Realty Check

Hot Sales & Listings…With a Dollop of Hamptons Gossip!

BY BARBARA BAKER

Good Scoop

Actress Candice Bergen and her husband, real estate developer Marshall Rose, have put their East Hampton home on the market for $18 million. The circa-1900 shingle-style traditional has been reimagined (twice) by architect Jacquelin T. Robertson — once for Rose and his late wife, Jill, and then again in 2004 a few years after Rose and Bergen got married. The couple owns a slate of real estate, including an apartment in Manhattan and a home in Los Angeles. Praised by Architectural Digest in 2007 as “a tribute to Long Island architecture,” the classic gabled 4,500 square-foot main home, which features six bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths, was designed as a year-round retreat. The 1.8-acre property also features a pool, complementary guesthouse and extensive casual gardens. Quite close to the beach, the five-time Emmy winner, best known for her role as television’s “Murphy Brown,” is frequently spotted out and about with her prized dogs. Edward Petrie of Compass is representing the listing.

Big Number

Philanthropist and former advertising executive Marcia Riklis has put her “Mylestone” oceanfront mansion in Southampton on the market for a whopping $175 million. The property, located at 700 Meadow Lane and which, according to public records, is home to the Marcia Riklis Family Foundation, is sited on 8 acres and comes with 500 feet of frontage. Previously offered as a $2.5 million summer rental, the property is next door to Calvin Klein’s former home, purchased for $84 million last year by hedge-funder Ken Griffin. The listing is currently represented by Bespoke Real Estate. The large swath of land extends from the Shinnecock Bay to the ocean and comes with a bayside- and ocean-facing oversized pool and pool pavilion, walkways to both bodies of water, a basketball court, and a 15,521-square-foot home. Inside the European-style villa, which was built in 2005, there are eight fireplaces, 11 bedrooms, 12 full and four-half baths, gym and media room. Riklis is the daughter of former billionaire corporate raider Meshulam Riklis. The originator of leveraged buyouts, he is best known for marrying and promoting Pia Zadora as actress.

Number One

Harald Grant, Senior Global Real Estate Advisor and associate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty, has been named their #1 broker nationwide for 2020. With the Sotheby’s Southampton office for over 25 years, Harald has consistently ranked among the top ten agents nationally for several years. He currently maintains well over a half-billion dollars in listings, including a $150 million 14-acre oceanfront on Southampton’s Meadow Lane; the Redcraft Estate, the Puffin Hall Estate, and Wyandanch House, all in Southampton Village. Harald says, “I achieved the top broker nationwide for Sotheby’s international Realty for highest volume of sales…I was very surprised, but it falls back to work ethic. Bruce and I have never stopped working 24/7. Over the years that work ethic combined with honesty has helped me reach the success that I have achieved.”

A Steal!

Bernie Madoff’s former Montauk manse is for sale for $17.9 million, down from its former price of $21 million when it hit the market a few years back. The 1.5-acre gated waterfront at 216 Old Montauk Highway comes with a generous 180 feet of frontage, a one-of-a-kind modern shingle-style home by world-renowned architect Thierry Despont and a super-close-to-the-ocean location that would no longer be allowed for building under today’s zoning laws. The rare bluff-top property was purchased from the federal government back in 2009 for $9.1 million by producer Daryl Roth and her husband, developer Steve Roth, and the funds were distributed to some of Madoff’s investment scam victims. The imprisoned fraudster and his wife, Ruth, reportedly paid $250,000 for the property when they bought it back in 1980. Now listed with Chris Coleman and Ed Petrie of Compass, the property is sited on a flag log and boasts an ocean-facing freeform pool and lots of privacy. Standout features at the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath home include ocean views throughout, a two-story great room with soaring stone fireplace, chef’s kitchen, owner’s suite with deck, an open-air gym that abuts the pool and overlooks the sandy beach and ocean, and numerous outdoor gathering and entertaining spaces.

Illuminating the Past

Also new to the market is Meadowcroft, the last remaining Long Island home designed by the noted architect and House & Garden magazine founder Wilson Eyre. Listed for $13 million with Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman, the circa-1904 Arts and Crafts-style estate at 767 Montauk Highway in Quiogue was built by Eyre just past the turn of the century for industrialist Theodore Conklin. The 6.91-acre waterfront estate features a 9,000-square-foot home with eight bedrooms and seven-and-a-half baths, and lighting by Louis Comfort Tiffany, a friend of Conklins, whose business was around the corner from T.E. Conklin Brass & Copper on Lafayette Street in lower Manhattan. Tiffany used Conklin’s metal fabrications in brass and bronze for his famed lamps. In addition to the Tiffany lighting, the home still features the original woodwork, hardware and other touches — including the original 1904-engraved door knocker and the original double-swing carriage doors, a number of custom / bespoke fireplaces and 100-plus-year-old rhododendrons. Notable amenities include a brick-ceilinged basement; a red clay roof, with tiles that were imported from France; oversized swimming pool that overlooks the bay; a dock; wine cellar, movie screening room, billiards room + outdoor billiard table; gym, staff quarters with separate entrance; a small cottage and accessory buildings. Conklin’s great grandson, Ted Conklin, owns the famed American Hotel in Sag Harbor. Five generations of the Conklin family gathered, sailed, played and lived at the mansion, sited on Quantuck Bay, before selling it in 1989. The estate is also the focus of the book “Meadowcroft: A Century of Elegance in the Hamptons” by Michael McKenzie. It’s also featured in the seminal East End architectural history book, “Houses of the Hamptons: 1880 – 1930” by Gary Lawrance and Anne Surchin.

Don’t Come Fly With Me

Amazon has set its sites on Westhampton Beach, and it’s looking more and more likely that the deal is progressing. According to reports, the massive e-tailer is in talks to build a 91,000-square-foot “last mile” distribution hub at the Hamptons Business District at Francis S. Gabreski Airport. Southampton Town officials have tasked consultants to conduct an air traffic study, while noting that any tenant of the industrial park, which is owned by Rechler Equity Partners, is prohibited from using the adjacent air base for airfreight deliveries. Amazon submits that the hub would be used for off-peak tractor-trailer and van delivery services. Gabreski, a joint civil-military airport — which is host to the Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing, and services private planes, recreational planes and helicopters — is owned by Suffolk County.

Par for the Course

It looks like East Quogue is getting closer and closer to getting a golf course community. Recently approved by the Central Pine Barrens Commission, the Discovery Land Company project would allow for an 18-hole private course with recreational facilities and 118 housing units, all configured on the 588-acre site. Formerly called “The Hills” and now named “The Lewis Road Residential Planned Development,” the proposal has been blasted by critics, who say that building in the Pine Barrens violates the Pine Barrens Protection Act, particularly as it relates to aquifer protection. In response, Discovery has promised a treatment plant built on site would remove approximately 80-percent of the nitrogen from the community, making it the first nitrogen-negative development on Long Island. In order to progress further, the project still needs to meet with approvals from Southampton Town and Suffolk County. According to the site specifications, 65-percent of the land, which is approximately 400 acres, must be secured as preserved open space in order to be approved.

• 

• 

Ch-Ch-Changes

Town & Country Real Estate welcomes Elizabeth Choe to its North Fork operations. Based in the brokerage’s Mattituck office, Choe is a hot yoga practitioner who loves to travel, surf and snowboard. She and her family, including their beloved Shih Tzu, Buster, live in a “fixer upper” that they have renovated.

Sotheby’s International Realty welcomes top-producing agent Mary Terry to its Southampton office. A former teacher and director of food services for Stony Brook Southampton, the East End native is from one of the region’s founding families.