemporary house traded in May for $17.6 million.
It was listed for $24.5 million in early 2011 and sold in May to an entity called Sheshin LLC.
The home is the third listing from Corcoran’s Davis to appear in the top 10, although this one was a co-exclusive with fellow power broker Harald Grant, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s International Realty (see Closing interview on page 106).
The residence, designed in the 1970s by the late architect Ward Bennett, overlooks acres of dunes and the ocean, Davis said.
8. $15.1 million: 200 Bay Lane (Water Mill)
200 Bay Lane in Water Mill
This $15.1 million Water Mill sale closed in April. The listing was a co-exclusive between Sotheby’s Grant and Corcoran brokers Susan Breitenbach and Peter Huffine.
The seller, an LLC, first listed the property for $21.5 million in 2009, but the final asking price was closer to $18 million, according to PropertyShark. The buyer was an entity called One Nineteen LLC.
Pop star Jennifer Lopez reportedly checked out the property, but was not the buyer. The eight-bedroom mansion sits on a two-acre parcel that tapers into Mecox Bay.

The Biggest Hamptons Brokerages
8/1/2012 – The Real Deal
It’s been a rocky couple of years for the real estate market on Long Island’s East End. But now that the worst of the downturn has passed, the region’s major residential firms are seeing a slight increase in size compared to the last two years.
This year, the 10 biggest brokerages in the Hamptons, Shelter Island and the North Fork collectively had a total of 1,230 agents — up 7 percent from 1,149 in 2011, according to The Real Deal’s annual ranking of the biggest East End firms. While that is not a huge jump, it is the second year that the agent headcount has gone up. In 2010, the 10 biggest firms had a total of 1,140 agents.
“There are enough brokers out here to choke a horse,” said Paul Brennan, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Hamptons regional manager, laughing.
The Corcoran Group was the largest firm on TRD’s list this year, taking the No. 1 position from Elliman for the first time since 2009, although the firms are currently about the same size, with 327 and 326 agents, respectively. Both have grown slightly since last year, according to TRD’s count.

The Real Deal On Real Estate In The Hamptons
7/18/2012 – Hamptons.com
Gary DePersia’s Listing: Halsey Lane, Bridgehampton. (Courtesy Photo: Corcoran)
Susan Breitenbach’s sale: Bridgehampton South Estate Overooking 40.7 Acres, 17,000,000 square feet. (Courtesy Photo: Smbhamptons.com)
The Hamptons are known for their gorgeous mansions and envious landscapes, but who is behind the selling of these dream houses and high-end realty? According to Real Trends for 2011, 13 of the top 250 real estate agents in the entire country are from the Hamptons. Real Trends is a company dedicated to informing top real estate news, popular trends and specific analysis of the latest residential businesses.
As an aggregate result – Harald Grant (Sotheby’s International Realty), Susan Breitenbach (Corcoran Group), Timothy Davis (Corcoran Group), Gary DePersia (Corcoran Group), Paul Brennan (Prudential Douglas Elliman), Beate Moore (Sotheby’s International Realty), Ed Petrie (Sotheby’s International Realty), Michael Schultz (Corcoran Group), Elaine Stimmel (Corcoran Group), James Ferrer (Sotheby’s International Realty), Vincent Horcasitas (Prudential Douglas Elliman), Dana Trotter (Sotheby’s International Realty) and Pat Petrillo (Sotheby’s International Realty) have accumulated a combined volume sale of $1,188,928,000.
Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group’s Bridgehampton office coming in with a total volume of $202,494,000 and Gary DePersia of the Corcoran Group’s East Hampton office selling a total of $119,180, 000.
Markets reports show that home sales have only strengthened since last year, and if buying house is in your near future, now is the perfect time to buy! According to Real Trends, “The annualized rate of the combination of new and existing home sales increased to 5.010 million up from the 4.659 million recorded in June 2011. The average price of homes sold in June 2012 was up 4.04 percent from the average price of homes sold in June 2011 marking the third consecutive month of increased home sale prices.”

Buying on the Ocean
7/13/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
COASTAL PROPERTY REMAINS THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER HAMPTONS ACREAGE.
“Oceanfront property is the most sought after, most pristin, and most prestigious.” – Tim Davis
Despite a shoreline that stretches for miles, much of which is dotted with houses, ocean¬front property in the Hamptons is still hard to come by because demand for it rarely declines, other than some occasional trends to the contrary– ¬like woodsy retreats or horse farms north of the highway. “The Hamptons are for people who are waterfront-oriented, so the oceanfront is still the most prime [locale] in the market,” says Tim Davis, senior vice president with The Corcoran Group, who in March sold a 6,000-square-foot contempo¬rary with a looping path to the beach at 174 Further Lane in East Hampton for $28 million, after it was listed for $32 million last summer– that’s a 13 percent discount, and the property’s renovation was not even complete. Still, the deal, which remains one of the larg¬est of the year in the Hamptons, highlights the resiliency of oceanfront property. While the housing collapse caused some homes to lose 40 percent of their value, Davis says, there was never more than a 20 percent drop with oceanfront property. “It is the most sought after, most pristine, and most prestigious, if you will,” he says.
In East Hampton, that pres¬tige can be conferred most reliably with homes on Further Lane, Lily Pond Lane, and West End Road, where properties that nuzzle the Atlantic will start at $20 million but possibly cost as much as five times more. Neighbors here include entertainment and fashion mainstays like Jerry Seinfeld on Further and Steven Spielberg and Kelly Klein on West End.
Southampton, meanwhile, has comparably jaw-dropping proper¬ties along Gin Lane, as well as Meadow Lane, which hugs a bar¬rier beach with sweeping views of the waves. These neighborhoods presumably are savored by residents such as Forbes-esque boldfaced names like David Koch and Leon Black.
For the past couple of decades, the prevailing oceanfront look involved a symmetrical mix of gables, shingles, and brick chimneys in a 20th-century nod to the historic home styles of the 19th century, when the Hamptons first drew summer visitors. Typifying this kind of architecture, perhaps, is 1900 Meadow Lane, a for-sale six-bedroom mansion with a pool, tennis courts, and a plethora of dunes, set on about five acres of land. Listed with Davis for $34 million this property formerly belonged to billionaire financier Teddy Forstmann.
Oceanfront homes that are one rung down in terms of price, from $15 million and up, also turn up in these coveted areas, though they often need work because they are dated or show wear and tear. For instance, a $14.5-million property at 1370 -Meadow Lane, listed by Harald Grant senior vice president of Sotheby’s International Realty, is a 6,000-squarefoot home on a pine-tree flecked two-and-a-half acres; a buyer could easily raze it for a larger 10,000-square-foot residence, he says. Yes, building on these skinny slivers of land where flooding is a risk is not for everybody– the premium in terms of construction costs can be in excess of 40 percent–but brokers say that has hardly dampened interest.
Builders have also gravitated toward teardown opportunities in Bridgehampton, along popular Surfside Drive, where new homes typically run from $15 million to $30 million. Similar prices are found on Gibson Lane and Daniel’s Lane in Sagaponack, where oceanfront parcels were underdeveloped for decades. Here buyers can find ocean front homes with large lots-around three acres-comparable to East Hampton or Southampton.
When available, the waterfront can offer more affordable packages, too. Along the Atlantic Ocean in Quogue, on Dune Road an oceanfront home might cost $7 million to $20 million, depending sometimes on if you have to go to the second floor to see surf. In Montauk, along Old Montauk Highway, where Robert De Niro vacations, real estate ranges from $5 mil¬lion to $25 million, brokers say.
And toward the bottom of the totem pole, in the $3.5 million to $6 million category of oceanfront properties, buyers can find a home in West Hampton Dunes, along yet another Dune Road. Throughout the past two decades, this area has undergone a massive beach restoration project that in turn fueled a luxury home building boom. However, rules about how much square footage can go up on a lot grew more restrictive during the process.
While waterfront’s popularity remains strong across generations, living near the high tide line can come with challenges. Federal Emergency Management Agency rules stipulate that new homes built close to the water, or ones undergoing a renovation to increase its size or value by 50 percent, need to be set on pilings about 5 feet to 11 feet above the high water mark, depending on zoning, topography, and proximity to water, to make them less prone to flooding. Though that extra eleva¬tion can give them a hulking odd-man-out presence relative to their neighbors, the homes benefit from having an area through which waves can pass without doing major damage, says Hamilton Hoge, who has been building homes in the Hamptons for more than 25 years.
Insurance may also be a hurdle. Since Hurricane Andrew walloped Florida in 1992, insurers have been increasingly wary of the risks involved with oceanfront properties on the East Coast, particularly in New York, because of its “sheer congregation of value,” says Tim Brenneman, managing director of East Hampton’s Cook, Hall & Hyde, a local insurance broker.
For a $25 million property on low-lying Dune Road in Southampton, owners might have to go with an insurer who deals with high-risk clients like Lloyd’s, and it could cost $50,000, plus up to a $250,000 deductible for wind damage, even if the house was FEMA-compliant, Brenneman says. The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, which deals with many high-net-worth individuals, might also be an option, especially for those who have other homes throughout the country, and thus were giving Chubb more business, he says. In that case, the premium could be $20,000 a year.
But insurance costs are rarely a deterrent because people who buy oceanfront are so driven to live by the sea, says Marcella O’Callaghan, a senior vice president with Corcoran. “If you want to be on the water, you will do whatever it takes to be on the water,” she adds. “Period.”

