When the coronavirus pandemic struck New York City last March, many New Yorkers decided to temporarily stick it out at short-term rentals in the Hamptons. As the crisis continued and it became clear COVID was not subsiding any time soon, those tentative renters became buyers, aided by low mortgage rates and the ability to work from home. According to a report from Sotheby’s International Realty, sales activity in the Hamptons in the third quarter of last year saw a significant increase year over year at all price points as many sought more space and access to the outdoors. “It took a pandemic for folks to discover that the Hamptons is so much more than a swanky summer-only home destination,” Holly Hodder, an agent managing East End listings for Sotheby’s International Realty, said. “Thousands of people who have settled here for hundred-plus years as full-time residents know that anyone can find an affordable level.”
montauk
Cool Listings, Hamptons
Photos courtesy of Compass
With views like this, why wouldn’t you put the pool on the roof? Set on a full acre on a high bluff on the shores of Montauk, this three-level contemporary home is party-ready inside and out. Asking $9,995,000, the house has 6,000 square feet of interior space, five bedrooms, and 4,000 square feet of outdoor space including the rooftop and another level of outdoor lounges.
Features, Getting Away, Hamptons, New Jersey, NYC Guides
New York City has some great local beaches, like the Rockaways, Coney Island, and Brighton and Orchard Beaches. But when you need a short break from all the spots you can hit via the subway, it’s worth remembering that there are some great beaches just a quick drive or NJ Transit/Long Island Railroad-ride away. Here are some of our favorite day beach trips from the city, from up-and-comer Asbury Park and Long Branch in NJ to long-time favorites like Fire and Shelter Islands.
Celebrities, Getting Away, Hamptons
Scarlett Johansson image via Wikimedia Commons.
Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost have looking at beachfront properties in the Hamptons. According to the New York Post, Johansson and her man recently checked out a five-bedroom condo at Gurney’s in Montauk, in the resort’s new 26-unit residential section which opened in 2016. The pair toured a pretty property priced at $7.95 million (reduced from $8.49 million, though it’s still the most expensive of the eight available residences).
Celebrities, Cool Listings, Hamptons
Bernie Madoff’s former Montauk home, seized by authorities in 2009 after the disgraced investor’s Ponzi scheme fell apart, has hit the market for $21 million. The current owners of 216 Old Montauk Highway, Steven Roth, the chair of Vornado Realty Trust, and his wife Daryl, a producer for Broadway, picked up the 3,000-square-foot home in 2009 for $9.41 million. Tapping renowned designer Thierry Despont, the couple totally renovated the three-bedroom, ocean-front home, according to the Wall Street Journal. The house sits far from the road at the end of a long gated driveway and boasts a private path to the beach.
Cool Listings, Hamptons
A couple of years ago, 6sqft featured the notable design of this contemporary Montauk getaway just steps from a private ocean beach. The owners worked with Berg Design Architecture to create a lofty home on land they purchased for $970,000 in 2013. The result was an ideal summer retreat that’s also cozy and warm in winter. In “upside down” house fashion, the majority of the home’s bedrooms are on its guest-friendly lower level with easy access to the pool, and its entertaining spaces are upstairs along with the ocean views (h/t Wall Street Journal). The home is now on the market for $6,495,000.
Cool Listings, Getting Away, Hamptons
Owning a “box of air on the land” at the Montauk Shores trailer park has become the ultimate status symbol for summering rich and famous, reports the New York Post. From “glorified changing room” after a day at the beach to compact escape chamber, denizens of the boho-chic beach town have snapped up so many modular mobile homes at the Montauk trailer park that it now has its own “Billionaires’ Corner.” The trailer park wasn’t always trendy; it began as a pop-up tent campsite in the 1940s and ’50s, eventually becoming a resort of sorts for police and firefighters, teachers and fishermen.
Celebrities, Hamptons, Recent Sales
The hot Hollywood couple may be downsizing as far as the number of bedrooms they’ll have, but they’re getting ocean views from everywhere in the house. As 6sqft reported, Watts and Schreiber put their stylish six-bedroom Amagansett cottage on the market for $6 million back in December. Now, 27East reports they’ve purchased a four-bedroom house further out on the Island in boho-trendy Montauk.
The 3,600-square-foot home, for which the award-winning actors paid $5.4 million, sits on a half-acre across the street from the beach and abuts a 100-acre nature preserve. Similar to their former retreat, there’s a heated gunite pool and pool house, a chef’s kitchen and garage parking.
Design, Hamptons, Interiors
Understandably busy creative couple Elisa Restrepo, co-founder of the luxurious minimalist shoe label Dieppa Restrepo, and restaurateur Dylan Dodd (Karasu, Walter’s, Walter Foods, and Barrio Chino) turned to Brooklyn architects Space Exploration to transform their three-story split-level house in the laid-back (though lately less so) surfing village of Montauk. 6sqft has featured the firm’s work before, and they’ve done another fine job creating an un-fussy and livable space with white and pale woods, earthy textiles and plenty of natural light. The house underwent a full gut remodel, including extensive landscaping, which took a year, but looks completely worth the effort.
Design, Hamptons, Interiors
It’s definitely beach season, and it’s refreshing to get a peek at homes filled with ocean breezes. The playful and colorful interiors created by Ghislaine Viñas Interior Design have transformed city lofts and townhouses–but her paintbox palette works just as well, it turns out, by the sea. From the outside, this Montauk getaway for a New York City family is a classic East End beach house, but Ghislaine’s irreverent way of mixing color and mid-20th-century modern and eclectic styles gives this laid-back home a vibe that’s also part Malibu hideaway, part Miami chic.