Realty Check – June Edition

Hamptons Hyperbole
“Say hello to the first $2 million summer rental!” So read Crain’s New York Business about an 8,000 square foot manse in Amagansett. Amagansett? It’s a nice place but hardly a locale for such an eye-popping price. So we checked Crain’s link to the property on HREO. Let’s just say somebody added an extra zero. The house is asking $225,000 for the summer. Not that we can fault the reporter (too much). There are, as we go to press, three oceanfront properties in East Hampton going for $1.6 million for the summer, and one in Southampton for $1.85 million that touts its location as a “short walk to the beach.” A look at the map indicates that the property just misses abutting Lake Agawam and is quite a hike to the ocean. P.S. After going to press with the above item, Crain’s saw the error of its ways and printed a retraction.

Milwaukin’ Outta Here
After hightailing it out of town last year to coach the Milwaukee Bucks, former Brooklyn Nets head coach, Jason Kidd, has further severed his local ties by selling his Water Mill home. The asking price for the two-acre plot with a 5,500 square-foot house on Flying Point Road was $6.795 million, but it netted $7.1. The listing broker was Matthew Breitenbach of Douglas Elliman’s new global sports and entertainment division.

Madonna Alert
We all know that Madonna purchased a 58-acre horse farm from Kelly Klein on Bridgehampton’s Mitchell’s Lane a few years ago. Well, the New York Post has reported that she’s finally moved into a mansion she’s just completed building there. And there may be Madonna sightings ahead, as the paper proclaims, “The pop songstress will be ensconced there for the summer.” But don’t get your selfie stick out just yet. A “spy” told the Post that the material girl “never goes out.”

Six Acre Special
The editors of Architectural Digest have selected a handful of “extraordinary homes for sale around the world,” which features a Tinseltown mansion built in 1934 by movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn ($39 million) to an 18th century Tuscan villa with 18 bedrooms ($27.9 million). And, of course, a Hamptons’ property: Further Lane Farm. The house on the almost six-acre compound with “sweeping views over 41 acres of protected farm reserve” was built in 2010 –designed by architect John Murray and decorated by interior designer Victoria Hagen ($29.9 million).

Farewell Francis
Francis Fleetwood, 68, the Stanford White-influenced architect who single-handedly changed the housescape of the South Fork, died at his home in Wellington, Fla. in May. Known for his sprawling post-modern edifices, Fleetwood brought Hamptons Gilded Age shingle style back into vogue in the 1980s and ‘90s, building habitats for the likes of Paul McCartney, Alec Baldwin and Calvin Klein. An avid sportsman and photographer, he had just returned from a photographic jaunt to Patagonia.

Lovely Landmark
You can purchase a piece of authentic old-world Hamptons’ charm in the Southampton Village home that once belonged to iconic South Fork painter Fairfield Porter. The half-acre property with a six-bedroom, 4,700-square-foot white clapboard cottage graced by a wonderful front porch is asking $6.25 million. But please don’t tear it down.

Renovation vs. Resistance
We think that there can’t be too many good restaurants in the Hamptons. So we’re looking forward to the 60-seat one planned for the The Breakers in Montauk. The motel hasn’t served food since the ‘60s when Madge and Bob Schneiderman were the proprietors. Now the current owners, the Schneiderman’s kids—Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman and his sister, Helen Ficalora, the jewelry designer—plan to renovate the space, which has gone unused for decades. It wouldn’t be Montauk, where residents suffer from Surf Lodge-itis, if someone didn’t object. A neighbor of the property has hired a lawyer to quash building permits for the project. Her lawyer says: “The de facto use of the restaurant in the 1950s and ’60s is irrelevant.” We think that the plan to sell healthy light food, mostly to the establishment’s guests, is a bit of all right.

A Quiet Chopper?
Last year there were 13,200 helicopter takeoffs and landings at tiny East Hampton airport–generating noise that some have equated with “Apocalypse Now.” (Will someone do the math on how many blade rotations that is?) While East Hampton’s town board has placed chopper traffic curfews and restrictions, their opponents have temporarily put the kibosh on them. So we’re happy to hear that Gotham Air will be introducing its Bell 407GX helicopter fleet, which it calls its “quiet Hamptons helicopters” and likens the noise level to that of a lawnmower. Now, if only Ira Rennert, whose duo of choppers are known to shuttle back and forth daily, would purchase a pair.

Unrest at the Canal
Trouble is brewing in Hampton Bays where Rechler Equity plans a maritime development district where they will transform the derelict Canoe Place Inn into a conference and catering hall and build 37 townhouses on the Shinnecock Canal.

But a group called Shinnecock Neighbors have filed suit in New York State Supreme Court to overturn the town’s approval of the high-density project. Local residents fear deterioration of water quality and “Up-Island urbanization.” Gee, what else is new?

Ferry to the L.I.E.
A new high-speed ferry service, the Sea Jitney will pick up passengers on East 35th Street in Manhattan and shuttle them through the Long Island Sound to Port Jefferson where the Hampton Jitney will be waiting. The trip to Southampton will take about 3 ½ hours total, according to Seastreak, which is providing the vessels. Good timing if there’s traffic. And consider this: you’ll be sipping cocktails from the ship’s deck instead of containing your road rage.

New Digs
Drum roll please… On May 23, Saunders had a grand opening for their new East Hampton office, on Montauk Highway at the entrance to the village. The 5,200 square-foot gambrel-roof building is grand indeed, with an imposing staircase and posh sitting area inside. Congratulations!