‘The Mooch’ buys Manhasset home for over $3M
Former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci and his wife Deidre Bell bought a 6,200-square-foot home in Manhasset for $3.05 million, the New York Post reported, via the Rupert Murdoch-owned Realtor.com, which noted the final sales price was about $1.1 million less than the property came on the market for last year. The home at 45 Plymouth Road, which was built last year, has six bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms and coffered ceilings, along with a master suite with a fireplace and private balcony. Lisa Ferraro and Rula Baki of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Real Estate handled the listing. Scaramucci, whose firm SkyBridge Capital hopes to bring in $3 billion in investment for its Opportunity Zones fund, spent just 10 days as President Donald Trump’s press secretary in 2017. The Harvard Law School graduate’s to the Trump administration reportedly so angered Bell that she filed for divorce. When the couple reconciled, they listed their Southampton beach house for $3.99 million and bought another home in Water Mill for $7.49 million. The couple decided not to sell the beach house and relisted their Water Mill property earlier this year at nearly $10 million. [NYP]
Christie Brinkley officially unloads historic Sag Harbor home
Three months after going to contact on her Sag Harbor mansion, former model Christine Brinkley has officially offloaded the historic property for close to its asking price of $17.99 million, Mansion Global reported. The final sales price for the wood-shingled mansion at 1 Fahys Road is still a steep price cut from the $25 million it sought when first hitting the market in 2016. Brinkley’s 4.44-acre parcel subsequently took a price chop to $20 million in mid-2017. But Brinkley, who rose to fame in the 1970s when she graced the covers of Sports Illustrated’s famous swimsuit issue, still made a profit on the deal. Mansion Global reported that she bought the waterfront home in 2004 for $7.15 million. Listing broker Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman declined to discuss the final sales price with the outlet, citing a confidentiality agreement. The New York Post noted that the Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach brought in the unidentified buyer for the 5,315-square-foot, five-bedroom home, which was built in 1843 for a Sag Harbor sea captain. Earlier this month, another Sag Harbor home at 2 Harding Terrace officially sold for $5.25 million, according to 27east, which noted that the property was designed by Peter Cook and developed by attorney Bruce Bronster. As for Brinkley, 65, she still owns properties in Bridgehampton and Manhattan. [Mansion Global]
Hauppauge auction to determine fate of 230 parcels worth $34M
An auction scheduled for next week in Hauppauge could see more than 230 mostly residential parcels throughout Suffolk County change hands as controversial Brooklyn-based developer Robert Toussie looks to downsize his portfolio, Long Island Business News reported. Toussie, one of the largest private landowners on Long Island, began accumulating the property five decades ago. Toussie, 78, now lives in Florida and is ready to unload the vacant parcels so they can be developed. The parcels range in size from a 5,000-square-foot wooded property in Eastport with a minimum bid of $7,000 to a 15-acre plot in East Hampton with subdivision approval for three single-family homes that is seeking at least $4 million. Other properties are located in Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Southampton. LIBN noted that if all the properties sell at their minimum bids, Toussie will take in more than $33.5 million. The two-day auction will be held on May 14 and 15 at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge. [TRD]
Error could end $100M hotel, rental development in Islandia
A proposed $100 million project in the Village of Islandia may be imperiled because its developer left off a property owner in its zoning change application, according to Newsday. PMG Development Group LLC, which is based in Virginia, proposed the change as part of its plan to build a four-story apartment building with 325 units and a 110-room hotel, along with some retail and restaurants near Expressway Drive Road between Dewey Street and Old Nichols Road. But the Suffolk County Water Authority owns part of the property and was left off PMG Development’s application, town attorney Joseph Prokop said in a public hearing. With that revelation, the whole proposal is “not actively being considered” by Islandia’s board of trustees, Prokop said. Islandia Mayor Allan Dorman is staunchly opposed to the project. “I don’t want apartments. I never supported apartments in the Village of Islandia, not once. Zip. Nada. I don’t want apartments,” he said at the hearing. [Newsday]
