East Deck Motel Returns to the Market
The former East Deck Motel at Ditch Plain in Montauk is back on the market, after plans to build a private beach club on the five-acre property there were met with widespread protest.
Listed for $25 million — over $10 million more than it sold for in the fall of 2013 — with Sotheby's International Realty, the property has received "an unprecedented volume of inquiries since we went live with this on Saturday," said Rylan Jacka, an associate broker who shares the listing with Edward A. Bruehl. He said he has been getting messages from "all the boutique hotel people" from New York City, as well as brokers from the city. During a phone interview with The Star on Monday morning alone, he had five inquiries.
"There are not a lot of commercial opportunities on the ocean," Mr. Jacka said of the property, which has resort zoning designation, though he added, "a residential option could be appealing to a buyer."
In 2013, the 36-room motel located at one of the most popular surfing beaches on the East Coast sold for $14.75 million to ED40, a limited liability corporation. While Mr. Jacka did not identify the sellers, an article in The New York Times in August named J. Darius Bikoff, the multimillionaire owner of Vitamin Water, as being among the principals.
Preliminary plans presented to the East Hampton Town Planning Board for a private club were met with criticism for the way it would change the area. The proposal included a two-story building with a restaurant, spa, an Olympic-size pool, and below-grade parking. An online petition by Montauk's Ditch Plains Association urged planners and the state's Department of Environmental Conservation to rebuff the application, and nearly 200 surfers took the ocean to protest the proposal over Labor Day weekend.
In September, the new owners postponed an appearance before the planning board to allow for negotiations with the town for the purchase of the property. According to Mr. Jacka, the town offered $8 million, clearly not enough to strike a deal. Organizations advocating public purchase of the property have urged the town to get additional appraisals.
By comparison, Gurney's Inn, which is on 11 oceanfront acres on Old Montauk Highway, sold in the spring of 2013 for $25 million. The Dune Deck Resort Motel, an oceanfront property in Westhampton Beach, was sold this winter to a group of investors, including the actor George Clooney, for $19 million. The investors are also building a luxury residential and golf community on a 500-acre property nearby.
With Reporting by David E. Rattray