Land Rush Accelerates

This is the third article in a series examining various aspects of real estate on the South Fork.

Even as East Hampton Town attempts to implement the "final chapter" of its new Open Space Plan, local real estate brokers are facing a strong demand for vacant land, both south and north of the Montauk Highway. The problem is finding it.

At the high end of the market, vacant land is a scarcity, brokers agree, and available oceanfront land, virtually nonexistent. So what's a millionaire to do?

The dwindling number of premium south-of-the-highway lots - coupled with the burgeoning real estate market - is having an impact on land prices in other parts of town and fostering some new trends.

Supply And Demand

Not that there is a shortage of lots in general, townwide. There are plenty out there - from quarter-acre slivers on old filed maps to expanses of woods in Northwest. But ask a broker about premium estate property south of the highway, and you may be out of luck.

"The market for prime land is really up," said Stuart Epstein, the owner of Devlin-McNiff Real Estate in East Hampton. "It's just the old supply-and-demand thing. There's just none left."

That applies especially to coveted vacant oceanfront properties. Devlin McNiff's computers list roughly a dozen such lots left between Napeague and Southampton. In Montauk, only a few parcels on Old Montauk Highway remain, with four more to be created in the Shadmoor subdivision.

No Vacancies

"I have people who want to spend $1 million. We can't find them anything," said Richard Monte, who owns his own firm in Montauk. "There's nothing available on the ocean right now."

Brokers agree the market for such oceanfront parcels and other high-end property is strong, but say the record prices accompanying them may be viewed as unrealistic.

The only available vacant parcel on Lily Pond Lane, a 3.7-acre lot owned by Loida Lewis, is selling for $7 million. In another corner of East Hampton Village, on Further Lane bordering Two Mile Hollow Beach, 12 oceanfront acres once owned by the Evan Frankel estate are listed at $10 million.

Though the 98-acre Shadmoor development is still awaiting approval, the four proposed lots overlooking the ocean range in price from $3.2 million to $5 million. The largest lot is over 10 acres.

Soon Gone

Despite such price tags, Brendan Brindise of Pantigo Realty in East Hampton predicted most of the premium vacant properties on the market will be scooped up quickly.

"There are some [prime parcels] left," he said, "but if the pace of sales keeps up at this rate, they'll be gone in probably another 18 months."

Michael DeSario, who specializes in vacant land for Cook Pony Farm Real Estate in East Hampton, pointed to two major tracts in the Georgica area that have the potential to be divided, but instead have remained single estates.

The Creeks, Burnt Point

The Creeks, Ron Perelman's 58-acre spread just east of Wainscott, could have yielded 10 lots, some along Georgica Pond, if subdivided under current zoning.

Meanwhile, 37-acre Burnt Point on the Wainscott side of the pond was recently purchased by R. David Campbell, who tore down an old house owned by the Mathews family to build a new one.

The Creeks and Burnt Point demonstrate two of the current trends in the high end of the market: one, wealthy buyers are purchasing developed properties and tearing down or extensively renovating existing houses, and, two, buyers with money have been looking to buy larger spreads, and not hesitating to head north.

Teardowns

Brokers agreed that teardowns are the wave of the future in East Hampton's estate section. "That's our new land," said Peter Hallock, the president of Allan M. Schneider Associates. "Teardowns are our new 'vacant' land."

Two years ago, Mr. Hallock said, his office sold an oceanfront estate at the end of West End Road for $6.75 million. The buyer tore down the house, which dated to the 1940s, and built a new one.

The same has occurred recently on Further Lane, Highway Behind the Pond, and Apaquogue Road, to name a few.

"People aren't as much interested in parcels of land [south-of-the-highway] as they are in tearing down existing houses to build what they want," said Dick Baker, who heads East Hampton's Amaden-Gay Agency. "That certainly has been the wave of the near past."

The teardown phenomenon will be examined in depth in an upcoming article as The Star continues its real estate series.

Buyers Seek Privacy

Not everyone in the market for an estate-quality property is willing to go to such extremes for location alone. Several brokers noted the trend toward larger, more private lots outside what used to be called the "summer colony."

"People have been deciding in the past few years they want more space," said Mr. Hallock. "There's a real trend toward having more land, more privacy."

Mr. DeSario agreed. "There's more of a demand for a lot of land," he said. "All of a sudden they're looking for 10 acres. It's almost like they're paying for space."

Farm Subdivisions

Some buyers have been looking to the farm field areas of Bridgehampton and Sagaponack, where there is heavy subdivision going on. On Guyer Road in Bridgehampton, for example, a 2.8-acre piece of vacant land off Scuttlehole Road sold recently for $475,000.

Farther east, there is Northwest Woods. "Northwest is a place where you can go and put a nice house on two acres, with all the extras, for $600,000," said Mr. DeSario. "If you went south of the highway, you'd be looking at $1.5 million.

Despite the belief that the colonization of Northwest by such luminaries as Donna Karan has helped revive interest in the area, brokers believe the trends simply point there, and to other north-of-the-highway places.

Northwest Woods

With more than 50 new house lots just approved and a number of other roads finally ready to be developed, Northwest is certainly enjoying a healthy market - on both ends of the scale.

Subdivisions like the newly opened, 17-lot Cedar Woods are finding willing buyers for acre-or-more lots ranging from $160,000 to $225,000. The subdivision went on the market in March and five of the lots are already in contract, Mr. DeSario noted.

The figures reflect a steady increase in Northwest values over the years, said Mr. Epstein, who lives on Cedar Trail, right next to the Cedar Woods development. He should know. He bought his more-than-one-acre lot for $115,000 just five years ago.

Million-Dollar Mark

Elsewhere in the area, said Mr. Epstein, there are currently two listings for developed land - not on the water - for over $1 million. The properties and their houses overlook a 14-acre meadow on Hand's Creek Road, formerly owned by the publisher Barney Rosset.

Though vacant land hasn't climbed that high in Northwest, the million-dollar mark for non-waterfront property still had significance, Mr. Epstein said.

"It means the threshold has been transcended," he said. "It wasn't that long ago when the most expensive property in Northwest went for $500,000."

North Haven

The market for prime real estate is also slim in pricey North Haven, where only a handful of vacant waterfront parcels in the exclusive North Haven Point and West Banks subdivisions remain.

One of the remaining bluff-top lots overlooking the bay in West Banks is listed at $775,000 for just over two acres. That may be a bargain, considering the development it's in - a palatial estate built on another of the waterfront lots is currently on the market for $12 million.

"North Haven continues to be a decent alternative to paying top dollar south of the highway," said Price Topping, a broker with Sotheby's International Realty in Sag Harbor.

But just as in East Hampton, when it comes to land, prime lots are scarce. "The main thing is, there's very little left, in North Haven and in Sag Harbor," said Alfredo Merat, whose firm, Overseas Connections, represents West Banks.