John Steinbeck’s former Hamptons home has a buyer lined up, but Southampton Town appears ready to contribute an eight-figure sum to the purchase.
The town is weighing the use of $11.2 million from the Community Preservation Fund to help acquire the Sag Harbor Village property, Behind the Hedges reported. The contribution would represent an effort from the town to preserve the property at 2 Bluff Point Lane, where Steinbeck once penned his novels.
The Sag Harbor Partnership, a nonprofit dedicated to preservation, is in contract to purchase the home for $13.5 million. The partnership raised private money for the acquisition, but the town previously said it would be interested in contributing to the deal.
The preservation fund is supported by a 2 percent transfer tax on real estate sales in the five East End towns, each of which chooses how to spend the money generated by sales within it. Southampton’s fund raked in more than $80 million last year, so its overseers have been looking for ways to spend it.
Steinbeck’s former part-time residence was where he wrote his last novel, “The Winter of Our Discontent,” published in 1961. The home went up for sale in February 2021 for $17.9 million, but the price was cut at least once.
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The 1.8-acre waterfront property includes a two-bedroom cottage, a hexagonal “writing house,” 558 feet of waterfront footage and a 60-foot dock. Steinbeck and his third wife purchased it in 1955.
The plan is to turn it into a writer’s retreat overseen by Sag Harbor Partnership. The Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas would run the program.
A public access and outreach agreement is being discussed by the nonprofit and the town. The property would be open on Saturdays by appointment for much of the year.
Using the preservation fund for the Steinbeck estate appears to have broad support from neighbors and the community. The public can review the agreement between the town and the nonprofit through Valentine’s Day.
Steinbeck died more than a half-century ago. His wife, Elaine, lived at the property until her death in 2003.
— Holden Walter-Warner