Cutchogue’s Bedell Cellars hits market at nearly $18M
The upscale winery Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue has hit the market with a $17.9 million price, a month after its owner, Hollywood mogul Michael Lynne, died at 77 in late March, the New York Post reported. Lynne steered the once-obscure New Line Cinema studio, a Tinseltown powerhouse that made blockbusters like the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, The New York Times reported. The three-piece property in Cutchogue spans more than 95 acres, 75 of which are covered in vines from 10 different grape varieties. It also has a handful of buildings, including a 309-year-old main residence, a cottage, a 10,000-square-foot winery, a 4,000-square-foot event space and others. The main house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was updated in 2002 and will come fully furnished with interiors by Vincente Wolf. The 1,825-square-foot main house has two stories, four bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a fireplace and a stonewall basement. The home is ringed by grounds designed by landscape architect Ed Hollander that include a patio, fountain, a 150-year-old maple tree and a working apple orchard. The listing also includes the 22-acre Corey Creek winery in Southold, according to 27east. Gary DePersia of the Corcoran Group has the listing. Newsday reported last week on a spate of new development coming to Cutchogue, a North Fork hamlet that lays claim to being the “sunniest spot in New York.” [New York Post]
Ralph Lauren buys oceanfront Montauk home at $4M below ask
Roughly four months after Ralph Lauren went to contract on an oceanfront Montauk estate once owned by late playwright Edward Albee III, the famous fashion designer has closed on the deal, 27east reported. The 2.8-acre parcel at 320 Old Montauk Highway, which hit the market last summer seeking $20 million, ultimately sold for $16 million, according to the outlet. Proceeds from the sale will go to the New York-based Edward Albee Foundation, which supports writers and artists. Albee’s former property includes a 2,100-square-foot main house, a guesthouse and a pool house, along with a swimming pool and tennis court. The Real Deal noted in December that Lauren owns property on either side of the former Albee estate. The former playwright, a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner who died in Montauk at 88 in September 2016, bought the property in the 1960s after writing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” The listing, which was held by Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman, noted that Albee wrote several of his plays from a second-floor study overlooking the beach. [27east]
Rechlers plan to fully restore Hampton Bays’ Canoe Place Inn
Gregg and Mitchell Rechler, the cousins behind Plainview-based developer Rechler Equity Partners, told the Southampton Town Planning Board they expect to finish their restoration of the Canoe Place Inn in Hampton Bays by 2020, 27east reported. The Rechlers, who have been called Long Island’s “first family of real estate,” had originally planned to raze the entire 5.8-acre site of a former nightclub complex as part of a $110 million redevelopment project that will bring luxury living to downmarket Hampton Bays. The Rechlers are now moving forward with a three-stage plan to build a 25-room inn, while also restoring a 1,900-square-foot clubhouse and a 300-seat catering hall, giving rise to a high-end residential development called the Hampton Boathouses. During the first phase, the developers will restore the inn’s dance hall, build a framework for three of its expected 37 townhouses and reconstruct a structure connecting the inn to its ballroom. The Rechlers demolished the latter in 2016 in the hopes of building more townhouses, but promised to rebuild it after facing community backlash. Come June, the developers will start fixing the interiors of the Canoe Place Inn, along with its foundation and framework. That work should be completed within a year, 27east reported. In September, workers will start building the last Hampton Boathouse building, a process expected to take 11 months. [27east]
Southampton wants answers from East Quogue developers
The Southampton Town Planning Board has presented Discovery Land Company with a series of questions the Arizona-based company must answer before its proposed 18-hole golf course and luxury housing development can proceed in East Quogue, 27east reported. The town is trying to determine whether an earlier environmental review for Discovery Land’s Hills development is sufficient. Board members hired a third-party consultant in January to review the environmental impact statement for an earlier version of the project. Fort Salonga-based B. Laing Associates has helped board members formulate questions for Discovery Land, which is led by George Clooney pal and real estate tycoon Mike Meldman, to get more information about the controversial project, which has spawned a series of lawsuits. The developer revised its plans for the site when it was unable to switch the zoning from a Planned Residential District to a Planned Development District, 27east reported. To get in line with current zoning, Discovery Land plans to limit the use of the golf course to those who would live at the 118-unit subdivision and their guests. The developer had hoped to open the golf course to the public. Discovery Land initially intended to only open the course seasonally, but its current plan may keep it open year-round, something that 27east noted the planning board and its consultants are keen on understanding more about. [27east]
Creek-front Bridgehampton home gets ask chopped to $12.5M
A Bridgheampton home with a private dock on Sam’s Creek has taken a $1 million price cut down to $12.5 million, Behind the Hedges reported. The 1.69-acre property hit the market last September seeking $13.5 million, according to a Curbed story at the time. The 4,000-square-foot home at 87 Rose Way was built in 1992 and has six bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a recreation room, a wraparound front porch, a heated pool, a cabana with its own bathroom and a recreation room above a detached garage, among other amenities. Rooms on the second floor, including the master suite, have views of Sam’s Creek straight through to the Atlantic Ocean. The private dock on the creek, which has room for a small boat or kayak, provides access to Mecox Bay. Nancy Mizrahi of Saunders & Associates has the listing. [Behind the Hedges]
Video game maker’s Northport waterfront home gets price cut
Robert Holmes, the co-founder and former president of video game maker Acclaim Entertainment, has again cut the price of his waterfront mansion in Northport to $5.75 million, according to a listing from Cold Spring Harbor-based Lucky to Live Here Realty. The home at 205 Asharoken Avenue had hit the market in 2017 with a nearly $8 million ask, according to a story at the time from Long Island Business News. The listing price was subsequently cut to $6.5 million, Patch reported earlier this year. The 1,300-square-foot home, built in 1998, has six bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, six fireplaces, a sauna and an indoor pool. The 4.2-acre property on Northport Bay also includes an outdoor pool, tennis court and a boat house. Elena D.Agostino and Joyce Mennella of Lucky to Live Here Realty have the listing. Holmes and Greg Fischbach founded Acclaim, known for producing iconic video games like “Mortal Kombat,” “NBA Jam” and others, in an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987. The company’s annual revenues climbed to $500 million per year before it closed its doors in 2004. [Lucky to Live Here Realty]