Bridgeton Holdings Grows East Hampton Stake?

Bridgeton Holdings, a Manhattan-based hotel ownership and management firm recently increased its stake, yet again, in the world of East Hampton Town resorts.

Already full owners with an ongoing major renovation of the Atlantic Terrace in Montauk, a minority owner with a 50 percent stake in the liquor license at Hero Beach in Montauk, and a full stake in the operation of what is now known as Journey East Hampton on Pantigo Road in East Hampton, Bridgeton Holdings appears to have more than doubled down on the East Hampton resort. According to Suffolk County records, the property at 490-492 Pantigo Road, into which Bridgeton Holdings had already pumped $600,000 for renovation as of several months ago, with more work ongoing, has been sold by its longtime owner, an LLC called Hamptons Land Corp. The buyer is another LLC, East Hampton Hotel. The price? Five million dollars plus mortgage fees.

Bridgeton Holdings has followed a business model in East Hampton Town of taking over motels which are run down, pouring a lot of money into renovations, and converting them into high-end resorts. They have also generated controversy at both Hero Beach and Journey East Hampton by obtaining liquor licenses and building bars on the property without obtaining permits from the town.

In that regard, Britton Bistrian, who represents the owners of Hero Beach, who are currently before the East Hampton Town Planning Board with an application to legalize the 16-seat restaurant with a bar built without permits, presented the board December 6 with a new narrative for the bar’s use on the property. The main change from the original narrative, which she presented to the board in June 2017, is that the owners of Hero Beach have agreed to be limited to serving 225 customers on the property at a time. The liquor license Bridgeton Holdings obtained from the State Liquor Authority, over the objections of the town, allows the owners to serve up to 499 people at any one time on the property.

In granting the liquor license, the SLA required that the town sign off on the bar/restaurant. That has not happened, as of yet, though the license is active, and in place at Hero Beach.

Similarly, Journey East Hampton is before the planning board, attempting to legalize its already-built bar.

Atlantic Terrace, which is undergoing major renovations, has not yet officially applied for a liquor license, though neighbors have expressed concern that that is exactly the plan for the resort that Bridgeton Holdings has in mind.

t.e@indyeastend.com