Realty Check – Hot Sales and Listings

With A Dollop Of Hamptons Gossip

Hello and welcome to summer! As the weather warms up, is the Hamptons real estate market cooling? Yes and no. Prices are up, up, up, but inventory is down. Little inventory makes for fewer sales.

Go-Go Gansett

Sleepy old Amagansett, where oceanfront costs less than higher profile towns to the west, certainly seems to be heating up. To wit: one high-profile buy and another newsworthy listing.

The listing, for a $25 million oceanfront home at 2056 Montauk Highway, is with Kyle Rosko, Marcy Braun and Alexandra McDevitt of Douglas Elliman. Set on 2.4 acres of dunes, surrounded by nature, the elevation of the 8,200-square-foot home affords gorgeous views of both the ocean and Napeague Bay. Locals know that means both stunning sunrises and outstanding sunsets.

Custom-built by Joe Farrell, the great room includes a fireplace, a wet bar and doors overlooking the pool and deck. Five en suite bedrooms are on the first floor, along with a powder room and a laundry room. 

The upper level is where the magic happens, with stunning vistas of the ocean. There’s a living room and an oversized kitchen, along with a dining room. The master bedroom suite, with separate sitting room, is also on this level. There’s also a gym and bonus room.

Hello Again, Mickey

Veteran retail tycoon Mickey Drexler seems to have made a hobby of buying and selling high-end real estate. Of course, in our area, he’s best known for having purchased the Warhol/Church estate, Eothen, and then selling it to art collector Adam Lindesmann.

Having put his Tribeca townhouse on the market in November, he obviously can’t quit the Hamptons. He purchased an oceanfront home in Amagansett in an off-market, though not-so-secret, transaction valued at a cool $9.5 million. Martha Gundersen and Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman represented both sides in the transaction.

The plot, as is typical for the area, is just 0.67 of an acre. But unlike many other homes in the nabe, this property sports an oceanside pool.

The wood-clad and partially vine-encrusted contemporary home is pre-existing, non-conforming and set closer to the ocean than current zoning would allow, making it irreplaceable and unique. The property boasts over 110 feet of ocean frontage overlooked by a broad deck and a huge semicircular terrace. Welcome back, Mickey.

Despont Bids Aideu

Vaunted French architect and designer Thierry W. Despont, who’s designed homes for scads of billionaires has listed his own 34-acre estate, Rosewood Farm, in Southampton. The sprawling property incorporates the site of the original Southampton Riding and Hunt Club, built in the 1920s, and where young Jacqueline Bouvier rode. Asking $23.5 million, the property is repped by Harald Grant and Bruce Grant at Sotheby’s International Realty and Ed Petrie at Compass.

Despont, who worked on transforming the former Montauk home of Bernie Madoff, as well as the 1986 restoration of the Statue of Liberty, and a 2016 renovation of the Ritz Paris, also owns a 10,000-square-foot townhouse in Tribeca that popped up for sale last November at $25 million.

In Southampton, Despont paid a total of $8.55 million for three contiguous parcels between 2011 and 2013. That includes Rosewood Farm, the prior Southampton Riding Club, which spans about 11 acres, along with a 23-acre parcel, and another of just about half an acre. The half-acre plot includes a four-bedroom house, previously owned by fashion designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka, which Despont uses as a guesthouse.

Despont transformed Rosewood Farm’s largest barn into the estate’s main house, while two other barns were also converted, one to a garage and the other into a pool house next to the infinity pool. The grounds overlook another 50 acres of agricultural reserve. There’s room for a tennis court and the compound could also be subdivided back to its original trio of lots.

As for the interiors, they’re signature Despont. The primary suite takes up the entire second floor of the house; in all, there are 10 bedrooms, and 10 bathrooms, plus two half-baths, in about 9,500 square feet. The pool house offers a sauna and gym as well as a bathroom, while the guest house is luxuriously self-contained. All in all, a capacious, elegant getaway.

Farewell to Feiffer

The Hamptons is well known as a haven for fine artists but, in fact, the area has also been called home by many great cartoonists, including Charles Addams, Gahan Wilson, and Jules Feiffer.

Feiffer, who is now 93, has won many accolades in his eight decades of work, including the Pulitzer Prize. Feiffer has listed his house on Shelter Island, which he shares with wife JZ Holden. Set on over half an acre of land, the house borders 45 acres of preserve, which makes for peaceful, pastoral views of flora and fauna all year round. Asking $1.2 million, the sweet-shingled saltbox is repped by Dawn Watson at Douglas Elliman.

Built in 2016, the house features three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The owners’ suite is downstairs; upstairs is an additional bedroom, bathroom and bonus room. Of course, the walls are lined with books and original drawings, not to mention interesting midcentury furniture.

Outside, there is a relaxing deck overlooking the preserve and room for a pool. Make a deal, call a pool installer, and then go have an idyllic summer.

Old McGaynor Had a Farm

Mike and Kerry Gaynor are among the best boutique developers in the Hamptons today. Their signature touch is delivering plenty of farmlike features on a small footprint, in an exquisitely tasteful package. To wit, their newest endeavor, Shelter Island Farm. Set on just two acres, the property offers a myriad of high-end bucolic features and has just come up for grabs, listed by Jennifer C. Wilson and Treacy Cotter at Saunders, asking $13.75 million.

For that, a new owner gets a newly constructed four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot farmhouse, an assortment of hand-hewn heavy timber barns, pool and pool house, wildflower gardens, an apple orchard, lavender gardens edged with willow hurdles, and more. Next to the farm is 400 forever protected acres of land, with farm meadows, estuaries, woods and pathways. 

As is typical for the Gaynors, all the materials, fixtures, and fittings are first-rate. Enter the main house through the custom Dutch front door. Shiplap paneling was hand-milled on site. There is also 8-inch-wide white oak flooring throughout. Just off the kitchen is a large mudroom and entryway, with more custom barn doors. On the second level is a 1,020-square-foot master suite with breakfast/wet bar, its own ensuite laundry room and a large private deck overlooking the pastoral grounds. 

The lower level of the home includes a walk out guest suite with a living room/entertainment area, a wet bar with two Subzero under counter refrigerators and an ice maker, and carriage doors that lead out to a patio with a hot tub. 

As for the outbuildings, they are there for fun. The heavy barn has space for horse stalls, a large car collection, or for three more bedrooms, and currently includes a powder room. At the head of the Gunite pool, the pool house boasts a zinc top bar with a kegerator and a tap, ice maker, dishwasher and a beverage center, a powder room and an outdoor shower. There is also another barn with Adirondack seating around the firepit and an Airstream camper. Not enough space? Want to graze horses? An adjacent 2-acre parcel is available separately for sale. 

CH-CH-CHANGES 

Lynn Deeg of Brown Harris Stevens is a Licensed Associate Broker with 27+ years of experience practicing and managing a Successful Real Estate business. Having established an exceptional record of success and foundation of experience, she specializes in residential real estate, new construction, and real estate investments. Refined skills in marketing, communication, negotiation, and social media promotions have resulted in continuous awards and testimonials acclaiming her accomplishments. Lynn’s greatest satisfaction is truly enjoying the process of selling or buying a home with her clients and ensuring that doing so is a pleasurable and satisfying experience. Lynn lives by Noyac Bay in Sag Harbor. Her family are local business owners for many years. Aside from real estate, Lynn’s passions are family, boating, cooking, entertaining, socializing, and dancing.