In Wainscott: A Family Project

The large building rising on the north side of the Montauk Highway in Wainscott just west of the East Hampton-Southampton town line is not, as many passers-by have speculated, an office park or shopping center.

It's the Wainscott Motel's new office and an attached residence for the owners, the Hatgistavrou family.

It's also something of a statement.

Father And Sons

"We wanted it to be the prettiest building on the highway. We wanted to do something that let people know they're coming to the Hamptons," said John Hatgistavrou, one of three sons and the architect who designed the post-modern, shingled, cottage-like building.

When the building is finished sometime next spring, guests of the adjacent motel will have a cozy place to enjoy a continental breakfast or sit by the fire and read the paper, he said.

The project gave the family, which runs Ionian Construction in East Hampton as well, an opportunity to show off its skills. Two other brothers are also involved in the family business. Jim is an electrician, and Steve is a plumber.

Do-It-Themselfers

Their father, Angelo, who came to this country from Greece in the early 1950s and eventually started his own construction business in the Bronx, is the general contractor, or, as Jim joked, "the guy with the whip."

The father-and-sons team did much of the work on the new building themselves, although they did have the foundation dug and poured and a framing and roofing crew on hand.

The family bought the motel in 1986 after passing up an opportunity to buy another local motel a few years earlier. "It was in bad shape," said John. "There was no hot water, no heat, no TV."

Today, the 24-unit motel serves a clientele of mostly families and young couples, along with a handful of long-term guests.

The Place To Be

The Hatgistavrous came east in 1980 to build themselves a vacation house in Springs. It had not yet been completed when two men asked Angelo if he wanted to sell it.

"I thought they were joking," he said. But when they offered a check on the spot, he knew they were serious.

It did not take the family long to realize the East End, which was at the start of a decade-long building boom, was the place to be.

The Hatgistavrous obtained a variance from the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals in 1988 to enlarge their pre-existing, non conforming motel, but chose to sit on the project for a while. They finally broke ground late last year and got started in earnest in April.

They hope to be finished by Easter.