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Realty Check

Hot Sales and Listings with a Dollop of Hamptons Gossip

Hello and welcome to autumn, everyone! Pull up a chair with a donut and a hot cup of apple cider (preferably from the Milk Pail) and let’s chat about some late summer transactions.

As seen in 2020, the property at 1116 Meadow Lane recently sold for $48M Harald Grant, Sotheby’s International Realty. Photo: Richard Taverna

Big Off-Market Deals

As usual, there are several exceptional sales, which are likely to make this year’s top ten lists. Sadly, for us looky-loos, many of them seem to happen off-market these days. Now how much fun is that, folks? Sheesh. First up is a $48 million deal on, of course, Meadow Lane (aka “Billionaires Row”). The property at 1116 Meadow Lane, which used to belong to electronic dance music mogul Robert X. Sillerman, which spans 3.6 acres with 200 linear feet of ocean frontage, was sold in 2014 for $37.5 million. The land was sold again in 2020, for $36 million, to an anonymous buyer who former listing agent Tim Davis of Corcoran said planned to develop the land. And that someone did just that. The plum dunescape now features a fabulous new house and all new landscaping. Harald Grant at Sotheby’s was responsible for this latest off-market deal.

According to notes from the village of Southampton Architectural Review Board planning meeting site, “Tom Kligerman from Ike, Kligerman and Barkley is the architect, Ed Hollander is the landscape architect and Thom Lawrence from Bulgin and Associates is the contractor. This is a traditional with a modern twist. It is shingle style, Alaskan yellow cedar, which will weather gray, the trim and windows, are painted white wood; the masonry will be white brick.”

Judging from other designs on IKB’s website, the house is no doubt a stunner, and Ed Hollander is of course well known for his outstanding landscape designs. And with all those acres, there’s plenty of room for a large oceanside pool and a sunken tennis court, which are sure to be added.

Another very recent off-market sale was that of 194 Meadowlark Lane in Bridgehampton for $37.5 million. The sellers were the Pamela Murphy Trust and Estate of Judith Shafran, while the buyer was a usual anonymous LLC. The sale included 4.1 luscious acres right on Sagg Pond, with beautiful ocean views, with a house described in records at about 7,400 square feet. Can you hear the sound of distant bulldozers? We can.

Giddyap 

Also in Bridgehampton, agent/developer Christopher Burnside at Brown Harris Stevens is working on a new equestrian community called Windy Hill Farm, slated to boast seven luxury residences to cost between $8 to $10 million. The community will include a homeowner’s association and 13 acres of preserved open space for trotting around with one’s prized nags. A pasture will be included for them as well. Of course, Bridgehampton is known for equestrian properties, and is comparable to Wellington, Florida, when it comes to horse properties. The 23-acre subdivided farm is located on Windy Hill Lane, and an allée of specimen trees will greet homeowners. Hampton Pointe Construction is due to break ground on the first house by the end of September.

Windy Hill Farm Listed with Christopher Burnside, Brown Harris Stevens

Yes, to Fire Island!

Fire Island is a very special place, even to those of us jaded by the Hamptons. Wait? No horrific traffic? What’s that about? Each area feels like a real hometown community, welcoming in an old-fashioned kind of way. And the prices tend to be quite a bit lower than out east. So, it’s not surprising that many folks interested in a second home are taking a fresh look at this beguiling area, and prices are shooting up. Until now, most real estate has been sold by small local firms, but Brown Harris Stevens has now stuck a flag in its white sand beaches. BHS top agent Glenn Rice has, for more than 23 years, worked at some of New York City’s largest real estate firms before launching his own independent brokerage service. He has also lived and worked on Fire Island for the past four years.

Glenn Rice of Brown Harris Stevens

BHS’s Executive Sales Director Robert Nelson says, “Fire Island is a natural extension of our Hamptons operation because as oceanside, largely seasonal communities, they both cater to similar buyers, sellers, renters, and lifestyles. Glenn has the local knowledge and vast network to provide an exceptional real estate experience across Fire Island’s many unique locations.” Rice says, “I am thrilled to bring the Brown Harris Stevens brand to Fire Island where there is a real need for an established real estate company with local, national, and global reach. Fire Island is such a welcoming place — and I believe undervalued as far as real estate goes. Homes right on the beach are a fraction of what you’d pay on the mainland and points east.” He’s absolutely correct. Good luck to him and to all his fortunate buyers.

Historic Springs

It’s not often that a property that’s been in a local family for hundreds of years is for sale, and yet the lovely old Parsons Farm on Springs Fireplace Road is now available. The historic homestead has come available via listing agents Jenny Landey and Zack Dayton at Sotheby’s International Realty at $6.97 million.

Parsons Farm, East Hampton Listed with Jenny Landey & Zack Dayton, Sotheby’s International Realty. Photo: New York 90

Parsons is a name that echoes down the centuries since the founding of the Long Island town of East Hampton. In 1676, for example, the then governor of New York demanded that all new settlers to the area be allowed thirty acres of land. A number of local landowners complained, among them Samuel Parsons. By 1880, when this farmhouse was built for Julius Parsons, seven generations of Parsons had already lived in East Hampton.

A former working farm, the almost 11-acre property on which Julius’s house sits is one of the largest parcels of land available in Springs. The property is being sold by Julius’s great-grandsons, Cleon Dodge and Carter Dodge, who lived in the house as children and inherited it in 2008 upon the passing of their mother, Mary Louise Edwards Dodge.

Besides horses, cows, pigs and chickens, the farm also had a blacksmith shop and an icehouse. Julius also kept the Springs General Store, which is just around the corner. The store, which opened in 1847, is where Jackson Pollack, who lived nearby, once traded a painting for groceries. Still considered the heart of the hamlet, it was sold just this summer.

The Parsons Farm on Springs Fireplace Road was self-sufficient. There was plenty of trees to chop down for firewood and several nearby bays and inlets for fishing and clamming. The Parsons family also did business with the Gardiner family on their island. Springs Fireplace Road got its name because of the freshwater spring that feeds what’s known locally as Pussy’s Pond, after a woman who was known as Pussy Parsons, and because in an era without telephones, a fire would be built on the beach at the end of the road to signal boats to come or go from Gardiner’s Island.

Of course, any new owner will want to make some (and probably significant) upgrades and modernizations. However, the property is located in a historic district so exterior renovations and additions are subject to review by the town. Many locals, who include lots of Parsons and their descendants, hope the next owners will celebrate the history of the property as they create their own new legacy compound for future generations.

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