Hamptons Cheat Sheet: Matt Lauer sells cottage, Polish royalty buys in Sag Harbor … & more

Beyonce, Matt Lauer and developer Joe Farrell's Sandcastle in Bridghampton
Beyonce, Matt Lauer and developer Joe Farrell's Sandcastle in Bridghampton

Matt Lauer sells Southampton cottage for $3.5M

Matt Lauer’s waterfront shack went for $3.5 million, short of his original asking price of $3.95 million. The “Today” host first listed the 1,800-square-foot home in July after buying Richard Gere’s ginormous Strongheart Manor in the Sag Harbor area. It may pale in comparison with the $36.5 million six-acre estate, but this three-bedroom home isn’t so shabby. It features a living room with cathedral ceilings, an enclosed porch, and a wraparound deck. Lauer’s nearby Bright Mill Farm is also on the market for $17 million. [Variety]

Sagaponack Village defers to the courts to get joint property owners to play nice

If all else fails, procrastinate. That’s the approach of the Sagaponack Village Board in dealing with two conflicting subdivision applications for the 44-acre oceanfront farm. The majority owner, entrepreneur Marc Goldman, said he has been trying to build a house on this land since 2001, but has run into a ridiculous multitude of roadblocks, courtesy of village officials.

Farmland on Daniels Road (Credit: Google Earth)

But now, he’s also at odds with Milton Berlinski, to whom he sold a portion of the land in 2005. Berlinski, an investment firm executive, has since turned in his own application for subdividing the entire property, and the two are duking it out in New York State Supreme Court. Sagaponack board members are tabling the issue until next week, when they hope the State Supreme Court will have a verdict over which owner has the authority to submit land use applications. It’s not been easy for Goldman — at least not according to his 2,000-word diatribe against the Sagaponack Village Board published in the New York Observer in 2015. That same year, he planted thousands of Christmas trees on the property at 451 Daniels Lane, blocking the public’s view of the open farmland, in what some say was an act of revenge against the municipality. [27East]

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Beyonce and Jay-Z’s summer home could be yours for $25 per minute

The active rental listing goes for $500,000 for two weeks, or $24.80 per minute. On the plus side, this 31,000-square-foot mansion — about half the size of a football field — has a two-lane bowling alley, its own half-pipe, a rock-climbing wall, and a theater with not one but five screens. Totally worth it. [Curbed]

Sag Harbor now home to Polish royalty

Montauk may be the new Jersey Shore, but Sag Harbor seems to be retaining its demographical prestige. Case in point? Its latest newcomer is the widow of Count Zygmunt Zamoyski of Poland. The Patricia Zamoyski Trust shelled out $2.05 million for a 1,200-square-foot Bungalow On Howard Street, 27East reported. The modest — but presumably regal — home has two bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a hot tub, French doors and a second-floor balcony that overlooks a garden and stone fountain. The Count, who died in 2012, was a school teacher in England known for “harmless eccentricity,” according to the Telegraph. He married Patricia Grobow, an American, in 2005 and spent his last years in Sag Harbor. [27East]

Estate of JPMorgan vet and East Hampton model citizen sells for $7.1M

One of South Fork’s most storied estates has been passed off for $7.1 million, 27East reported. The classic Hamptons shingle-style house on Georgica Road, with three bedrooms and 3,800 square feet of living space, used to be the home of the late Norborne Berkeley Jr. Berkeley was formerly headed Chemical NY Corp., a firm that would eventually become JPMorgan. Active in the East Hampton community, he was also a member of the Maidstone Club and National Golf Links in Southampton before his death in 2011. [27East]