As summer approaches, changes to various properties are in the works in preparation for the coming season. Realtors stay busy all winter long listing, selling, renting and showing the many lavish estate properties in their inventories. The latest exciting news in real estate developments stream through the Hamptons each week, and is now sweeping through all parts of the country. The highest-priced East End property on the market today, listing at $80 million, in North Haven, is being talked about all over the country.

On a trip down south recently, I heard a couple from Virginia talking about the listing in North Haven and arguing about how they would use the property if they were to purchase it. The wife had ideas for a family compound and the husband speculated about the astronomical profit he could make by developing the 55-acre parcel. It would be a waste, he thought, to live on such lucrative ground. The wife, someone who was familiar with the area and had spent summers east when she was young, was abashed at her husband’s idea. The debate caused quite a marital row. It was, of course, questionable as to whether this couple could even afford to buy such a valuable piece of real estate. But what was interesting about the situation was that a heated argument ensued on its speculation alone. The Hamptons real estate phenomenon has traveled far and wide. We are no longer just famous for our rich and famous, but for our properties as well. The estates now seem to have a celebrity all their own.

Recently, Lasata, the famed childhood estate of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis in East Hampton’s beautiful estate section, sold for $24 million to the president of the Coach handbag company. The 90-year-old estate was once the summer home of Jackie O’s grandparents. The Southampton estate that Howard Stern has been renting on the oceanfront, as he awaits the building his own oceanfront estate, for which Stern paid one of the highest prices ever recorded, $20 million, for the 4 acres of vacant land alone, carries a $600,000-per-season rental premium and recently sold for $34 million. This one sits on more than three prime oceanfront acres, has 9 bedrooms, 11 baths and a pool that overlooks the water. It is situated among some of the most prestigious addresses in Southampton’s estate section and not only has 350 feet of oceanfront beach, but also borders a saltwater pond. The important thing to note here is that these estates are still selling on or very close to their asking prices. Lasata, which, by the way, also includes 11 East Hampton estate section acres, went on the market a short time ago for $25 million and sold for $24 million. Howard Stern’s Southampton summer rental, owned by socialite Terry Allen Kramer for more than 20 years, listed originally at $35 million and reportedly has gone to contract for $34 million. Sellers here are still able to get what they are asking for, and that is what keeps this market hot.

The landmark Maidstone Arms, a historic inn overlooking the town pond in the Village of East Hampton, is said to be making plans to go condo as of late. If these plans were to come to fruition, the newly renovated complex would house 12 privately owned condominiums, as opposed to the 19 inn-style rooms that exist today. The trend of building luxury condominiums on the East End seems to be catching on. We have seen this trend come to fruition in several locations throughout the Hamptons, including multiple sites in Montauk, such as the Panoramic View on the ocean off the old highway.

The changes keep on coming as we await the purchase of the $55 million East Hampton Point Resort and Marina on Three Mile Harbor and the renovation already underway at the Bulova Watchcase Factory in Sag Harbor. As if that wouldn’t be enough, the recent variance given to a residential home in Sag Harbor to implement solar energy may impact the Bulova project as well, especially since more builders are choosing to “go green” and build energy efficient structures with the foresight that a capacity to run on solar energy may soon be regulation. The luxury condos being renovated on that site will also be proposing solar panels. The town developer are said to be keeping the town’s historical stature both intact and in mind as well.

Real Estates