Two large properties with development rights have hit the market on Long Island’s North Fork, where homes are still in extremely short supply after a more than two-year run on the market.
Former Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander is looking to unload his parcels at 1117 Main Road in Riverhead and 2045 Sound Avenue in Mattituck for a combined $6 million, The Real Deal has learned.
Alexander’s 24-acre property at 1117 Main Road is listed for $3.1 million. Formerly known as the Kubby Farm, the property consists of a retail building and a farmhouse from the 1700s, both of which are “in need of TLC,” according to the listing with Corcoran’s Sheri Winter Parker.
The property falls under the town’s Rb-80 zoning, which includes farmland protections but allows for low-density residential development. The designation permits the construction of agricultural production sites, greenhouses and horse training facilities, but also a single-family home.
With a special permit, a buyer could build a bed and breakfast, a school or a golf course. The property is surrounded by land on which the development rights have already been sold, according to the listing, although it’s not clear who bought them. The Peconic Land Trust is the North Fork’s primary preservation fund.
In Mattituck, Alexander’s 68-acre property on Sound Avenue is listed for $2.9 million. About four acres have development rights, while the remaining 64 acres’ development rights have been sold to the town of Southold. The listing is also with Winter Parker, who declined to comment.
The property is zoned within Southold’s Agricultural-Conservation District, which allows for development of open farmland so long as the agriculture is not harmed. The zoning permits single-family homes, public facilities operated by various Southold departments, retail stands for selling local produce and storage facilities. Special permit exemptions for the property include two-family homes, houses of worship, private schools and certain health care facilities.
The zoning also allows for the development of a winery on the land, a use that has lured outside investors to the North Fork in recent years.
Randy Frankel, a co-owner of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, purchased Mattituck’s Shinn Estate Vineyards in 2017 and added Southold’s Croteaux Vineyards to his holdings in 2019.
The Rivero-González family expanded its winery holdings from Mexico into the U.S. with the acquisition of Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead for $15 million in 2018. The Massoud family, which owns Paumanok Vineyard in Riverhead, bought the neighboring Palmer Vineyards that same year.
ABC News legal analyst and media personality Dan Abrams purchased Laurel Lakes Vineyards in nearby Laurel last year, renaming the property Ev&Em Vineyards. Developer Stacey Soloviev, ex-wife of Soloviev Group head Stefan Soloviev, is planning a 40-key boutique hotel and resort on her 53-acre Peconic Bay Vineyard in Cutchogue, which last traded hands in 2019.
It’s unclear when Alexander, 79, bought the land, or how much he paid for it. County officials, who are dealing with a ransomware attack, did not immediately respond to a request for property records.
In 2003, the former bond trader abandoned plans to open a winery of his own on 177 acres in the North Fork, according to a New York Times report at the time.
”I went into this thinking that I could produce excellent wine,” Alexander told the publication. ”In the end, I didn’t think I could produce wine up to my standards. So I gave up.”
Still, he’s remained active in the area’s viticultural scene, opening a wine club in Bridgehampton with a $50,000 initiation fee, Forbes reported in 2013.
Alexander is best known for owning the NBA’s Houston Rockets from 1993 to 2017, during which time the franchise won two league championships. Alexander sold the team to businessman Tillman Fertitta in 2017 for $2.2 billion.
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