Hamptons Cheat Sheet: Dick Cavett’s Montauk estate seeks $34M after price cut, Riverhead building height restrictions opposed … & more

<em>Clockwise from top left: Dick Cavett's Montauk estate gets $15M price cut, a Water Mill home's ask has been slashed by $9M during its two years on the market, Suffolk County’s median home price jumped 5.3 percent in December and an East Hampton home that claims to extend life has its price cut by $1M.</em>
Clockwise from top left: Dick Cavett's Montauk estate gets $15M price cut, a Water Mill home's ask has been slashed by $9M during its two years on the market, Suffolk County’s median home price jumped 5.3 percent in December and an East Hampton home that claims to extend life has its price cut by $1M.

Dick Cavett slashes Montauk home’s price by nearly $15M
The celebrated talk show host Dick Cavett has reduced the price of his iconic oceanfront home in Montauk by nearly $15 million, bringing the ask down to $33.95 million, Curbed reported. Known as Cavett’s Cove, the nearly 20-acre property at 176 Deforest Road first came on the market in June 2017 at $62 million, but was cut down to $48.5 million in August 2018. Cavett bought the property, then called Tick Hall, in 1968. The home is part of the Montauk Association Historic District’s collection of shingle-style homes called the “Seven Sisters.” Tick Hall was designed by Stanford White in 1882, but burned down in 1997. An exact replica of Tick Hall was built in its place four years later by Cavett and his first wife, the late actress Carrie Nye, a process that was the subject of a 2003 documentary. (Cavett remarried in 2010.) Today, the 7,000-square-foot home has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a wraparound porch, hardwood floors and oceanviews throughout. The property also includes 900 feet of ocean frontage and a private path to a beach. Gary DePersia of the Corcoran Group has the listing. [Curbed]

Median home price in Suffolk County rose 5.3% in December 
Suffolk County reported a median home price of $380,000 in 2018, which is a 5.3 percent increase over the median home price from a year before, according to data released by the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island. The median home price for Long Island landed at $460,000 in December, a 4.5 percent increase over the same month in 2017. Nassau County closed out 2018 with a $515,000 median home price, which is about a 4 percent increase over the $495,000 it hit in 2017. The MLSLI numbers also include Queens, which had a median home price of $615,000 in December, representing an 11.8 percent increase from 2017. Newsday reported that it remains to be seen what impact Amazon’s new second headquarters in Long Island City could have for Long Island’s housing market. [Multiple Listing Service LI]

Water Mill estate’s price slips by $9M after 2+ years on market
A home in Water Mill that has lingered on the market for more than two years has had its price cut again, bringing the ask down to $15.75 million, Curbed reported. In total, the home at 64 Holly Lane has had $9 million cut from its original ask of $24.75 million. Hollywood agent Peter Benedek, co-founder of the United Talent Agency, bought the waterfront property in 2004 for nearly $3.1 million and built an estate on it in 2008. The 7,000-square-foot home has seven bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, an open breezeway and floor-to-ceiling windows. The property also holds a heated pool, private deck and 500 feet of frontage on Mill Creek, which leads into Mecox Bay. Sotheby’s International Realty’s Beate Moore is representing the listing. [Curbed]

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Riverhead property owners unite to oppose potential downtown building height restrictions
The Riverhead Downtown Property Owners Coalition, a group of about 17 owners of property in downtown Riverhead, are banding together to protect what they say are their rights in a debate over changes to building height limits, Newsday reported. The Riverhead town board is considering capping new development buildings at two stories with three- and four-floor buildings allowed through the transfer of development rights. Property owners are worried they are being kept out of the process. Martin Sendlewski, a member of the group who runs an architectural firm, said he and other members are worried the restrictions could slow revitalization in the area, hurting their ability to make money from their buildings in the downtown Main Street area. The group now hopes to insert themselves into local policy discussions on the subject. The town will hold a public forum on Jan. 31. [Newsday]

East Hampton home that claims to extend life gets $1M price cut
The Bioscleave House, which supposedly extends the lifespan of those who live in it, has had its asking price slashed by $1 million, Curbed reported. The East Hampton home, built in 2008 and designed by the late avant-garde architect Madeline Gins and her artist husband Arakawa, has come on and off the market over the last few years, seeking $4 million in early 2011 and then nearly $2.5 million in July 2018. The interior of the home is brightly colored with varying, unusual terrain forcing those inside to “move through life differently,” according to 2016 Awl story about the home. The entire 3,400-square-foot property, now available to potential buyers for almost $1.5 million, is actually two connected houses, including a smaller 900-square-foot, 1960s A-frame abode designed by Harvard architect Carl Koch. Two of the home’s four bedrooms along with one-and-a-half bathrooms are housed in its more traditional, mid-century wing. All of the Bioscleave House’s rooms, however, open into its central sloping atrium. The property is currently owned by Professors Group LLC, which bought it in 2007 for $1.25 million from Angela Gallman, an Italian art collector who initially commissioned the home. Jose DosSantos of Brown Harris Stevens has the listing. [Curbed]