There’s a new top-dollar sale in Hamptons retail history.
Los Angeles-based Runyon Group paid $39 million for a pair of retail properties in Water Mill, Behind the Hedges reported. The properties are not directly adjacent but are near one another and traded together.
The sellers were Vault Development Partners and Ben Rinzler, who teamed up to tie the assets together in an assemblage. The two complexes combine to take 84 percent of the hamlet’s gross leasing area.
The Hamptons Commercial Real Estate Team at Compass, led by Hal Zwick and Jeffrey Sztorc, arranged and announced the deal. Zwick revealed that Vault is leaving the hamlet without disclosing Runyon’s plans for the buildings; the Runyon co-founders did previously appear before the Southampton Town Planning Board to discuss cosmetic changes and shrinking spaces.
Water Mill Square at 670 Montauk Highway is occupied by restaurants and eateries. It was owned by Rinzler since at least 2008. Tenants at the 21,000-square-foot complex, which also features office space, include Aplina Bakery, Hampton Kitchen and No. 1 Chinese.
The Mill at 760 Montauk Highway is a commercial complex that spans 29,000 square feet. Vault purchased the Water Mill shopping center on Route 27 East in 2023 for $13.1 million, when it was occupied by Provisions Natural Food Market, Tight Medical Spa, Water Mill Wine & Spirits and Hamptons Float. There’s also a Tesla Supercharger station in the 154-spot parking lot.
The previous record for most expensive retail sale in the Hamptons belonged to Excelsior Development’s Jeremy Morton, who paid $30 million for two Sag Harbor properties last February.
Runyon gets its name from the popular Hollywood hiking spot, Runyon Canyon. Co-founders Joseph Miller and David Fishbein started out helping specialty brands, such as upscale skincare label Aesop and Blue Bottle Coffee, find real estate, expanding into development with the Platform project in Culver City in 2016.— Holden Walter-Warner