Reality TV star battles Deutsche Bank over Wainscott home
Barbara Kavovit, CEO of New York-based Evergreen Construction and a cast member of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York,” is trying to stop Deutsche Bank from foreclosing on her Wainscott home, The Blast first reported. Last year, the German banking giant claimed that Kavovit owed nearly $2.5 million on a $2.4 million loan (with accrued interest) it gave her in 2006 to buy the home at 68 Wainscott Northwest Road. That loan came due in April 2015, but Kavovit reportedly never paid it. In a statement provided to the New York Post, Kavovit said that she and Deutsche Bank are now in settlement talks. She has previously tried various legal arguments to toss a lawsuit filed by the bank against her. She alleges the terms of the loan were illegal and that her late father’s estate should be on the hook for the balance, not her. Joseph Kavovit, her father, died in 2013. Deutsche Bank has argued the debt transferred to her upon his death. Kavovit sought personal bankruptcy protection in White Plains in 2015. That case, which lists her current address as 11 Old Country Road in New Rochelle, was recently reopened. Meanwhile, Kavovit has listed her Wainscott home for rent at $58,333 per month. The 6,500-square-foot home, built in 2001, has two stories, five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a master suite with a private deck and a heated pool. A listing on Zillow’s Out East notes the home can be rented for $70,000 in July. Agents from Brown Harris Stevens, Douglas Elliman and the Corcoran Group have rental listings for the property. [The Blast]
Manhattan developer brings bookshop to Sag Harbor storefront
The revolving retail scene in the Hamptons continues anew ahead of summer, with Sag Harbor Books now setting up shop in the village of the same name, the latest in a spate of business openings in the area, as noted by The Real Deal in its recent Tri-State issue. A spokesperson for Manhattan Skyline Corporation, owned by veteran developer Donald Zucker and the landlord for the Sag Harbor storefront at 7 Main Street, told 27east that a 1,650-square-foot ground floor space once home to the clothing store Addo will now house Sag Harbor Books. The bookshop will be run by Greg Harris and Daniel Hirsch, who also run Southampton Books on Hampton Road. The Sag Harbor store will be their second East End location and nearly double the size of the first. Hirsch hopes to have a robust selection of literary offerings, but also wants weave the store into the fabric of the area’s nightlife with author readings and book clubs. For a time, Sag Harbor had been left with just one bookstore, Main Street mainstay Canio’s Books, after Harbor Books shuttered its four-year home at 20 Main Street earlier this year when its rent rose too high. The Independent reported last month that the woman who ran Harbor Books, Taylor Rose Berry, opted to open another store at 51 Division Street under the name Berry & Company. CORRECTION, 6/7/19: The new address of Harbor Books has added to this post. [27east]
Helmut Lang lists 2 of 3 East Hampton parcels for $65M
Weeks after reports emerged that Austrian-born fashion designer Helmut Land planned to list his East Hampton oceanfront compound for $100 million, the longtime Hamptons resident has put two of his parcels on the market for $65 million, Behind the Hedges reported. The outlet noted that Lang, who has listed 10 Tyson Lane for $50 million and 6 Tyson Lane for $15 million, plans to hold on to his final parcel at 8 Tyson Lane, which has his 8,757-square-foot home, a cottage and studio space, until he finds somewhere else to live. Lang bought the approximately 5-acre compound in 1999 for $15.5 million, reportedly outbidding comedian Jerry Seinfeld by $1 million. The more expensive of Lang’s two parcels is a 1.6-acre plot on the ocean and has three buildings, including a guest house and a garage. The 0.84-parcel is vacant. Jane Gill of Saunders & Associates has the listing for both parcels. [TRD]
Southampton affordable housing deal gets support from 2 outfits