Confessions of a Power Broker: Winning Spaces
7/13/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
SPECULATION HOUSES ARE BACK THIS SEASON, SAYS THE CORCORAN GROUP’S TIM DAVIS.
New speculation houses are popping up across the East End and selling well after four to five years of scarce new constructions. “The high-end spec house is back in the market,” says Corcoran’s senior vice president and regional brokerage advisor Tim Davis. And they are back in a big way: “New construction sells for record prices in our market; it’s just a fact.”
Bridgehampton and Sagaponack are particularly thriving in terms of the number of new constructions and the sales of these spec houses and more closely mirrors the market of four to five years ago, an indus¬try much stronger than in the past few seasons. “We have seen some prices between $10 million and $20 million, [which is] good for the market,” says Davis. Similarly, whereas Joe Farrell has dominated the East End’s spec real estate in recent years, today more contractors are building and selling. “[Spec houses] are new and perfect and never been lived in,” says Davis, and thus a good investment for a buyer who doesn’t require “something with history or pedigree.”
Says Davis: “[Buyers] can put their own stamp on it, and often they come in and make changes after they buy.” 88 Main St., Southampton, 283-7300; corcoran.com

Haute Property: Family Ties
7/6/2012 – Hamptons Magazine
AN ESTATE THAT ONCE BELONGED TO THE AREA’S MOST ICONIC FAMILY IS NOW ON THE MARKET IN EAST HAMPTON

Insight:
Gold Rush: In 1699 Captain Kidd buried treasure on Gardiners Island. The loot was later used as evidence in the trial that resulted in his hanging.
Guest of Honor: The home has a two-bedroom guest apartment as well as a separate five-bedroom wing.
Wherefore Art Thou: Two master suites include formal marble fireplaces and Juliet balconies that overlook the property’s gardens.

In the history of Long Island, perhaps no family has left more of a mark than the Gardiners. Of course, considering King Charles I gave patriarch Lion Gardiner control of their 3,000 acre island back in 1639, the clan did get a bit of a head start. Today, Gardiners Island, which is located between the North and South Forks (in Gardiners Bay, naturally), remains the only privately owned land in the country that was part of an original royal grant. But from their Sagtikos Manor in West Bay Shore to the restored estate now for sale in East Hampton, the Gardiners’ influence is felt up and down Long Island.

“The Gardiner family is deep in our history,” says Alexandra Wolfe, director of preservation services at the Society for the Preservation Services of Long Island Antiquities (SPLIA). “These old families—the Gardiners, the Sylvesters, the Townsends—really shaped the development of Long Island.” And as the Gardiners evolved from farmers into the landed gentry, the family’s history has tracked that of the East End.

Nowhere is this more evident than at 127 Main Street in the heart of East Hampton. When the original house here was destroyed by a 1938 hurricane, Robert David Lion Gardiner was determined to rebuild. But he wasn’t interested in re-creating a stodgy old country house; instead, Gardiner turned to Wyeth and King, an architecture firm based all the way in Palm Beach. “Florida is where the latest great houses were being built at the time,” Wolfe explains. “The cottages in Newport were the late 1890s, but this is the next wave. There’s a cross-pollination between Florida and the North East.”

The result, a 12,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom mansion with 22-inch thick walls able to withstand virtually any force of nature, was unlike anything in the area. “It reminds me of a mid-Atlantic stone manor house,” says Wolfe. “In terms of its setting on Long Island, it’s almost like the Gardiners are expressing their manorial heritage through this home.”

But when you have an entire island to maintain, some things get short shrift, and by the time Robert David Lion’s estate was ready to sell 127 Main Street in 2004, the home had fallen into disrepair. “It was in really rough shape,” remembers The Corcoran Group’s senior vice president Tim Davis, who sold the house for the Gardiner estate and is also handling the new listing. “The windows hadn’t been opened in years and were painted shut; there were leaks in the roof; the wrought iron was rusted out; every fixture and surface had to be restored.”

Luckily, the home’s new owners were up for the challenge, launching a meticulous five-year (and eight-figure) restoration with original photos-some of which were discovered in the wine cellar-as a guide. “It was a total gut renovation of the structure,” says Davis, who emphasizes that the owners restored every period detail they could, from arched French doorways and plaster moldings to the Gardiner family crest, which is still on display in the living room mantle. “That kind of effort went into every inch of it,” Davis adds. “As you walk through, you can see it and understand it.”

Naturally, any proper restoration of a 20th-century legend calls for a few 21st-century touches, and 127 Main Street has plenty. The home has been completely re-wired for smart house technology, including a climate system that can be accessed via LCD touch pads, an extensive 32-camera security system, and new geothermal heating that warms up the slab marble bathroom floors. And for those really lazy days, the two-and-a-half-story home now boasts a brand new elevator and a mahogany screening room.

Sitting on a tree-lined stretch of Main Street, the estate’s five-plus acres-one of the largest intact parcels of land in downtown East Hampton-received the same attention. Today, the grounds feature a restored U-shaped hedge and stone path in front of the home, plus hundreds of freshly landscaped evergreen and cypress trees that lead to a heated swimming pool and two new fountains that help create a period feel. (To hammer that home, the driveway has been reconfigured to create a formal courtyard with a fountain in the middle.)

Needless to say, it can be easy to for¬get you are just steps from the heart of East Hampton. “When you’re in the house or out by the swimming pool, you have no sense of being that close to the village center,” Davis promises. “It’s only once you step beyond the entrance gates that you have a sense of where you are. Being in the country but at the same time convenient to everything else is a very nice feeling.”

