Real Estates by Diane Strecker
If you are in the market for a summer retreat to the Hamptons
this coming season, there is still time to buy something and make it
to the beach, too. There is currently a decent inventory of homes available.
Buyers have a wide selection of homes from which to choose. Of course,
high-end sales and rentals in the Hamptons are unrivaled in their beauty
and because they are usually one-of-a-kind estates, they remain in high
demand – as a result, fewer are on the market. There is a handful
of lavish estates for sale in the estate sections. Buyers are looking
to purchase not merely a home, but an address. Meadow Lane in Southampton
or Further Lane in East Hampton, for example, are locations where the
price tags increase just by crossing a street. Both of these prestigious
lanes run along the oceanfront and contain some of the most expensive
and elaborate estates in the country.
Privacy is the draw for the high-profile people who have collected here
over time, and it is common to see high hedgerow barriers that seal
their homes from sight. Most estates include substantial acreage, which
makes it possible for the mansions to be set back from the road. Long
drives into these estates are commonplace and most are gated and require
an electronic code to enter. Not too long ago, I visited an estate in
Georgica Pond that was set deep in the wooded marshes that lead out
to the water. The small private road finally opened onto a huge, Polynesian-style,
bamboo-like electronic gates that were enclosed by thick natural growth.
It was like entering another world. One could not stumble on places
like this just anywhere. In fact, a person can get lost trying to find
them, and that is very the idea the owners of such properties had in
mind when building them.
Of course, that kind of privacy is extremely dear and estates that offer
that level of seclusion will cost you. Estates of this caliber range
upward from about $25 million. On Meadow Lane, there is currently a
6,000-sq.-ft. estate for sale that is set on almost three acres. The
property has 125 feet of oceanfront, views of the ocean and the bay.
All six bedroom suites have private baths and an elevator, an amenity
that most of the high-end estates now include. The deck is designed
for water viewing and is set in two locations. One is attached to the
house and the other is set out in the dunes. This one is ready for immediate
occupancy and is listed with Sotheby’s International Realty at
$27 million.
In Montauk, one can purchase a shingle-style cottage up on the Moorlands
for just shy of $25 million. It is listed with Martha Greene Realty.
It includes a home theatre, another amenity commonly found in homes
of this value. The property is priced in the ballpark of $27 million
dollars. Their neighbor Millard Drexler, CEO of J. Crew, recently purchased
Eothen, the famed Church Estate more commonly known as “The Warhol
Compound.”
Some of the mansions on Further Lane in East Hampton, and areas like
it, can now command prices that exceed the afore mentioned properties.
The estate compound owned by Adelaide de Menil in East Hampton is speculated
by area realtors to be worth upward of $90 million. This property contains
historic buildings that the owner purchased from various locations throughout
the Hamptons and moved onto the 40-acre estate in order to preserve
and restore them. Here, the property itself is the amenity. Amenities
such as home theatres may seem insignificant to some when taking into
account the views, the structures themselves and the expanse of the
land on an estate of such merit. Taking these factors into consideration,
this moves a property such as this into another category, rendering
its value nearly priceless. An estate such as the de Menil’s leaves
one with few to compare it to. Similarly, putting a price tag on the
historic Gardiner’s Island has proven a difficult task. These
estates are in the upper echelon of residential real estate, not only
here, but of the entire country.
Gardiner’s Island is the largest privately owned island in North
America and is rich with both East End and American history. The island
sits off of the northeast side of East Hampton in Gardiner’s Bay
and has been family-owned for generations. It would be difficult go
about pricing a property that is believed by some to contain buried
treasure, not to mention, it is an entire island, after all.
You can reach Diane at eastendrealest@yahoo.com.
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