Realty Check

Later, Hamptons!

Donald Trump Jr and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle have sold their Kellis Way, Bridgehampton, house in an off-market deal. They purchased it in 2019 for $4.4 million. According to reports, the sales price was $8.14 million. Almost double in two years? That seems a lot, even with the pandemic. South of the highway, the property includes 3.9 waterfront acres; the house itself is 9,200 square feet, with seven bedrooms, ten baths and one half-bath. James Giugliano, of Nest Seekers, and Shawn Egan were reportedly the brokers on the deal.

Hi Hamptons, I’m Back!

Donald’s father pardoned his campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who’d been serving time for tax fraud and money laundering. That means that he can keep his Water Mill property which had been seized by the federal government. Manafort’s abode, off Jobs Lane, includes 2.37 acres of land, along with a 5,500 square foot house, with 10 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms. There’s a tennis court, pool, spa, pool house, half court, formal gardens and a putting green. There are views over farm fields to the north, and the property is near Mecox Bay but not waterfront. We’d suggest a value of about $9 million for the property. Manafort should send Trump the big Edible Arrangements as a thank you.

Big Money

70 Further Lane, East Hampton, has traded off the market, selling for $59.5 million in February. The seller was legendary Wall Streeter Jim Chanos, who’s been called the Darth Vader of Wall Street, the Catastrophe Capitalist, and the LeBron James of short selling. He is of course most famous for correctly predicting and shorting Enron.

The property is “semi-oceanfront,” as in, there are just dunes between the house and the ocean, but we think this is one of those properties where the Nature Conservancy owns the dunes. The house is comparatively modest, on a long, thin 2.97 acre plot. We’re fairly sure this will be on a top 10 list of sales for 2021.

Make a New List!

Speaking of top 10 lists, we have a new entry for 2020’s. The new number 3 is 290 Further Lane, East Hampton. The gigantic (10,000 square feet), almost-oceanfront (the Nature Conservancy actually owns the dunes in front of the house) property debuted on the market back in 2016, asking $69 million. Designed by Francis Fleetwood in 1995, the house had belonged to James Marcus, a partner at Goldman Sachs. The price was cut $20 million in 2017, finally selling in 2018 for $40 million. That was the highest Hamptons home sale for that year.

The property was refreshed and relisted in autumn 2020, asking $68 million via Bespoke. It closed on December 18 for $57,040,000 to an LLC.

Sailing Away

On Three Mile Harbor, East Hampton Point has been on and off the market for as long as we can remember, at all different prices: $55 million in 2006, $29 million in 2015, and most recently down to $27 million. It includes five acres of harborfront land with a waterfront restaurant, accommodation including 13 individual cottages and seven suites in the main house, and a full-service marina and boatyard with 58 slips. There’s also a ship’s store, pool, and tennis. It would be impossible to replicate the restaurant and marina on Three Mile Harbor today, with current waterfront zoning laws.

The place has been sold to a young hedge funder, Heath Freeman of Alden Global Capital. This could be exciting news, with plenty of money to spruce the place up. Watch this space.

Your Retail Empire

Martell’s is a Montauk institution. An institution you can buy right now, along with a gas station with two garages and a three-bedroomed apartment upstairs. If you’re really ambitious, you can expand upward, as neighboring buildings have done. The lot, with a breezeway between buildings and plenty of space in back, is asking $5.475 million and is listed by Douglas Elliman in East Hampton. There’s not a lot of commercial space on the market in Montauk, so if you’re looking to make some money in The End, this property could make a lot of sense.

Forever Onadune

One of the original East Hampton summer mansions, Onadune harks back to a slower, more gracious past. It’s now on the market for $25 million, listed by Scott Strough and Ed Petrie at Compass.

The house, built between 1903 and 1907, was designed by John Custis Lawrence. Lawrence architected a number of mansions in East Hampton, mostly in the Arts and Crafts style popular at the time. This was the fourth (and final) house that a Mrs. S. Fisher Johnson built in East Hampton. We guess she enjoyed having houses built for her. Fortunately, Mr. Fisher Johnson was a well-known, wealthy Wall Street banker. Sadly, the couple didn’t get to spend too much time at Onadune, since he died in 1915 and she in 1922. They rented Onadune to John D. Rockefeller in the summer of 1907, when the house was new, who apparently really loved the library in particular.

