Steve Kasuba and 2095 Montauk Highway

Well-known hospitality publicist and Hamptons regular Steve Kasuba has teamed up with restaurateur and longtime friend Alex Duff to open new restaurant Banzai Burger at 2095 Montauk Highway in Amagansett, Kasuba said. The casual, “après-beach” spot is slated to open July 4.
Having recently signed a 15-year lease for an undisclosed amount, this is Kasuba’s first foray into this side of the business, though he has regularly worked on the east end of Long Island. “I do a lot of things in Montauk and the Hamptons in general,” he said. “I just love being out there.”
The 3,000-square-foot space, at S Strong Avenue, seats 100 people inside and outside and will serve burgers, sushi and casual fare. “It’s an ode to the beach,” Duff said,” and the way of life here. We want to appeal to everyone.” — Katherine Clarke [more]

With the Hamptons summer season around the corner, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, a “Real Housewife” of the New York varietal, has swung wide the doors of her Amagansett home, offering a sneak peak into her beachy decorating style. Among the keys to her decorating style are vintage chandeliers, hardwood floors with high-gloss paint and kid-friendly playrooms. The theme of the design, as Bensimon explained is “bringing nature” into your home.

Fashion mogul Elie Tahari is reportedly looking to unload two residential properties in the Hamptons, as part of a massive sell off of properties, according to the Post. The two homes are a $6.8 million Amagansett property and a yet-to-be-priced Sagaponack home that he purchased for $13.5 million, the first of which, a five-bedroom pad, was purchased in his wife, Rory’s, name. The news comes on the heels of widespread speculation that the couple is considering ending its 10-year marriage.

Word has broken that the 1.9 acres of vacant land neighboring Paul McCartney’s Amagansett home has been purchased. The tree-heavy lot closed for $900,000 two months ago, under the vague alias “Amagansett Real Estate Investment Corp.”

Views of the Amagansett compound on Dune Lane

A $13 million oceanfront Amagansett residential compound at 55 Dune Lane and 61 Dune Lane has hit the market. The property includes a 2,200-square-foot house and a 700-square-foot cottage with a 600-square-foot attached garage, which has been transformed into a living space. Dawn Neway, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman whose listings include a nearly $20 million, 25,000-square-foot house in Wainscott, has the listing. The home and the cottage, which features a heated pool, would cost $7.65 million and $5.35 million, respectively, if purchased separately. The seller, who owns another property in East Hampton, according to Neway, primarily used the Amagansett compound as an “income-producing property,” renting it to tenants on a monthly, seasonally or yearly basis. [more]

Former Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel keeps stirring up drama in the Hamptons, according to Curbed. After getting into a public kerfuffle with his Amagansett neighbor last month, Semel is now under fire for allegedly building an illegal boardwalk that connected his house to the beach. The 800-foot walkway, which Semel is said to have built with one of his neighbors he doesn’t hate, violates the environmental stability of the beach dunes, according to local activists. Semel, however, claims that the boardwalk has been there for more than 30 years. No word yet on what legal action might result from the purportedly illegal boardwalk.

Business bigwigs and Amagansett neighbors Terry Semel, the former head of Yahoo!, and investor Jonathan Sobel have become embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over Semel’s proposal to build both a primary residence and a guesthouse on his property, according to the Post. Sobel claims that the plans violate zoning laws that prohibit the construction of more than one home on a single parcel of land, while Semel alleges that the claim is frivolous and has been filed out of spite because the one-time Yahoo! honcho wouldn’t sell an adjoining portion of the land to Sobel. This conflict is the latest in series of legal kerfluffles between the two. Sobel is also suing Semel for clearing plant growth away from the parcel, while Semel sued Sobel over the removal of a fence.

Apparently the Food Network isn’t the only place you can watch a “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Former Brown Harris Stevens agent Alexander Peters has filed a lawsuit against the celebrichef on the grounds that Flay allegedly unfairly cost him his job. The broker had allegedly told Flay that a property he helped the chef purchase — a $1.49 million pad in Amagansett — was “full of colonial and Indian relics,” according to Newsday. But then, after sealing the deal, Peters allegedly tried to persuade Flay to not “disturb Montaukett grave sites” on his property, and offered to “show [him] where they are and share some of the history of [the] land.” After Flay complained to BHS about Peters’ bizarre offer, the broker was fired.

Amagansett is dominating the Hamptons market this summer, with six homes in the Lanes of Amagansett reportedly going into contract in a matter of weeks. All six homes went for well over $2 million, according to public records. The village is becoming one of the most sought-after real estate locales — Amagansett is now home to the priciest houses in the Hamptons, according to a July report released by the Corcoran Group.