Despite a down market, Hamptons resi brokers remain resolute
The Real Deal rolled out this week it’s annual ranking of the top East End brokers and brokerage firms, and one again, the Vichinsky brothers from Bespoke Real Estate topped the list. Cody and Zachary Vichinsky, both former Corcoran Group brokers, set up their Water Mill-based boutique in 2014. The broker duo had topped previous Hamptons broker rankings put together by TRD, but this year were well-poised to hold on to their No. 1 spot. Bespoke focuses on the $10 million-plus luxury market, which was what TRD used this year to measure the brokers and brokerages who handled the most single-family sales between April 1, 2018 and March 31 of this year. “You don’t need to buy a home in this market — it’s a desire,” Cody Vichinsky told TRD when asked to explain the East End’s slumping sales market. “It becomes like a Hamptons standoff. There are qualified folks on both ends, but there’s just not a meeting of the minds.” [TRD]
Oaktree’s Howard Marks buys 4 Amagansett parcels for $35M
Howard Marks, the billionaire co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, has bought for $35 million four properties in Amagansett from Barbara Zuckerberg, the ex-wife of former Goldman Sachs executive Roy Zuckerberg, according to the New York Post. The quartet of East End properties — 5, 7 and 9 Tyson Lane, along with 310 Further Lane — sit behind a Further Lane property that Marks bought for $30 million in 2010 from television personality and former advertising industry titan Donny Deutsch. Two of the Tyson Lane parcels are developed and sold for $15 million and $8.75 million, according to 27east, which didn’t note their respective addresses. The third Tyson Lane parcel and the one on Further Lane are empty. Those two sold for $8.75 million and $2.5 million, respectively. The Tyson Lane properties collectively make up 3.4 acres, while the 310 Further Lane property is eight acres of agricultural reserve. The Post noted that the Zuckerbergs, now divorced, bought their former Tyson Lane compound in 1999 for $7 million from developer Bruce Ratner. At the time, the property hosted a Francis Fleetwood-designed home that was moved in 2005 to a nearby lot on Tyson Lane. [NYP]
Ahead of Memorial Day, a look at the Hamptons’ new hotspots
With the holiday weekend suddenly on the horizon, so is the start of another busy Hamptons summer season. In its Spring 2019 Tri-State issue, which went live this week, The Real Deal took a deep-dive into the East End’s commercial real estate sector, from Southampton’s sagging retail scene to Montauk’s hopping hospitality sector. TRD examined the $300-a-night “glamping” experience being offered to guests in East Hampton and a rush of new restaurants setting up shop on the South Fork, both of which are looking to cater to well-heeled weekenders and a less seasonal, yet still ultra-luxury, customer base. Still bugging commercial brokers, however, are a dearth of prime development sites for new hotels and a revolving retail landscape that has led to more than a dozen empty storefronts in Southampton alone. [TRD]
After $20M price chop, Bridgehampton home lists again
The owner of a China-inspired home in Bridgehampton has brought it back to the market, but only after hacking a whopping $20.1 million off the $28 million that it had initially sought when coming to market in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported. Stanley and Susan Reifer picked up the empty five-acre property at 5 Paumanok Road in 2002 for $450,000 and built the Sino-style home. They purchased 500-year-old Ming Dynasty doors for its entrance. Artist Jian Guo Xu designed the property’s grounds, which hold a replica of a 15th-century temple in Beijing that has a 40-foot mural by a Tibetan artist. The 8,378-square-foot home has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, five half-bathrooms, a library and a wine cellar. Outside, there’s a two-level pool and spa, a tea house, a bamboo garden, curved bridges, a moon gate, meditating gardens and other features. Douglas Elliman’s Paul Brennan, No. 8 on The Real Deal‘s current ranking of top Hamptons brokers, has the listing. The Reifers never got any offers when they put the property on the market six years ago so they removed the listing in 2014. “It was such a different period and we thought that prices looked to be close to the peak,” the Reifers’ son, Jeremy, told the Journal. “We have a much more realistic view of the market now.” The Reifers passed the home to their son, who now owns the property through a trust set up by his father. The residential sales market that Jeremy Reifer is now seeking to sell the home in, however, is one where sellers and buyers are increasingly unable to find common ground. [WSJ]