Onadune was eventually sold to someone called Edward de Clifford Chisholm, who was not so shockingly also a Wall Street banker. Even back then, an estate like Onadune required Wall Street-level money.

By the late 80s, Onadune was in a state of severe disrepair; new owners brought in local starchitect Peter Cook to bring the house back to its former glory. The place was last sold in 2006 for just over $15 million.

The original house, with its coveted third story, is in fine fettle; the original carriage house still exists with amenities we love like a wine room, dish room, and potting room. There’s also a pool house (designed by Peter Cook to match the main house) with living room, great kitchen, a bedroom, bath and laundry. In all, there are 14,000 square feet of living space on the estate, 11 bedrooms, 8 baths, and 3 half baths. Please, save a cold lemonade in the sunroom for us.

Heaven on Quimby Lane

25 Quimby Lane, Bridgehampton, is a classic summer home. It was originally built in 1902, but according to serial renovators Chris Mitchell and Pilar Guzmán, a media power couple, it had lost its soul. Every part that was authentically old had been replaced with a 1980s imitation.

Quimby Lane is one of the most prestigious addresses in the Hamptons. A certain Pink Floyd frontman lives there, for example. It takes its name from Edward Everett Quimby (1831-1902), who in 1874 came to spend the summer in Bridgehampton with his wife and six children as a tenant. This was just four years after the Long Island Rail Road was extended as far as Bridgehampton. Quimby was both a successful patent lawyer and a dealer of lightning rods. In 1893, he bought 32 acres of Bridgehampton land from the Sandford family at the lower end of Ocean Road, between it and Sagg Pond; a year later he bought more adjacent property, including along Ocean Road.

At first the Quimbys lived in an existing cottage, but as the six children grew up, got married and had children of their own, Mr. Quimby began subdividing his land, building a family compound along the shore over the next 15 years. The original driveway to the compound eventually became Quimby Lane.

Mitchell and Guzmán purchased 25 Quimby in February 2019 for $7.1 million, then began a huge restoration and renovation. They lifted the building and poured a new foundation and added a wing, so that the large house felt as though it had been added to over time.

Now, the 12,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom house is complete and listed with Frank Newbold and Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty for $28.5 million. On the 2.3 acres of land is a two-car garage, a studio building, a pool, a tennis court, and an “entertaining pavilion” by the tennis court.

Forever Pond Views

Actress Julianne Moore has sold her adorable Montauk cottage, right on Fort Pond, for the asking price of $2.85 million. Five years ago, her asking price for the 0.69-acre spread was $3.5 million, which seemed overpriced then.

The house is small, with three bedrooms and just one bath, but it’s really extremely charming, with craped barnwood floors and a small clawfoot tub in the bathroom. And the property is also extremely private, which is great when you’re an Academy Award winning actress. There’s also a saltwater Gunite pool overlooking the pond and a pool house. The lucky new owners can paddleboard or kayak from their backyard.

Listen to the Seashell

Joan Tutt, the founder of Seashell Real Estate located in Southampton is celebrating her milestone 40th anniversary this year of her boutique firm. Living on the East End for most of her adult life, Joan, along with her daughter Lorell Tutt, an associate broker with the firm, together represent over 60 years of experience and have earned the trust of numerous repeat clients over the years. Congratulations to Joan & Lori!

Ch Ch Changes

Yorgos Tsibiridis, a long-time top agent in the Hamptons, is now at Compass.

Having closed over $400M in sales, his creative approach whether listing a property or negotiating a deal, coupled with his impeccable customer service, hard work, and marketing skills make him a top performer and a true asset to his customers.

A native of Greece, Yorgos has lived and worked in several countries and speaks Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish, which serves him well when marketing a listing in the international markets, as well as understanding the needs of his international buyers.

Yorgos lives in Sag Harbor with his wife Alicia and two sons Athen and Julius. He is active in the local community where he serves on the Board of Education of Sag Harbor School District. When he is not consumed in the real estate world, you will find him cooking his favorite Greek dishes and collecting cutting-edge contemporary art.