Realty Check -Latest Hamptons Real Estate News

Saved by the Town
Topping Farm in Sagaponack, one of the Hamptons’ most glorious properties, is being purchased by the town of Southampton. Well, 12 acres anyway.  The rest of the 16 acre parcel is being held onto by the seller as a potential building lot. The sale prevents builders from swooping in and developing the three-acre zone. The price of the land, currently being used to farm potatoes and distill vodka, was $1M an acre.

Move Over Airbnb
Another vacation home-rental company is eyeing the Hamptons, according to the New York Post. And with a recent infusion of $103.5M it has more than enough moolah to make giant ripples in the market. More full service than its competitors, the Portland Oregon-based Vacasa not only manages the rentals and reservations for its wealthy homeowners, it also provides housekeeping and maintenance services. “Over the past year, the company expanded to Hawaii, Tennessee, Montana and South Carolina by becoming a licensed real estate agency in those markets.”

Wood and Glass
Bridgehampton’s Blaze Makoid Architecture has just snagged two 2017 Archi Award commendations. While one was for a California residence, the other was for a house on Old Orchard Lane in East Hampton. In an innovative move the firm inserted a “tube” to bisect the structure, creating an entry above the floor and setting up visual alignment with a pool house. It also installed small glass bridges to keep with its wood and glass theme and meant to contrast warmly with the cool aluminum skin of the building.

Hold the Anchovies
Anthony Sbarro has sold his Southampton estate for its last asking price of $24M. The two-acre spread on Pleasant Lane in the Murray compound with a 15,700 square-foot, 9 bedroom house had asked $32 million in 2016. He purchased the property for $10.26M in 2014. The house, which was one of the last projects of late architect Frances Fleetwood, features a dance studio – we’re not quite sure why as the owner never lived in the property – instead moving into a waterfront property he bought afterward. Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty brought the buyer. Listing agents were Erica Grossman and Michaela Keszler of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Fallen Mighty
We recently reported that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had put his 9,000 square-foot Amagansett house on the market for $12M. In less time than you can say “Keep your hands off me!” the beleaguered titan has pulled the property, listed only in July, off the market. Maybe he’ll keep it as a refuge from the tsunami of negative press.

Pearls Before Swine
A series of oyster farms is ruining the seascapes, claim some homeowners on Gardiner’s Bay in Amagansett. As 5 and 10 acre areas have been relegated to floating aquaculture from Promised Land to Devon and extending to the Napeague Harbor Inlet, according to the East Hampton Star, residents feel “blindsided.”  Members of the Devon Yacht Club have also complained to the county, which issues the leases, about “vested property rights, historical access, and far-reaching navigability, among other issues.” But, say proponents, such farms are actually a boon to both the local water quality – bivalves not only filter the water that passes through them, but also augment the spawning potential of native populations – and shellfish industry.

Blowin’ in the Wind
Southampton Town is taking a small step toward eliminating those noise-polluting gas-powered leaf blowers that are the bane of Hamptonites’ ears. “The town’s Parks Department has been working in cooperation with Quiet Communities, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that is focused on protecting the environment by reducing the nation’s reliance on noisy and polluting industrial-grade outdoor maintenance equipment,” according to 27 East. “We have to lead by example if we expect landscapers to switch to electric,” Councilwoman Christine Scalera told the paper. The town’s goal is to transform all town-maintained parks and grounds into Green Zones – where maintenance is completed using quiet and emissions-free electric equipment or manual techniques (think rakes). The town is following the lead of the East Quogue Village Green, which was designated as the first Certified Green Zone outside of California this past Spring.

1947 Sag Harbor Update
Media power couple Bill Wackermann, CEO of top model agency Wilhelmina International (and former publisher of Conde Nast Traveler), and Mark Tevis, publisher of the Daily Front Row Group, have put their Sag Harbor home on the market for $3.1 million, according to Gimme Shelter in the New York Post. The vintage 4 bedroom, 4 bath 1947 clapboard farmhouse at 182 Hampton Street has been renovated in a “chic modern” style and includes a formal dining room, new pool and pool cabana on just shy of an acre. Cee Scott Brown and Jack Pearson of The Corcoran Group have the listing.

New Arrival
The current chairman and former CEO of J. Crew, Mickey Drexler, has listed his two-acre Wainscott property bordering Wainscott Pond and the ocean for $21.5M. With 315 feet of beach and wraparound decks the three bedroom home boasts magnificent views and is one of the hamlet’s handful of oceanfront properties. This is not the first time the native New Yorker has dabbled in Hamptons real estate. In 2015, Drexler sold Andy Warhol’s former Montauk estate for $50 million, which set a record. Listed with Paul Brennan and Ronald White of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.