Amazingly, even as the house hits the market for $26.5 million, the dedicated owners continue to make improvements by adding new trees and landscaping. “There’s nothing better than working with someone who is so appreciative of the historic nature of the house and willing to go through a painstaking experience to make sure it’s authentic,” Davis attests. As a result, he’s confident that the right buyer will find 127 Main Street and place his or her own stamp on this landmark East End home. “It’s an enormous canvas to work with, though it’s not blank,” says Davis. “It’s one that you can keep adding to over time.” Tim Davis, The Corcoran Group, 88 Main St., Southampton, 283-7300; corcoran.com

Deeds & Don’ts: Hey, Big Spenders
6/1/2012 – Hamptons Cottages & Gardens
HEY BIG SPENDERS!
THE HAMPTONS ARE HEATING UP, AND IT’S NOT just because of the widely spread rumor that Jennifer Lopez is putting down roots in Water Mill. As the wealthiest 1 percent of the country is driving our national economy, the Hamptons real estate market has been the happy beneficiary of a hot-and-heavy $20-million-and-up sales boom.
Beechwood, the Francis Fleetwood-designed 17,000-square-foot home on Great Plains Road in Southampton, had an asking price of $38 million and recently sold for a reported $24 million-quite a reduction, but still an inland Southampton record. On a long private drive off Further Lane in East Hampton, a 7,500-square-foot home on three-and-a-half oceanfront acres, listed at $32 million, has reportedly sold for $28 million. And a traditional mansion with deeded beach access at 6 Gracie Lane (also known as 89 Lily Pond Lane) in East Hampton just sold for $20 million.
The historic Charles H. Adams House, on Lee Avenue in East Hampton is selling above its asking price of $24.5 million, according to listing agent Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty, who describes the home as one of the Hamptons’ largest perfectly renovated shingled cottages. The historic three-story Queen Anne was built by Carnegie Hall designer William B. Tuthill. With 14,000 square feet of living space, 14 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, six fireplaces, and a heated gunite pool and spa on two manicured acres, the house was a prize, with multiple motivated buyers. Going into contract in less than a month for $25.75 million ($1.25 million higher than the ask) was “good for everyone’s morale.” notes Moore. “People are not looking for fixer uppers. Customers are looking for beautifully appointed houses in good locations. The key to activity is pricing properties correctly from the start.”
Moore’s excited about a new listing in Sagaponack with deeded ocean access. The iconic Charles Gwathmey modern is 8,000 square feet with seven bedrooms and 11.5 bathrooms, listed at $24 million. It has sweeping views over two-and-a-half acres of manicured grounds, including second-floor panoramic ocean vistas. There’s a media room, gym, two wine cellars, heated gunite pool, pool house, all-weather tennis court, and heated five-car garage. “It’s an exceptional property.” she says. The late architect was just as well known for his exceptional clientele, including such power brokers as Steven Spielberg. “Whenever I had a project on the East Coast,” Spielberg told the New York Times, “the first call I made was to Charlie.”
Number Crunching
According to the Long Island Real Estate Report, East Hampton fared better than Southampton in first quarter 2012 vs. first quarter 2011. Southampton Town weighed in with 213 sales worth $320 million vs. 2011’s first quarter of 197 sales and $325 million, with a median price decrease of $750,000 to $725,000. East Hampton showed 114 sales totaling $177.5 million in the first quarter of 2012 vs. 127 sales totaling $142 million in the first quarter of 2011, with the median price rising from $730,000 to $860,000.
In Southampton Village, sales increased from 16 to 19 in first quarter 2012 vs. 2011, and the total sales figure increased from $33.26 million to $59.15 million.
East Hampton Village did 10 sales in first quarter 2011 and 12 in 2012, with the total sales figure jumping from $28.23 million to $69.64 million.
Sag Harbor Village followed suit with 13 sales in first quarter 2012 vs. 10 in 2011, leaping from total sales of $9.09 million to $19.48 million.
2012 Market Report
Not a single Chanel snow boot was donned this winter, and unseasonably warm weather brought buyers and renters out early and often. And despite Wall Street Journal headlines like “Honey, They Shrunk My Bonus,” several seasonal rentals went for a million dollars.
“The rental market early on had strong indicators, with high-end renters committing early, especially in a repeat rental,” says Moore. “Wall Streeters will always be the strongest customers due to our proximity to Manhattan. They can also park their families out here during the summer.” Yet Moore notes increased interest from Russia and Asia. She also has been selling to Europeans-from Brits and Italians to Germans and French-almost sight unseen. “They browse the Internet, contact me, and make a date to come over.”
The Hamptons sales market, however, is hardly homogenized. It’s easy to find a $40 million oceanfront home and a $400,000 foreclosure within a l0-mile radius. But many agents are reporting a very strong first quarter. “We are certainly ahead in terms of sales and contracts this year from last,” notes Corcoran Senior Vice President Jack Pearson. “Two things have shifted the business for 2012. One is obviously the warmer weather, so we’re two months ahead of traffic flow. Second, all our customers and clients have a much higher confidence level, and that’s what drives them to make decisions. Last year and the year before, people were second-guessing themselves about spending money. Still, everyone wants value: Sellers are pricing homes competitively, and buyers realize there are no fire sales.”
Hamptons real estate usually involves threesomes, namely the buyer, the seller, and, of course, the bank. It’s the latter player who has also made a big difference in the readjusted market.”No one wants to overpay, and no bank wants to lend money on something that’s not worth as much as the buyers are paying,” says Pearson. “Now we’re seeing mortgages approved and business flowing.
“Any property that’s in a good location and competitively priced is hot,” he adds. “For example, we have a modern barn-a completely renovated saltbox that was added onto by architect Blaze Makoid-south of the highway on Sagaponack Road in Bridgehampton. It’s listed at $2.995 million, on half an acre with 3,700 square feet and five bedrooms. The place is an incredible value.”
The headline (or head lane) of Hamptons high-end real estate continues to be Meadow Lane in Southampton Village. With three sales last year topping $20 million (including a $32.5 million property), this stretch of land between ocean and bay continues its alchemy of turning sand and soil to gold. A 9,000-square–foot home on 2.3 acres at 322 Meadow Lane just sold for $28.5 million to a young international family. And two others are in contract: 1360 Meadow Lane, listed at $19.95 million, and 96 Meadow Lane, listed at $21.6 million. A Norman Jaffe-designed oceanfront home next to Coopers Beach is newly listed at $29.95 million.
So what is the Meadow Lane mystique Tim Davis, senior vice president of Corcoran, points to the allure of extra privacy, courtesy of the road’s wider-than-usual oceanfront parcels, plus vistas that stretch from sea to bay, allowing for sunrise and sunset views. Of course, having your own heilpad at-the end of the lane makes for easy access. And if you’re going to be summering in St. Tropez instead, a Meadow Lane mansion can rent for $500,000 to $600,000 a month. Davis notes that the beach has added about a half acre over a l0-year period, as opposed to the massive erosion seen on other oceanfront areas.
A moneyed clientele of international buyers and young families comprise the new Meadow Lane nesters, reports Davis, who has the exclusive $34 million listing for the estate of the late Ted Forstmann, chairman and CEO of IMG Worldwide and senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. Famous for originating the term “barbarians at the gate,” about the leveraged-buyout industry, billionaire Forstmann created a fabulous Meadow Lane billionaire bachelor pad. It was even rumored that Princess Diana once asked him to find a house for her to buy nearby, which he did, but British security vetoed it.
The 8,600-square-foot home sits on almost five acres with more than 200 feet of ocean–front. Decorated by Bunny Williams, it features high ceilings, walls of glass, six bedrooms, and six-and-a-half bathrooms. The exterior has an oceanfront pool, two hot tubs, and a championship tennis court. Fortsmann also acquired approximately four acres adjoining the property and donated it to Southampton Village and the Peconic Land Trust, assuring protected views and privacy.
For the tennis aficionado, the house has a rich history, wirh Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker having graced the court as part of Forstmann’s annual Huggy Bear tennis tournament, which raised millions for children’s charities. Forstmann was known for his philanthropies, and with fellow Hamptons residents Jeff Greene (Tyndal Point), Ronald Perelman (The Creeks), and Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Ballyshear) signed the Giving Pledge, dedicated to donating a great part of one’s wealth to charity. Interestingly, Forstmann is the first person to pass away on the 70-person lisLt. While you can’t exactly count it as a charitable deduction, who knows if some of that $34 million price tag might just go to a good cause?
Before it was called Bridgehampton, settlers referred to the area as Bull’s Head. What is now the Bridgehampton/Sag Turnpike was a toll road built in 1837 and run by the Sag Harbor & Bulls Head Turnpike Company, which charged 8 cents a wagon. And before there were 29,000 rental listings on HREO, the four corners of Ocean Road, the turnpike, and Montauk Highway housed visiting glitterati in glamorous private residences, inns, and taverns from 1850 to 1950.
“The four corners must have been very impressive when you came into town,” says Julie Greene, Bridgehampton Historical Society (BHS) archivist As the easternmost station of the railway, Bridgehampton was “the destination” from 1870 to 1895, she notes. Following its heyday, the prestigious village center slumped into decline and was nicknamed “Gassy Bull,” due to the proliferation of gas stations in the 1960s. An era of neglect and deterioration soon followed.
These days, three of the corners surrounding Bridgehampton’s War Monument are seeing a revival-Greek Revival, that is, with two historic renovations and a new commercial building.
The Nathaniel Rogers House, considered one of the two most important surviving Greek Revival structures on Long Island, is being restored by the BHS as its new administrative, exhibition, and event space. Nathaniel Rogers, who was one of the most popular miniature painters in America, bought the 1820s Federal-style house that had been owned and built by Abraham Topping Rose. Across the street, Rose then built what is now the Bull’s Head Inn. BHS director John Eilertson sunrises that, in what may be an early case of property envy, Rogers looked out the window at his neighbor’s grand manse and said, “I want one of those.” Thus, in 1840, he remodeled his house in a grand Greek Revival style. In the late 1890s, the Hedges and Hoppings families turned the Rogers mansion into the spectacular Hampton House Hotel and restaurant, which flourished for 50 years.
The Hopping family lived in the house until 2004, after which it deteriorated until the columns were literally held in place only by two-by-fours. The BHS worked diligently with the Town of Southampton, the Community Preservation Fund, and private donors to purchase the property and house for approximately $3.5 million.
The total cost of renovation is slated at $6 million, under the stewardship of the BHS and Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, known for doing skilled restoration work on historic wood-frame structures. If all goes well with fundraising, they hope to be finished by July 4, 2014. Along with state and town funding, donations from the community are encouraged. For just $25,000, you can have one of the famous four columns of the Nathaniel Rogers House named for you.
The former Bull’s Head Inn is undergoing a top-to-bottom restoration in a rerurn to its original Greek Revival glory and name-Topping Rose House. Slated to open this summer, it will be a year-round, full-service inn with 22 guest rooms and a restaurant run by acclaimed chef Tom Colicchio.
On the northwest corner, Wick’s Tavern (frequented by soldiers during the American Revolution) ultimately devolved into a beverage store known simply as “the beer place.” With the structure now razed, the location will be home to a two-srory Greek Revival-style building with 9,000 square feet of commercial retail and office space available for $45,000 a month.
Summer’s here, which means it’s time to do the Hamptons shuffle. In a land where Main Street buildings sell for up to $7 million, key money for a restaurant can be $500,000, and retail rent can reach $45,000 per month, a fresh crop of restaurants and retailers pops up every summer to attract the well-heeled crowd. Here, we welcome the newcomers, bid adieu to those who’ve left, and track any movers and shakers to their new digs.
On the home decor front, Sweden-based Lexington Clothing Company arrived in red, white, and blue style with its first store in the U.S., at 73 Main Street in East Hampton. Designer Kristina Lindhe offers classic American furnishings, decorating services, and clothing for the “casual luxury” lifestyle.
Navigating the world on a 12-country shopping trip is one thing, but navigating the Architectural Review Board in historic Sag Harbor Village is quite another. After a two-year odyssey, designer Natasha Esch has opened the doors to MONC XIII at 40 Madison Street. Upon buying the building, she did a top-to-bottom renovation with architect Martin Sosa, retaining the authentic historic flavor while openmg up the space to showcase eclectic, elegant home accessories and vintage furniture. Thrilled with her new location, Esch says, “There’s a great quality of life in Sag Harbor, and ‘the good life’ is what we sell here.”
Just across the street, Mona Nerenberg has expanded Bloom to the small cottage behind the main store, stocked with antiques and contemporary home and garden items in her signature nature-inspired palette. And C. sells by the seashore for entrepreneur Chris Burch: A branch of his C. Wonder empire is popping up for the summer in Southampton at 5 Main Street. The lifestyle brand offers everything from flip-flops to picnic baskets to roller skates with an American-seaside edge. For non-Black Card-carrying fashionistas, the shop promises an average price of $40.
With only so many spaces to fill in a highly competitive market, the Hamptons restaurant scene resembles a game of musical chairs. Whether you left your chair or were bumped out of it, someone is always waiting to take your spot. Memorial Day announces a brand-new seating chart.
Top Hamptons restaurateur David Loewenberg of the Beacon, Fresno, and redbar, along with partner and executive chef Sam McCleland, has taken over the former Oasis in Sag Harbor to open the new Bell & Anchor. The waterfront marina restaurant at 3253 Noyac Road has undergone a total renovation and a breezy style update from David’s wife, designer Sarah Loewenberg, and will specialize in seafood.
Borh Boathouse and Beachhouse have drifted far, far away. Frank Cilione and partners are opening the Hamptons Players Club in the former Beachhouse location at 103 Montauk Highway in East Hampton. The equestrian/polo-themed restaurant includes a formal dining room, casual outdoor beer garden with fireplace, and VIP lounge. We hear straight from the horse’s mouth that Cilione is here to stay with an ll-year lease. With a crossover crowd from Palm Beach Polo, you may catch Nic Roldan and Nacho Figueras competing (albeit over Ping- Pong) in the garden.
Newcomer Andrra takes over the waterside setting that Boathouse (formerly Bostwick’s) used to occupy on Gann Road on Three Mile Harbor. Owners Sami Krasniqi (who is the execucive chef), Nori Krasniqi, and Rich Silver, along with consulting chef William Valentine, are bringing a Mediterranean concept to the recently renovated venue, which will also include a late-night lounge. Closer to town, look for the Meatpacking District favorite Beaumarchais to open in the former Philippe Chow space and bring its “Beau Brunch” a la plage.
Nello is now Nammo. (Say that three times fast.) Nammo Estiatorio is opening a new self-named restaurant and club at 136 Main Street in Southampton in the charming former Old Post House. And Pomme Cafe is out at 16 Main Street in Sag Harbor, replaced by Muse in the Harbor, which recendy relocated from Water Mill complete with tropical-fish-rank centerpiece and new American menu from chef/owner Matthew Guiffrida.
Meanwhile, just when it seemed Citarella had cornered the Hamptons’ fine-foods market, Whole Foods announced that it’s popping up at the former Plitt Ford dealership in Wainscott. Expect an abundance of Whole Paycheck jokes all summer long.