Peconic preservation fund slips 29% due to slow luxe home sales
The Peconic Region Community Preservation Fund experienced a 29 percent decline in revenues during the first quarter of 2019 because high-end Hamptons home sales have slowed so dramatically, the East Hampton Star reported. Sales during the first three months of this year dropped 20 percent compared to the same time in 2018, their lowest point in seven years, according to data from Douglas Elliman. The number of East End homes sold for more than $10 million was also the lowest it has been in six years. The Peconic preservation fund draws its revenues from a 2 percent real estate transfer tax in East Hampton, Riverhead, Southampton, Shelter Island and Southold. Southampton posted the steepest decline, dropping from $14 million in preservation fund revenues at the start of 2018 to just $8 million this year. Shelter Island saw its fund revenues fall 38 percent, Southold had a 19 percent dip and East Hampton took a 14 percent tumble. Bucking the trend, Riverhead posted a 9 percent increase. [East Hampton Star]
Southampton home with rooftop putting green sold for $8M below ask
Three months after going to contract, the new construction “Summer House” in Southampton has officially sold for $27 million, nearly $8 million below the $34.95 million it originally came on the market for in July 2017, 27east reported. The home was built two years ago by Kean Development and its interiors were designed by Anthony Ingrao, according to Curbed. Sitting on nearly four acres, the 23,000-square-foot home at 6 Olde Towne Lane has three levels, nine bedrooms, 14-and-a-half bathrooms, an elevator, six fireplaces, two full kitchens and a rooftop putting green. Its lower level alone has a full basketball court, as well as a gym, juice bar, spa, steam room and theater. The grounds include a pool, a pool house with its own kitchenette, a tennis court and a detached three-car garage. Kean Development was represented by the Corcoran Group’s Gary DePersia and Tim Davis. DePersia brought in the buyer, whose identity is shielded by a limited liability company. [27east]
Developer rejects $1.8M bid for former Kmart site in Middle Island
Garden City-based developer Wilbur Breslin has nixed Suffolk County’s approximately $1.8 million offer for his 21-acre parcel in Middle Island on which the county hoped to build a park with fields to be used for youth sports leagues, Newsday reported. This is the second time that Breslin has rejected an offer for the land, which is now a mostly empty lot after a Kmart store that stood on it was demolished in 2016. Breslin had asked for more than Suffolk officials were legally allowed to offer. The county, which resubmitted its bid in December, can only propose paying the appraisal value for the land. Breslin, however, is still talking to officials with the county and the Town of Brookhaven, County Legislator Sarah Anker told Newsday. “They may be negotiating a development, and he wants to develop that property,” said Anker, who hopes officials make another offer. Breslin is apparently in talks with Brookhaven officials about developing housing on the site along with park land. [Newsday]
Brookhaven launches effort to revitalize Mastic Beach
Officials in Brookhaven have hired an engineering firm to comprehensively study Neighborhood Road as part of an effort to revitalize the former Village of Mastic Beach, which was disbanded in 2016, Newsday reported. The firm, which Newsday did not name in its report but identified as Nelson, Pope & Voorhees by the Long Island Advance, will take a couple of months to figure out the buildings that should be demolished, which should be redeveloped and gather information for a broader redevelopment plan. There have been signs of new development life in the Mastic Beach area, such as a $9.5 million ambulance headquarters that opened in September. Several developers have already told officials they’re interested in investing in Mastic Beach, Brookhaven Town Councilman Dan Panico told Newsday. But full redevelopment needs increased sanitation capacity, officials said. Voters passed a $191 million referendum to fund a new sewer district for the area, but that didn’t include physical sewers for Mastic Beach. Officials are looking to get federal and state money to fund a $32 million sewer connection, but developers would still need to pay for the pipe, Newsday reported. Officials also have only 12 more abandoned homes to demolish in order to fully eradicate a vacancy problem. [Newsday]