Hamptons home market starts 2019 in a slump, Andy Cohen closes on Amagansett property purchase & more real estate news from the East End

Clockwise from top left: Hamptons home market starts 2019 in a slump, a former ballerina's waterfont Bridghampton home heads to contract with a lowered $34M ask, $1K-a-night 'Great Gatsby' home in Bridgehampton is offered up by Airbnb for just $17 and a new eatery prepares to open in a famous Water Mill diner whose former owner Richard Bivona pleaded guilty to fraud charges for keeping pay from workers.
Clockwise from top left: Hamptons home market starts 2019 in a slump, a former ballerina's waterfont Bridghampton home heads to contract with a lowered $34M ask, $1K-a-night 'Great Gatsby' home in Bridgehampton is offered up by Airbnb for just $17 and a new eatery prepares to open in a famous Water Mill diner whose former owner Richard Bivona pleaded guilty to fraud charges for keeping pay from workers.

Hamptons home sales market starts 2019 in a slump
The number of Hamptons homes that sold during the first three months in 2019 fell nearly 20 percent when compared to the same time in 2018, the lowest mark in seven years and a sign of a general downturn in the market, according to first quarter data released by Douglas Elliman. The number of home sales has been steadily declining since the end of 2017, while inventory has risen sharply during the past two quarters. The past few months saw inventory spike 87.8 percent, to 2,407, compared with the same time a year ago. The median sales price dropped 5.5 percent year-over-year, to $850,000, but nearly 15 percent from the $995,00 it hit during the fourth quarter of 2018. The average sales price dipped a little more than 3 percent, to almost $1.63 million, from the same time in 2018. There are, however, some bright spots.

“The Hamptons market is skewing to the low end, with high sales activity [below $1 million] and the lowest number of sales at or above $10 million in six years,” said a statement from Elliman’s Hamptons vice president Carl Benincasa. “With a sharp rise in listing inventory, buyers are going to have more options as we head into the spring and summer… we may see some pent-up demand start to affect sales in the coming quarters.” Hamptons homes are also moving quicker, spending about 10 percent fewer days on the market than they would have at the beginning of 2018 and nearly 30 percent fewer days than they did at the end of 2019. In the luxury market, where the Hamptons have had some of the priciest home sales in the country, the median sales price rose 18.2 percent year-over-year, to $6.56 million, a metric that was still 16.4 percent lower than the end of 2018. Luxury inventory also swelled to 869, a 77.7 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2018 and a whopping 191.6 percent rise from the first quarter of last year. [Douglas Elliman]

Andy Cohen closes on empty Amagansett oceanfront property
Bravo talk show host and reality television extraordinaire Andy Cohen has closed on his purchase of an oceanfront Amagansett property with the final price landing at $5.4 million, according to 27east. The vacant parcel at 161 Marine Boulevard originally listed for $7.25 million in 2018, but had its price recently chopped down to $5.9 million before it finally settled about $500,000 lower. Fellow screen star Sarah Jessica Park apparently helped Cohen pick the place, according to Behind the Hedges. With 125 feet of frontage on the Atlantic Ocean, the vacant plot spans about about half an acre. The land already has permits in place for a house with a deck and walkway to the beach. Cindy Shea of Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing. Cohen, who welcomed a new son in February, has long been a resident of Sag Harbor. [27east]

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Waterfont Bridghampton home in contract after $3M price cut
The former Bridgehampton home of legendary ballerina Sono Osato on the lip of Sagg Pond has gone into contract after its asking price was lowered to $34 million, according to Behind the Hedges. The 7,200-square-foot home at 286 Quimby Lane first hit the market seeking $37 million in March 2018, but had its price cut last month. The home has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, a tennis court, a pool and 300 feet of frontage. Osato, who died in December at 99, was the first dancer to join the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo. She danced with the American Ballet Theatre and played Ivy Smith in the first production of “On the Town.” Her son said at the time that the family wanted to offload the property because Osato couldn’t use it as often as she liked. Deborah Srb of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. [Behind the Hedges]

$1K-a-night ‘Gatsby’ Bridgehampton home offered up for $17
Airbnb has offered up for a mere $17-a-night a Bridgehampton villa that normally goes for $1,000, Long Island Business News reported. Billed as something out of “The Great Gatsby,” the deal is part of the online hospitality platform’s campaign to rent out homes meant to evoke various literary classics, according to USA Today. Ten hosts around the world agreed to rent their homes at the $17 rate for dates during May, June and July. Potential renters can rent the 6,200-square-foot Bridgehampton home from May 10 to May 12 and May 17 to May 19. The East End estate, which sits on 1.5 manicured acres, has six bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a home theater, a game room with a billiards table, a pool and a backyard patio, according to its listing. Other homes that are part of the Airbnb deal include a historic barn in Maine meant to evoke “Charlotte’s Web,” an English estate for “Pride and Prejudice” and a modest Swedish home like Pippi Longstocking’s, among others. [LIBN]

Iconic Water Mill diner gets new name, tenant after scandal
City slickers heading to the Hamptons will see a new eatery when the make the turn from Country Road 39 onto Montauk Highway in Water Mill this summer. Silver Lining Diner plans to open in June at the former site of Princess Diner, only a few months after the former establishment’s tenant-owner was put behind bars for scheming to defraud and failing to pay a collective $132,011 to 23 of his workers, 27east reported. Marc and Eric Miller, the former owners of Bay Kitchen Bar in East Hampton, announced they plan to open their new diner in June. The Charos family, which owns the Water Mill property at 32 Montauk Highway, bought the site in the 1960s. Richard Bivona took over the diner from John Kalogeras and his family in August 2016. He kept Kalogeras on as the manager and together the duo not only withheld pay from staff, but threatened workers and their families who asked for compensation, according to the East Hampton Star. Prosecutors said that along with not paying his workers, Bivona threatened them and their families when they asked for their back pay. Bivona was sentenced in December to six months in jail. Kalogeras was sentenced and released. Since then, workers have been gutting the Princess Diner, readying it for its new tenant. [27east]