Amazing High-Tech Homes
5/30/2012 – Forbes
Hamptons Cottage, Water Mill, New York
Many houses retain their quaint, rural charm, despite their multi-million dollar price tags. This Hamptons home, on the market for $6.2 million, looks like a relatively modest brick-exterior ranch house from the outside, but it’s the dwelling’s highly-wired innards that belie its exterior. A central control panel operates the house’s solar shades, auto key entry, and there’s even a spacious wide-screen digital home theater with reclining electric leather seating for eight. Sure, it may look like a simple country house, but beneath that charming exterior lurks one impressively tricked-out summer home.
*****
You may have heard that Bill Gates has a pool with an underwater sound system. And that Tony Stark’s (aka Iron Man) high rise houses 3-D holographic computer displays. But if you think technologically-sophisticated living is reserved solely for Silicon Valley tycoons and superheroes, think again. Not everyone can afford or prefers the same Citizen Kane-level of ostentation, but many luxury homeowners still look for innovative ways of maintaining, interconnecting, or adjusting their homes—and the results are pretty impressive.
Take, for example, the $12.9-million, six-bedroom mega-lodge located within the ski sanctuary of Telluride’s Mountain Village. It might look like a rustic nature retreat from the outside, but inside, all of the home’s systems are controlled by iPad, including in-floor radiant heat (it gets chilly up in snowy Telluride), room humidification and temperature controls, multi-room audio-visual control, alarm systems, and outdoor video monitoring. All can be controlled remotely, allowing the homeowner to pre-heat the floors and cue up a serenade of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by the time guests stamp the snow off their boots.
Still, technology junkies don’t always prefer sprawling homes and multi-room control centers. High-tech often equals small and sleek, after all. One such sleek pad, nicknamed “Closet House,” in Matosinhos, Portugal, offers residents the ability to change the actual layout of the small home to accommodate different needs or design preferences. Just 474 square feet, the modern marvel, designed by architectural firm Consexto, surprises inside with five different rooms—or “living areas”—two of which have walls that can be rearranged at the touch of a button. Having guests over for a movie? Need some privacy? Or are you just tired of your home’s layout? Just go all Optimus Prime and transform your home according to need or whim.
When it comes to custom-made, high-tech home building, prefabricated home systems can be a boon. Los Angeles’ Proto Homes, for example, incorporates its signature architectural design elements with solutions that are tailored to the home and location. Wall panels and the home’s utility core are prefabricated and then assembled at the site, often in less than 16 weeks. And Proto’s Baldwin Hills home doesn’t skimp on the digital trappings either. Central air, music, and temperature can be controlled from a specialized iPad. Cooler yet is the homeowner’s ability to change “skins,” or outdoor panels to switch the home’s color according to mood, season, or occasion. Kind of like changing the cover of an iPhone—but for your home.