Sono Osato’s former Bridgehampton home sells for $26M
The onetime waterfront home of late ballerina Sono Osato in Bridgehampton has sold for $26 million, Mansion Global reported. The final sales price for the property, which went to contract last month, is $8 million less than its most recent $34 million ask. The home at 286 Quimby Lane was first listed for $37 million in March 2018. The buyer, whose identity has not yet been revealed, plans to demolish the 102-year-old home on the property. The 7,200-square-foot residence has five bedrooms, six bathrooms and two half-bathrooms, a relatively modest footprint compared to the twice-as-large home that could be built on the site under current zoning laws. “It was a conundrum for a lot of people who saw the house,” the property’s listing agent, Deborah Srb of Sotheby’s International Realty, told Mansion Global. “It wasn’t oriented to the way that people want to use the space today.” The new owners, represented by Bespoke Real Estate, plan to repaint the home and use it as a summer house until they can secure permits for a more modern construction. Mansion Global noted that the sale is one of the priciest of 2019 in the Hamptons, where high-end home sales have fallen when compared to previous years. [Mansion Global]
East Hampton’s famous ‘White House’ lists for $12.5 million
The early 18th century East Hampton home that developer and bicycling enthusiast Fred Mengoni bought in 1989 and completely refinished has been put back on the market for $12.5 million, the New York Times reported. Mengoni, who was born in Italy, died in February 2018 at 94. The Georgian home at 6 Woods Lane was built around 1725, but had fallen into disrepair by the 1980s. “I gutted it,” Mengoni told the Times a decade later. “It was a piece of junk.” Sitting on nearly three acres, the 7,600-square-foot home has four levels, seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, a marble-covered main floor, a rosewood-paneled library, a dining room with a fireplace, an indoor Jacuzzi and a wine cellar. The grounds also hold a pool, pool house, three-car garage and a barn. Douglas Brown and Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman, the latter of whom came in at No. 8 on The Real Deal‘s annual ranking of top Hamptons brokers, have the listing. Mengoni, for all his efforts to make the place shine, rarely stayed in the home, opting instead for his Manhattan townhouse. Behind the Hedges and Dan’s Papers noted that Mengoni slept in the home less than 15 times in the nearly 30 years he owned it, and the Times reported that the late developer would sometimes stop by at 5 a.m., grab his bike and pedal off into an East End sunrise. [NYT]
Rachael Ray cuts ask for Southampton compound to $4M
Small-screen celebrity chef Rachael Ray and her husband John Cusimano have sliced $690,000 off the ask for their Southampton compound, bringing the potential purchase price for the property down to an even $4 million, the New York Post reported. Ray had initially listed the properties at 224 and 234 Tuckahoe Lane for $4.9 million in August 2017 before dialing back that ask to $4.69 million in April 2018. Would-be buyers can also choose to pick up the Ray-owned properties separately. The property at 234 Tuckahoe Lane, listed at $3.5 million, has a 3,000-square-foot home with three bedrooms, five bathrooms, two fireplaces, a chef’s kitchen (of course), a pool and a 1,500-square-foot pool house. The other property has an ask just shy of $1.3 million. Angela Boyer-Stump of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. [NYP]
Broker-lawyer, media exec tout Hamptons real estate tips
Dan’s Hamptons Media COO Eric Feil and attorney-broker Alan Schurman released this month a compilation of lessons learned and best practices from their experience acquiring coveted East End real estate, 27east reported. “I Can, I Will, I Must: Buying the Hamptons, Buying a Successful Future, Becoming the Best You Can Be,” seeks to serve as a buyer’s guide for those interested in investing in Hamptons real estate, as well as provide stories about how the exclusive enclave came to be built, as noted earlier this month by the New York Post. Schnurman, a founder of 1-800-LAWLINE, retired in 2011 as a senior partner at personal injury and insurance law firm Zalman Schnurman & Miner and joined Saunders & Associates the following year as a broker in Bridgehampton. In less than a year, Schnurman earned a commission from a $15.5 million sale, according to 27east, which noted that the retired lawyer has invested millions of dollars in real estate since he began buying up properties in the 1970s. [27east]