Top Hamptons developer slashes price on ultra-luxury “Sandcastle”

Weeks after reportedly hosting Rudy Giuliani’s 75th birthday party at his amenities-packed East End estate, prominent Hamptons home builder Joe Farrell has trimmed $10 million from its sales price.

Dubbed by Farrell as the “Sandcastle,” the 17,000-square-foot Bridgehampton home at 612 Halsey Lane hit the market in early 2018 with a nearly $50 million ask. But last week the massive home, which sites on roughly 11.5 acres, got a new $39.995 million price tag, according to Behind the Hedges.

The Real Deal reported last summer on Farrell’s previous attempts to unload the Sandcastle over the years, during which time it has hosted a litany of notable individuals, such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Madonna and Russian billionaire Valery Kogan. TRD noted a decade ago that an episode of MTV’s “Teen Cribs” was also once filmed at the home.

Farrell’s signature cookie-cutter McMansions have transformed the Hamptons’ high-end home market, where ultra-luxury sales have slumped so far this year. The purchase price for the Sandcastle has ebbed-and-flowed with fluctuations in the market. Farrell first tried to sell the property in 2009, again in 2011 and 2016, and most recently in 2018.

In December 2013, a would-be buyer was ready to do a deal at the home’s $43.5 million price tag, but Farrell demurred, according to TRD‘s previous reporting. (In February, Farrell reportedly secured $65 million in financing for a luxury rental project in Central Islip.)

Behind the Hedges noted that the Sandcastle currently has 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, five half-bathrooms and other various amenities, including a baseball field, a two-lane bowling alley and a spa. Earlier this year, Farrell tapped Saunders & Associates to market a 19-property portfolio including the Sandcastle worth an estimated $200 million.

Saunders agents Terry Cohen and Christopher Covert have the listing for the Sandcastle, along with Bespoke Real Estate, whose founding Vichinsky brothers recently took the top spot in a TRD list of leading Hamptons residential brokers. Saunders’ Cohen came in at No. 4 on that ranking. [Behind the Hedges] — Aidan Gardiner