Former Brown U. Chancellor Lists His East Hampton Home
5/23/2012 – Curbed
Perhaps inspired by the recent $25.75M sale of the house next door, Stephen Robert—former Chancellor of Brown University, member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-founder of The Source of Hope Foundation—has just listed his three-story home on Lee Avenue for the tidy sum of $18.5M.
And what does that buy you these days? “A quintessential summer colony cottage,” according to Corcoran’s Tim Davis. The residence is said to maintain many of its original elements (it dates back to 1899) while having been “updated for today’s Hampton lifestyle.” The home offers seven fireplaces, eight bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, enclosed porches and 7500 sq. ft. of living space. The 1.86 acre property itself boasts expansive brick terraces, old growth trees, original gardens, and—what else?—a heated gunite pool.

Ward Bennett-Designed Contemporary Closes At $17.6M
5/7/2012 – Curbed
After about two months of being listed as “In Contract,” this Ward Bennett oceanfront on Southampton’s Meadow Lane has now closed. Final purchase price? $17.6M.
Though that number is just a little over 10 percent off the final listed ask, it represents a dramatic step down from the original pricetag of $24.5M. Still, $17.6M is good enough to make it one of the year’s biggest sales. It also adds another $15M+ listings to Tim Davis’ 2012 sold pile.

New York’s Hamptons Real Estate Smackdown: Southhampton vs. East Hampton
4/16/2012 – The Hollywood Reporter
East Hampton has reigned for years as the place to be, but the historically blue-blood Southampton area is vying for the top spot on the housing hot list.
For years, East Hampton has reigned as the glitziest of this summer playground’s many villages and towns, drawing not only New York bold-facers but a preponderance of Hollywood names, including Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw and Jerry Seinfeld, to tony streets like Lily Pond Lane and Further Lane and around Georgica Pond. Lately, however, the historically blue-blood Southampton area — where billionaire-heavy Meadow Lane is second home to David Koch, Leon Black and Calvin Klein — is gaining ground, at least on the numbers?front.
During the recession, overall numbers in the Hamptons — which lies about 90 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island — certainly went south, and sales have yet to return to the fever pitch of the mid-2000s. In 2011, sales volume was down a modest 1.7 percent from the previous year, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel, while average prices fell 2.1 percent in the same period. “The Hamptons didn’t get clobbered like the rest of the country; it got bruised,” says Dottie Herman, CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman real estate and a Southampton homeowner.
Southampton township, which encompasses Southampton village, Sagaponack, Water Mill and Bridgehampton, has seen a number of big sales. Apollo Global investment firm co-founder Marc Rowan got $28.5 million for his 9,000-square-foot Meadow Lane mansion — the most expensive deal so far this year — which he bought for $16.3 million in 2005.
Last year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg shelled out $20.4 million to purchase an 11-bedroom Georgian mansion in Shinnecock Hills. Supermodel Christie Brinkley quietly unloaded her beachfront bungalow in Water Mill earlier this year, after first listing it in 2007 for $7.9 million. And Water Mill resident Matt Lauer is increasing his holdings. He is said to be planning to build a horse farm on a 47-acre property he recently purchased, which had been listed at $10.5 million.
Now, in a surprise, median sale prices in Southampton township are more or less on par with those in East Hampton town, which also covers Amagansett, Montauk and Wainscott. For 2011, Southampton’s median sale price of $865,000 was up 8 percent from 2010, while East Hampton’s $875,000 median price was down 9 percent in the same period, according to real estate data provider Suffolk Research Service. Southampton prices are just 6.5 percent below the 2007 peak of $925,000, while East Hampton is 20.5 percent off its 2007 peak of $1.1 million.
Also on Meadow Lane, the five-acre estate of buyout king Teddy Forstmann, the IMG chairman who died in 2011 from brain cancer, is on the market for $34 million. The six-bedroom house comes with two hot tubs and an oceanside pool.
Stronger Southampton sale prices may have something to do with the greater availability of high-end listings there. “There are many more oceanfront sales in Southampton, typically pushing up Southampton numbers,” says Corcoran Group broker Gary DePersia.
Adds Town & Country Real Estate founder Judi Desiderio: “It does appear that the estate area of Southampton has drawn a greater audience than that of East Hampton. My hypothesis is that the demographics of the buyers of homes over $10 million is younger than ever. And to that end, the ‘easier commute’ to New York City is the impetus to this shift.” But one knock against the town (which is located about 13 miles west of East Hampton) is that “Southampton kind of rolls up the streets at 7 o’clock,” says one resident.
THE EAST HAMPTON MARKET
East Hampton — more accessible since hotelier Andre Balazs launched StndAIR last year with in-season flights to East Hampton Airport on an eight-passenger Cessna 208 (2012 prices unavailable) — hardly is declining in desirability. Kramer vs. Kramer director Robert Benton sold his 5,000-square-foot Mediterranean residence on a peninsula near Georgica Pond for $23 million in November. And a buyer pounced within a month on the Charles H. Adams estate built by Carnegie Hall designer William B. Tuthill. The 14-bedroom house was listed for $24.5 million in November. “A lot of people had money to buy the last two years; they just didn’t have the confidence to buy,” says Saunders & Associates broker Jay Flagg. “Those people have come into the market.”
But some feel East Hampton village has become too commercialized. “I mean, it’s like East Hampton mall now,” says fashion designer Nicole Miller, a resident of the quaint village of Sag Harbor to the north. And there may be signs that the disruptive party scene that’s unfolded at rented mansions over the years has hit a turning point. Last year, the Dunes, a luxury rehab facility ($105,000 for three months), opened in an eight-bedroom East Hampton mansion.
Some sellers have had to become more realistic about prices. Reality TV star Kelly Killoren Bensimon has chopped the asking price of her five-bedroom on Further Lane (where Bill and Hillary Clinton rented last September) by one-third to $8 million; it was listed in January at $12?million. “To be honest with you, I feel like my house is worth $12. But it’s not a mega-mansion and size matters to people out here,” says Bensimon.
Among those who have been spotted shopping for real estate in East Hampton are Jeff Zucker and his wife, Caryn, who currently own in Amagansett. Meanwhile, some are purchasing in traditionally undesirable areas north of the highway (Route 27), either for better deals or bigger spreads. The most expensive Hamptons sale in 2011 was billionaire investor Jeffrey Greene’s $36 million acquisition of the 55-acre Tyndal Point estate near Sag Harbor, an eye-popping sale made all the more surprising for not being in one of the more coveted areas to the south.
SUMMER RENTALS
With spring’s warm weather, “the rental market started early and strong,” says Prudential Douglas Elliman agent Dawn Neway. And, according to Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach, almost all oceanfront property is spoken for. “They go very quickly, and people are going to the houses that are for sale to see if anybody will rent,” she says. “I have a couple of oceanfronts on the market for $30 million and the owners of one turned down $1 million to rent it.” Those are not unheard-of numbers for the Hamptons. Last year, billionare Igor Sosin — part of a wave of wealthy Russians laying down bucks on East Coast real estate — spent $860,000 to enjoy July and August in a mansion with a 3,000-square-foot master bedroom in Southampton. (By contrast, in Malibu, rentals rarely top $100,000 a month.) Many lower-priced options — in line with the five-bedroom house in Bridgehampton Gayle King is said to have taken at $70,000 for the summer — still are available, according to NestSeekers International agent Mohna Hoppe. “People were sort of lowballing the market,” says Hoppe. “Now homeowners are staying a lot firmer with the prices they are asking and they are getting rented.”
Sotheby International Realty’s Harald Grant says some potential buyers are opting to rent. “My brother’s house is on the market for $9 million,” he says. “He rented it for $450,00 for the summer and, guess what, the guy who rented saved $8.5 million.”
Or why not pay $550,000 to spend two weeks at the Sandcastle, developer Joe Farrell’s 11.5-acre gated property in Bridgehampton? The newly built 31,000-square-foot residence, on land purchased from the estate of late Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun for $4.5 million in 2007, is outfitted with a rock-climbing wall, baseball field, bowling alley, walk-in refrigerator, and a full bar and disco.
Although Farrell also is listing the home for sale at $43.5 million, he apparently wants to add new amenities, including equestrian facilities. Those plans already have sparked tensions with locals who have complained about the potential impact on noise levels and property values. One concerned citizen wrote a letter decrying Farrell’s supposed “blatant bully tactics.”
It just goes to show that Southampton and East Hampton still have one shortcoming in common: neighbors.

