Sprawling Waterfront Estate Sells for Record $12M

It only took three months for a new record sale on the North Fork.

A waterfront Southold property at 59600 Main Road closed for $12.4 million, the highest price achieved for a single-lot on Long Island’s North Fork. A bayfront home in Cutchogue sold by the estate of the late gallerist Barbara Gladstone held the previous record after its $11.2 million sale in October.

The Gladstone property, which spans 1.2 acres and works out to over $9 million per acre, still dwarfs the recent Southold one in terms of price per acre.

The Southold property spans over 21 acres on the Peconic Bay and offers 470 feet of water frontage and a private beach. Two homes sit on either end of the property: a 3,500-square-foot waterfront residence on the south end and a 2,200-square-foot home on the north end near Main Road.

A local family had owned the property for three generations when Christian Baiz, who owned the estate with his wife Rosamond Phelps Baiz, died last February. The family had used the property to run Old Field Vineyard, which closed at the end of November.

Compass’ Bridget Elkin, who had the listing with her husband Eric and also sold the Gladstone estate, said the parents lived in the house by the water while their daughter lived on the north side of the property.

Despite the scale of the property, Elkin said, most of the interest came from parties with a “residential eye.” About half of the land is covered in mature vines, and the zoning comes with an agricultural exception that allows for expanded farm operations, including the processing and sales of products like wine, crops and jams, according to the listing.

Elkin said the buyer has already re-hired the same staff that currently manages the vineyard, but its days as a commercial winery are likely over. “It will probably be more of a vibe of a vineyard,” she said.

Pricing on the North Fork has followed the trajectory of the entire East End, where homes on either side of Peconic Bay have gotten vastly more expensive since 2020.

The median sale price $2.3 million for homes in the Hamptons set a new record in the fourth quarter of last year, while the quarterly median sales price on the North Fork broke $1 million for the first time ever last year, according to data from appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Elkin said the recent sales, including another $8 million home she sold in Cutchogue earlier this year, are “establishing a new price tier on the North Fork that is possible.” Each sale “creates data points for people coming into the area considering buying or selling a property of that magnitude,” she added.

Shelter Island has not been immune to the runup in prices, either. An estate listed for $18 million last month is eying an island record, after a property at One Pandion asking $15 million fell just short last year of the $12.95 million record set in 2023.