PEER NExtGen Housing Collaborative and East End YIMBY appeared at a Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals meeting to support a 60-unit affordable housing apartment complex behind the Southampton Full Gospel Church, 27east reported. If completed, the project would bring six 10-unit buildings on five acres with 15 of those units set aside for veterans. The rest would be affordable housing for people with disabilities and workforce housing. Developer Ralph Fasano of Medford-based Concern for Independent Living, which broke ground earlier this year on a $25 million affordable housing project in Port Jefferson Station, hasn’t filed an official application, but gauged the interest of the zoning board. The latter told him to do more research in February, according to 27east, and Fasano has yet to return with a more formal proposal. In the interim, the New York State Homes and Community Renewal granted $8.9 million to Fasano’s group, a registered nonprofit, though the final sum the organization will get is closer to $20 million. Still, the Southampton affordable housing project faces obstacles. It still needs town approval before Fasano’s contract with the land’s owner, the gospel church, runs out in June. Two other East End affordable housing projects in Amagansett and Greenport recently secured $1.8 million in funds from Suffolk County. [27east]
Modernist home in Sagaponack returns to market at $18M
Sagaponack, which one analysis earlier this year found had the priciest residential street in the Hamptons for 2018, now has a 5,000-square-foot wood, stone and steel modernist home on the market at $17.995 million, Newsday reported. Designed by East Hampton-based Bates Masi + Architects, the new construction home sits on nearly an acre of property and has views of the Atlantic Ocean and Sagg Pond. “They’re well-known modernists,” listing agent Christopher Covert of Saunders & Associates told the outlet about the home’s designers. The property at 139 Seascape Lane had been listed for sale two years ago at almost $18.5 million with high-powered Corcoran Group broker Susan Breitenbach. That listing was removed in January, according to Zillow’s Out East. The home, which was completed last year, also has a 665-square-foot pool house, an elevated infinity pool and an outdoor kitchen. The New York Times reported last month that modernism is increasingly en vogue for high-end Hamptons home buyers. [Newsday] — Brian Baxter
New build with private boardwalk in Quogue lists for $15M
A modern home with a private boardwalk and nearly 200 feet of ocean frontage in Quogue has hit the market at $14.98 million, Mansion Global reported. Designed by Austin Patterson Disston, an architectural firm with offices in Quogue and Southport, Connecticut, and constructed by custom home builder Rocco Lettieri in Westhampton Beach, the 5,141-square-foot home has six bedrooms and seven full bathrooms. The master suite has a private balcony and an indoor-outdoor shower. “The landscape in the area is shifting away from more traditional-looking homes to those that incorporate a style like this that really invites the outdoors in,” Bespoke Real Estate marketing chief Michael Cantwell told the outlet. The Water Mill-based firm, whose founding Vichinsky brothers recently topped The Real Deal‘s ranking of Hamptons ultra-luxury brokers, has the listing for the property at 90 Dune Road. [Mansion Global] — Brian Baxter
Despite sagging East End luxury sales, CPF revenue rebounds
A month after the Peconic Region Community Preservation Fund (CPF) reported a 29 percent decline in revenue, in part due to slumping high-end Hamptons home sales, the fund’s finances received a boost, the East Hampton Star reported. The five towns that feed the CPF — East Hampton, Riverhead, Southold, Southampton and Shelter Island — through a 2 percent tax on most real estate transfers helped it pull in $7.4 million in April, which while lower than the $8.2 million it took in during the same timeframe last year is still more than the $6.7 million it had in April 2017, according to 27east. “April marked a return to revenues more in line with the last few years,” said a statement from New York Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr., although he cautioned local politicians from making any overly optimistic long-term projections. The East End’s residential real estate market has experienced its worst slowdown since the 2008 financial crisis, as noted in a recent Douglas Elliman market report. Revenue for the CPF is down 24.2 percent during the first four months of this year when compared to same time last year, according to 27east. Southampton was the most responsible for that drop with a 31.4 percent dip in CPF revenue, which fell from $17.53 million in the first four months of 2018 to $12.02 million through April. East Hampton experienced a 13.3 percent drop, from $9.69 million, to $8.4 million. [ESH]