Gimme Shelter: Water Millions
4/12/2012 – New York Post
Super broker Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman has sold her Water Mill mansion for $5.46 million. The 6,459-square-foot, seven-bedroom, 7 1/2-bathroom Hamptons home on Cobb Hill Lane is on 1 1/2 acres and comes with a carriage house, a pool and a tennis court.
Listing broker Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group also represented the unnamed buyer.
Lenz isn’t done with the Hamptons. She also owns an Ox Pasture Road estate across the street from Tory Burch’s property.

Corcoran broker finds buyer for Dolly Lenz’s Hamptons abode
4/12/2012 – The Real Deal
Dolly Lenz, Tim Davis and the Water Mill mansion.
Dolly Lenz finally sold her East End mansion that’s languished on the market for nearly two years, the New York Post reported, with a closing price of $5.46 million. The Prudential Douglas Elliman vice chairman famously chose Corcoran Group’s Hamptons power broker Tim Davis to list the estate on Cobb Hill Lane in Water Mill.
Davis and Lenz initially listed the 1.5-acre property for $5.495 million in June 2010, and upped the asking a year later to $5.9 million, only for it to sell closer to the original listing price. The 6,459-square-foot home has seven bathrooms, seven and a half bathroom with an outdoor pool, tennis court, carriage house and four-car garage. Tim Davis also represented the buyer of the property.

1.5 Months Later, $13M Bridgehampton Six-Bed Is In Contract
4/6/2012 – Curbed
Corcoran’s Tim Davis has had quite a stellar 2012 so far. Not only has he closed on “Beechwood” and 174 Further Lane and procured a contract for a Ward Bennett-designed contemporary at 1360 Meadow Lane, but he’s now found a buyer for another one of his $10M+ listings—a six-bedroom On Halsey Lane in Bridgehampton. The asking price on the south of the high way 2.5 acre spread? $12.995M. And, according to StreetEasy, it’s only been on the market for a little more than month. When this and the Meadow Lane property close, Mr. Davis will be about 3/4s of the way to the coveted $100M mark with just four sales…and it’s only April.

Hamptons Real Estate: Sizing Up the Season
3/27/2012 – Gotham
A bowling alley, disco, baseball field—amenities abound at Bridgehampton’s 11.5-acre, $43.5 million Sandcastle estate (Corcoran)
Load your sports car with the Lily Pulitzer and Louis Vuitton totes, and grab a checkbook. Like a returning tide, the Hamptons vacation home market will continue to make its way back this summer, according to brokers, developers, and real estate analysts, after a choppy 2011.
Few expect houses to fetch pre-recession prices—just yet. But on the easternmost end of Long Island, across the 50-mile stretch of towns and villages that make up the Hamptons, brokers are confident that the getaway’s worst real estate days are behind it. “I am cautiously bullish on this season, even if everybody considers that to be broker babble,” says Gary DePersia, a Corcoran Group broker and 16-year Hamptons veteran. Prices are inching up. Sales inquires have been notably robust. And inventory that has languished since the post-Lehman-collapse period is finally off the shelves. “Everything feels more buoyant.”
If there is an upsurge, the Bridgehampton-Sagaponack corridor would seem to be on its crest, as home prices show. In the fourth quarter 2011, the average sale price in Bridge-Sag, which includes Water Mill and Wainscott, was $5.6 million versus $4.1 million in the year ago quarter, according to Corcoran Group data—a hefty 36 percent increase.
That tracks nicely with last year’s Forbes report that Sagaponack’s zip code, 11962, has the country’s third most expensive home prices. (Water Mill was number eight and Wainscott was number 29, while Amagansett—the next Hamptons town on the list—was 37.) In sharp contrast, East Hampton saw its prices tumble to $800,000 from $1.1 million, a 29 percent drop, the Corcoran figures show.
With little of the nightlife bustle of points east— after all, a prominent landmark is Candy Kitchen, a diner—and enough grassy fields to make you forget you’re near water, Bridge-Sag might seem an unlikely contender for the top spot on the trend meter. But that rural flavor is precisely the point, says Jim Oxnam, a broker with Brown Harris Stevens on the East End. “This is for people who want a country, open feel, to be around lots of undeveloped land,” he says. “That doesn’t really exist anywhere else [in the Hamptons].”
Others extol its relative accessibility, about two and a half hours in traffic in summer from Midtown by car, versus three and a half for East Hampton-Montauk. Plus, the Bridge-Sag area is not shoehorned onto a barrier beach. It’s sprawling, with lots of back roads, which means weekenders don’t always have to deal with the bumper-car mayhem of Route 27 to get to another Hampton, says builder Joe Farrell, who’s constructed large spec homes in the area for years.
In a move that offers a clue to the next frontier in Hamptons real estate, Farrell is now putting his chips on the area “north of the highway”—in other words, the inland side of Route 27 that had for years been seen as a no-go for wealthy weekenders, and where Farrell hasn’t built for years. “The stigma of the north has faded,” he says.
This winter, Farrell purchased a 10-acre former nursery on Deerfield Road, next to a plot where TV host Matt Lauer is developing a horse farm, where he plans on putting up seven spec homes priced from $4 million to $5 million, all with pools, which are de rigueur for the typical Hamptons weekender.
Price-wise, Farrell might be on to something. The $3.5 million to $5 million bracket has by far shown the most growth in the last year, according to data from Town & Country Real Estate; there were 49 sales at that level through September 2011, versus 38 in the same period in 2010.
At the $5 million to $10 million price point, sales have been flat, though the segment of the market just above it—call it the higher high end, or $10 million to $20 million—seems to be heating up like skin on Main Beach at high noon in July.
In fact, at the end of last year, a 6,000-squarefoot estate on East Hampton’s Highway Behind the Pond, as in Hook Pond, sold for $17 million, DePersia says. And it sat on a driving range of the Maidstone Club’s golf course, so there are “golf balls flying all around,” he jokes.
“The money always trickles down the LIE and ends up here”
The once-written-off-for-dead u¨ber-high end, too, has been active, though after hefty discounts. The biggest deal in 2011 was the $36 million purchase of 400 Ferry Road, in the North Haven section of Sag Harbor, by Jeff Greene, the former Florida Senate candidate. With a lagoon that evokes a “location for the next pirate movie,” according to its listing, the 55-acre waterfront parcel, known as Tyndal Point, boasts three houses and the option, via zoning, to build another six. However, it’s probably important to mention that this property was listed in 2007 for $80 million, which means it traded at a whopping 55 percent discount.
Still, there were other big-ticket sales, like the $25 million deal for a 9,000-square-foot mansion, styled like a French cottage, on Meadow Lane. Convinced those deals are a taste of things to come, brokers point to a transaction that took place this winter: the $25 million purchase of a century old, 11-bedroom Queen Anne on Lee Avenue, in the heart of East Hampton’s village. The property, designed by Carnegie Hall’s architect, William Tuthill, came on the market around Thanksgiving and immediately received several offers, brokers say. (As of press time, the property had not closed yet.) Few expect bidding wars to return en masse to the Hamptons soon; prices are still about 10 percent below their pre-recession peaks, though some were down 20 percent at one point.
Other areas have struggled, relatively speaking. Amagansett, which lies east of East Hampton, saw average prices fall 4 percent from 2010 to fourth quarter 2011, according to the Corcoran data. Why? Pinpointing what makes some Hamptons cool, or not, is about as easy as navigating the aisles of Citarella on a Friday night. And the evidence can often be contradictory.
Amagansett “is more laissez-faire and not as glitzy as some of the other Hamptons,” says Beate Moore, of Sotheby’s International Realty, who sold that Lee Avenue home. Then again, glitzier areas are not necessarily benefiting from that drop-off. Southampton, which seems to have lost some of its luster in recent years, suffers because “people can feel it is too formal, too Park Avenue,” Moore explains.
Yet it’s clear with each private jet that touches down at East Hampton’s airport, that the Hamptons has hardly been abandoned by the A-list. “Well-established people… doctors, artists, Wall Street types who never lost their jobs and have lots of money, they spend it as they want,” says Peggy Darling, a sales associate with Prudential Douglas Elliman.
Even members of the one percent like deals, though, which is why Darling steers clients to the area Remsemburg through Quogue, where a house can go for half, or possibly less, than properties further east, and sit within an hour and- a-half drive from New York. But nobody in the $5 million and below category appears to be jumping in headfirst. Some buyers now will rent for a year or more to test the waters, and there is a robust rental market to cater to them. While many renters may have reduced the length of their stay on the East End in recent years—instead of a full season, they took just an August rental—they came all the same, brokers say.
“The rental market is starting earlier and is more consistent,” says Michael Schultz, a senior vice president and associate broker at The Corcoran Group. “It used to be that people would come out right before Memorial Day, thinking they were getting a better deal, but I’ve already seen an uptick in rentals starting now.” Starter rentals might be found in Montauk, where a two-bedroom contemporary can run $20,000 for the season, or $10,000 a bedroom, though that’s up sharply in recent years on account of a lively nighttime and restaurant scene, including such spots as Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer’s, which promise to prosper again this year. “Montauk is sort of the Downtown to East Hampton,” Schultz adds.
In the mid-market category—that is, from $100,000 to $200,000—a seasonal renter can end up with a roomy house with a pool, south of the highway, like in Bridgehampton, where a six-bedroom home built in 2005, with a stone and clapboard exterior, on Kellis Pond, is $200,000 Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The most dazzling $200,000 to $400,000 compounds, meanwhile, seem to be tucked this year in and around East Hampton. On Skimhampton Road is a six-bedroom contemporary designed by Robert A.M. Stern with a pool and tennis courts for $250,000, for the Memorial Day to Labor Day period; on Egypt Lane is a six-bedroom on almost two acres, also with pool and tennis, for $350,000 for July and August.
Are foreign buyers popping up in the Hamptons market as they have in Manhattan? Yes and no. Russians, who were highly visible a few years ago, seem to be less so now, brokers say, although overall demographics are widening: there are more Chinese, Brazilian, and even debt-crisis-stricken Europeans, brokers explain, in far greater numbers than a decade ago.
Across the board, rentals have inched up about 5 percent a year since the depths of the Great Recession (or 10 percent from pre-recession levels), says Bill Stoecker, a Town & Country broker; people who otherwise would have bought homes but sat out the market are putting pressure on rents, he says, adding, “The rental market has always been relatively strong, but it picked up a lot in the last four years with all the uncertainty.”
Stoecker also says that if the sales market improves this season, as many predict, don’t look for the rental market to soften—demands for rentals will still be huge, he predicts, as people still want to try the area before committing.
Ultimately, the Hamptons are a trailing indicator of what happens in New York, so when the city’s fortunes improve, the East End’s will quickly follow. Says Jane Gill, a vice president with Saunders & Associates, “The money always trickles down the LIE and ends up here.”

