‘The Mooch’ relists his Water Mill mansion for $9.75M
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, fresh off his cameo on CBS’ “Celebrity Big Brother,” is again trying to sell his Water Mill home for $9.75 million, the New York Post reported. “The Mooch,” as the former Harvard Law School graduate-turned-hedge fund executive calls himself, put the then-unfinished home on the market in May 2018, just nine months after he bought the property for $7.49 million. Built by noted Hamptons homebuilder Joe Farrell, the 8,300-square-foot home at 30 Lawrence Court has three floors, eight bedrooms, eight-and-a-half bathrooms, a theater, gym, pool and pool house. It will come fully furnished. Mark Baron and Jane Babcook of Brown Harris Stevens have the listing. Scaramucci also tried to sell a beach home in Southampton last year for $3.99 million. The Post speculated that shedding the larger Water Mill home and keeping the one in Southampton may be a way for Scaramucci to appease his wife, who filed for divorce in 2017 when he took a White House job without consulting her. (The couple later reconciled.) Scaramucci served as a member of the Trump administration for 10 days in July 2017 before he was fired following a series of gaffes. Scaramucci’s hedge fund, SkyBridge Capital, partnered this week with Westport Capital Partners for a $3 billion Opportunity Zone fund. [New York Post]
Gioia DiPaolo rejoins Douglas Elliman after Sotheby’s stint
A spokeswoman for Douglas Elliman confirmed this week that Gioia DiPaolo has once again returned to the firm, a day after the broker posted the real estate company’s logo on her Instagram account with the caption “C H A N G E.” The Philadelphia native began her career at Elliman when its CEO Dottie Herman set up a small office in Sag Harbor, DiPaolo once told 27east.com. She then joined the Corcoran Group in Sag Harbor until she returned to Elliman for nine years starting in October 2008, according to her LinkedIn profile. During her previous tenure at Elliman, DiPaolo oversaw 20 agents and brokered the sales of both the Castello di Borghese Vineyard in Cutchogue on the North Fork and the Saks Fifth Avenue building in Southampton, according to Behind the Hedges. In August 2017, DiPaolo jumped to Sotheby’s International Realty’s Sag Harbor office. DiPaolo previously worked in fashion before real estate, designing and making her own lines for retailers like Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. [Instagram]
East End home sales fell in Q4, but prices held steady
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the overall Hamptons home market saw a 35 percent drop in sales compared to the year before, while inventory surged 81 percent and the median sales price held at $995,000, according to Douglas Elliman data. Buyers are likely skittish due to larger economic factors, such as a volatile stock market, the federal tax overhaul and rising interest rates, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The biggest drop in market share was in homes priced in the $500,000 to $1 million range. Meanwhile, the $5 million-plus market saw a smaller dip with a boost in its share of deals. “Buyers opted for higher-priced inventory,” Ernest Cervi, Corcoran’s regional senior vice president for the East End, told The Real Deal. “It’s hard to speculate if it’ll continue, but we certainly hope it will.” [TRD]
Art collector seeks nearly $25M for Montauk compound
More than two years after art collector Adam Lindemann put a Montauk oceanfront home on the market for $25 million, the property at 404 and 406 Old Montauk Highway is up for sale again seeking $24.95 million, according to Curbed. Lindemann initially listed the six-acre plot on Montauk’s bluffs for nearly $30 million in late 2015, around the same time that he paid $50 million to buy Eothen, a Montauk estate owned for nearly two decades by the artist Andy Warhol. Curbed noted the two parcels that Lindemann paid a collective $21.5 million for in 2007 and 2008 now include a 7,500-square-foot home renovated by architect Sir David Adjaye with interiors by Bob Melet. Compass reportedly first had the listing for the six-bedroom and eight-and-a-half bathroom home, which is being offered fully furnished, but the Corcoran Group’s Gary DePersia now has the listing. The veteran Hamptons broker is also selling former talk show host Dick Cavett’s iconic oceanfront Montauk home, Vornado Realty Trust founder and chairman Steven Roth’s Montauk beach home and nightlife mogul Michael Hirtenstein’s Montauk party pad. [Curbed]
Sagaponack estate shaves another $2.6M off price tag
After seeking nearly $25 million when it first hit the market in early 2017, the price tag for the home at 550 Parsonage Lane in Sagaponack has been slashed to $17.4 million after its most recent $2.6 million price chop, Curbed reported. The 12,000-square-foot home was built in 2007 by seasoned Hamptons homebuilder Jeffrey Collé, who also renovated the secluded East Hampton mansion that Beyoncé and Jay-Z bought in 2017. The Sagaponack estate, which trimmed $5 million from its ask late last year, has eight ensuite bedrooms, two more bathrooms, wide-plank hardwood floors, a chef’s kitchen, a billiards room with a bar and a theater. The 10-acre grounds also include a gunite pool, spa, Har-Tru tennis court and half of a basketball court, according to the outlet. Representing the listing are the Corcoran Group’s Debbie Brenneman, Charlie Esposito and Debbie Loeffler. [Curbed]
East Hampton buys Wainscott land for affordable housing
The East Hampton Town Board voted last week in favor of buying almost four acres in Wainscott from the Triune Baptist Church for $900,000, Newsday reported. The town plans to erect a 27-unit apartment complex on the 3.92-acre parcel, which is located near Sag Harbor, but no formal proposal has yet been submitted. East Hampton officials are weighing whether the project may include an adjacent two-acre property owned by the Sag Harbor Community Housing Trust. Though the plan was mostly met with support, some worried how the project could affect the town’s one-room Wainscott School, which was built in 1730. Proponents argued the project would be able to house families in an expensive region, as property taxes in Wainscott are comparatively low at about $500 per $1,000 of assessed land value, compared to $1,400 per $1,000 of assessed value in nearby Springs, the outlet reported. Construction of any affordable housing development is expected to take six-to-eight years. [Newsday]