Sotheby’s Plans May Forstmann Auction
3/21/2012 – New York Post
Business titans around the world are expected to battle it out in May over the coveted art treasures of the late financier Teddy Forstmann, which are expected to fetch as much as $150 million when they go up for auction in the spring.
Just five months after the 71-year-old’s death from brain cancer, the estate of the bachelor billionaire and philanthropist sent more than 50 prized artworks of his collection to the auction block at Sotheby’s.
The collection will first tour Hong Kong, London and Los Angeles to satisfy demands of wealthy art collectors in those areas to get up-close views of the pieces, said Sotheby’s.
“Teddy Forstmann strove for excellence in business and in life, which carried through effortlessly into his art collecting,” said Sotheby’s Stephane Connery.
Among the top pieces are Pablo Picasso’s portrait of his mistress, Dora Maar, “Femme assise dans un fauteuil,” which alone could fetch in excess of $30 million.
“There’s definitely going to be some very competitive bidding for the works,” said Eileen Kinsella, editor of ARTNewsletter. “Forstmann had a great eye.”
“Just because some of his Wall Street friends saw something hanging in his Hamptons house isn’t making them envy it more,” said Kinsella. “Big money is going after great art because it’s still one of last best investments around.”
Many of the artworks were at times displayed at Forstmann’s oceanfront home on exclusive Meadow Lane in Southampton. The 6-bedroom, 6 1/2 bath estate is also in the block for $34 million at Corcoran.
Forstmann, founder of leveraged buyout firm Forstmann Little & Co., had two adopted sons. He founded and supported the Children’s Scholarship Funds, and was a big donor to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the International Rescue Committee.

Gimme Shelter: Hamptons-go-round
3/8/2012 – The New York Post
Adebayo Ogunlesi, a Nigerian finance executive, is buying venture capitalist John Pickett’s beach mansion on Great Plains Road in Southampton for $24 million — far less than its $38 million asking price.
Pickett, the former owner of the NHL’s New York Islanders, renovated the 17,000-square-foot mansion with architect Francis Fleetwood. Pickett bought the home, which comes with 200-year-old beech trees, for $5.5 million in 2001.
Corcoran Group listing broker Tim Davis declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Pickett is downsizing on the East End. He just bought a $3 million home on Cobblefield Lane in Southampton. That home was owned by Denis P. Coleman, a former executive at Bear Stearns.
Ogunlesi, former chief client officer at Credit Suisse First Boston, once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Mogul’s Homes Going On The Block
3/7/2012 – New York Post
A trophy penthouse duplex and a Southampton beach mansion that once belonged to Teddy Forstmann, the late billionaire bachelor businessman and philanthropist, are now on the market for a total of $70 million.
Forstmann, who personified the best of Wall Street, was known for his iconoclastic vision and business acumen, as well as his penchant for pretty girlfriends — his last gal pal was Padma Lakshmi.
He also had great taste in real estate.
In Manhattan, Forstmann lived in understated elegance — in a co-op on tony East 70th Street that is now asking $36 million. The 4,000-square-foot home is in a 14-story Rosario Candela building, across the street from Central Park on Fifth Avenue and the Frick Collection.
“Teddy was a major American icon — a financier who invented corporate takeovers and lived his life in an attractive, elegant manner — and his homes reflect that lifestyle,” a real-estate insider said.
The upstairs is basically a one-bedroom master suite, with a formal library/sitting room. The downstairs has two guest bedrooms.
There’s also a wraparound terrace with unimpeded views overlooking the Frick, Fifth Avenue and the park.
Valentino Garavini, the designer, lives in the building.
Sotheby’s brokers Serena Boardman and Meredyth Smith, who have the listing, did not return calls.
However, sources tell The Post that showings, which started yesterday, have been back-to-back.
Forstmann’s grand Southampton estate is for sale for $34 million. Listing broker Tim Davis, of The Corcoran Group, could not be reached for comment, but sources tell The Post that several parties are already interested in the estate, which is about to be officially listed.
The 9,000-square-foot home, with an oceanfront pool and tennis court, sits on four acres with more than 200 feet of oceanfront and clear views of Shinnecock Bay. It faces protected land. It was also the site of grand summer charity galas where Eagles star Don Henley rocked a crowd one year that included Gwen Stefani and Martina Navratilova.

East Hampton’s 174 Further Lane Finds A Buyer One Year Later
3/5/2012 – Curbed
Looks like we’ve got ourselves another contender for biggest sale of the year: 174 Further Lane has entered into contract. Between this and Beechwood, Corcoran’s Tim Davis has certainly started off 2012 on a remarkably high note.
The seven-bedroom contemporary hit the market almost exactly one year ago with a $38M ask, but it wasn’t until February’s $6M chop that a buyer was found. We would hope that the soon-to-be new owner has a passion for astronomy. The “dreamy oceanfront Hamptons hideaway” comes with an amenity that Galileo would have appreciated: its very own observatory.
As always, feel free to leave your guesses for the final purchase price in the comment section.

Rechler Equity Hosts East End Real Estate Community At Parrish Art Museum
2/21/2012 – Hamptons.com
Mitchell Rechler (Rechler Equity Partners) and Arlene Reckson (The Corcoran Group). (Eileen Casey)
Tim Davis (The Corcoran Group) and David Winzelberg (Long Island Business News). (Eileen Casey)

Southampton – Rechler Equity Partners, Long Island’s largest commercial real estate company, hosted a reception at Southampton’s Parrish Art Museum Thursday evening, February 16, to formerly introduce the East End real estate community to leasing opportunities available at the Hampton Business District at Gabeski.
The 50-acre business and technology center was awarded to Rechler Equity by Suffolk County in 2009 and is scheduled to break ground later this year.
According to Gregg Rechler, “We are very excited about this and have plans underway for a 32,000 square foot building and a 60,000 square foot building.”
At the event, Rechler Equity Partners Director of Tenant and Community Development Ellen Cea thanked the brokers for attending and provided an overview of the ambitious Hampton Business District.
“This will be the East End’s first and only Class A, multi-use business park,” Cea explained. “It is being designed to accommodate a wide range of businesses and users of all sizes, from manufacturing and R&D to biotech, medical, the culinary arts, showrooms for building-related trades, and state-of-the-art office space for professional firms serving the Hamptons. All of this will be in a spectacular setting right within Gabreski Airport that will include a full-service, 145-room hotel and even a day care center. The Hampton Business District will offer everything a business needs to flourish – just minutes from the beaches, restaurants, homes, and cultural and recreational attractions that make the Hamptons such a desired location.”
Buildings at the Hampton Business District will combine traditional materials with modern forms to create a new approach to industrial architecture that will be unique to the area. Totaling 440,000 square feet in seven buildings, available space at the park will range from 2,000 square feet up to 250,000 square feet. Zoned for general commercial use, the Hampton Business District will offer the latest in sustainable design and green technology and also feature outdoor recreational space for companies and their employees. Businesses locating there will be eligible for favorable tax benefits from the Suffolk County IDA and the NYS Excelsior Program. More information is available at www.hamptonbusinessdistrict.com.
The event held at the Parrish Art Museum brought out both commercial and residential realtors, as well as artichitects, designers and guests who gathered to show their support for this undertaking, and to also inform themselves as to the plans Rechler Equity has in place.
The Parrish function room was decorated with banners surrounding the room displaying information about Rechler Equity, while a large screen also displayed the accomplishments of the company.
Brokers from Prudential Douglas Elliman, Town & Country, The Corcoran Group, and others, as well as officers and members of the Westhampton Beach Chamber of Commerce, toasted the possibilities while catching up with old friends, and making new ones.
With tasty treats, an open bar, and a raffle, as well as a wonderful “networking” evening, all guests appeared to be having a great time, while welcoming Rechler Equity to the ‘hood.

$38 Million Hamptons ‘Beechwood’ Mansion Sold
2/8/2012 – International Business Times
Curbed Hamptons reported that owners John and Robin Pickett put the property on the market for $38 million after working with architect Francis Fleetwood.
The home, at 171 Great Plains Road and called “Beechwood,” includes four-and-a-half acres of property, five fireplaces, a gym, wine cellar and 11 and a half bathrooms.
Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group was the broker.
The closing price hasn’t been revealed, but it could mark one of the most expensive home sales in the country.

Properties of the Month
2/1/2012 – AVENUE
Built at the turn of the last century by apprentises of William Merritt Chase and his American Impressionist School, the shingled “cottage” is a vintage treasure that transports you back to the Gatsby era in Southampton. The noble 8,000 square foot showpiece, lovingly and expertly restored and expanded over the years, crowns three and a half acres of breathtaking grounds designed by renowned landscape architect Edwina Von Gal bordering a 10 acre reserve. A few of the highest-quality features include state-of-the-art kitchen, six stately fireplaces, glorious master suite, wine cellar, covered terraces, “destination” heated pool and lounge area. Come see for yourself. Co-Exclusive $6,975,000. Please contact Tim Davis at 631.283.7300×211

Wall Street’s Cutbacks Nip at Hamptons
1/26/2012 – The Wall Street Journal
Home prices in the Hamptons slipped for the second quarter in a row, raising a question about whether a slowdown in Wall Street bonuses may be beginning to affect the luxury second-home market.
Median home prices were off 16.8% in the fourth quarter since a surge in sales in the 2011 second quarter and remain 29% below the peak prices in the spring of 2007, according to a new report by Prudential Douglas Elliman.
New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has forecast falling cash bonuses on Wall Street and a loss of 10,000 financial-sector jobs. One private compensation survey has said that bonuses are expected to shrink by an average of 20% to 30%.
Brokers and analysts said that it was too soon to tell whether the shrinking bonuses could lead to a setback to the otherwise recovering Hamptons second-home market.
“The wild card is how the decline in bonuses play out in the market,” said Jonathan Miller, an appraiser and president of Miller Samuel Inc., who prepared the market report for Prudential Douglas Elliman.
The market data showed that sales of the most expensive trophy properties on the South Fork remained stable.
But sales fell sharply for homes priced between $2.5 million and $4 million, a category that includes home buyers who can’t yet afford to live near the ocean in the most expensive enclaves “south of the highway.”
Tim Davis, a Corcoran broker who has sold some of the most expensive properties in the Hamptons, said that Wall Street bonuses are frequently part of the conversation with buyers.
Two Wall Street buyers now in contracts for houses costing less than $5 million north of Route 27 had applied for extra-large mortgages, just in case their bonuses fell short, he said. So far, he said, “There have been no complications.”
He said they were buying to take advantage of what “is very much a buyer’s market.”
The Elliman report put the median sale price in the fourth quarter at $780,000, down 8.2% from the third quarter and off 13.3% from the final quarter of 2010. The average price was $1.58 million.
The median price was driven down in part by a 16.3% increase in sales of lower-priced homes, which in the Hamptons means sales of less than $1 million, according to a separate report by Brown Harris Stevens.
Brokers say that Wall Street’s grip on the Hamptons has weakened over the years, as other buyers, entrepreneurs, real-estate developers, entertainment figures and foreign buyers have moved in over the years.
This makes it hard to distinguish between specific worries over bonuses and more general concern in the last half of 2011 over the economic fate of the U.S. and in Europe.
Andrew Saunders, founder of Saunders & Associates, a Hamptons-based real-estate firm, said the local real-estate market since the summer has closely followed the ups and downs of the economy, like “flipping a switch.”
“Whenever the news cycle tends to be a little positive, we really do see a reaction among our sidelined buyers,” he said.
Cia Comnas, who oversees Brown Harris Stevens offices in the Hamptons, said it was “premature” to conclude that bonuses were having a dampening effect on the market.
“A lot of buyers are pretty sophisticated these days,” she said. “When they start to see a well-priced product. they move on it.”