Real LI

Chalk up another one for Sotheby’s International Realty’s super-agent Beate Moore.

Moore tells REAL LI that her $19.9 million Sagaponack listing has gone into contract “for close to the listed sales price” and that the deal should close “very quickly,” as early as next month. Moore says the new owner of the eight-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot home on Parsonage Lane is a European. She declined to provide further details on the buyer’s identity.

The home had also been listed as a $1 million rental for the summer 2008 season. Moore says that another party had made an offer to rent the property for close to the amount, but was turned down in light of the sale. The seller of the property is real estate agent Andrew Saunders, who did not represent himself in the sale.

Moore’s last big sale was the $60 million deal on the Gin Lane mega-mansion once owned by producer Marty Richards. That sale closed in March. Tiger Woods had been rumored to be the buyer of that home, but Moore and Woods himself have steadfastly denied his involvement in the transaction.

The new buzz on Shelter Island's Bumble Bee Manor is a drastic price reduction from $35 million to $21.9 million.

The 3.25-acre estate is a co-exclusive between Andrea Ackerman of Prudential Douglas Elliman and Harald Grant and Ingrid Brownyard of Sotheby’s International Realty. Built in 2005, the gated estate overlooks Coecles Harbor with 325 feet of open, expansive waterfront. The 10,000-square-foot cedar-shingle style main house has 16 rooms, a banquet-sized dining room and an elevator, office, fitness room and media room.

Ackerman says that in addition to the estate’s own deepwater dock that will accomodate a yacht, there is also a nearby association dock that can hold any overflow of boats when guests come to party. There’s a three-bedroom guest house, a Caribbean-style poolhouse with a glass cupola and an infinity pool that looks as if it disappears into the harbor.

Bumble Bee Manor first went on the market in 2006. Shelter Island's Shorewood Manor recently sold for $12.4 million after a drastic price reduction from $33 million to $22.4 million.

The Old Trees saga continues…

As RealLI reported last week, the 10-acre Southampton estate that had been on the market since 2006 finally sold two weeks ago for $39.25 million. The asking price was $48 million.

The buyer and seller of the property, as revealed last week in the The Palm Beach Daily News, were financier Donald Burns, who sold Old Trees to Harlem real estate developer Rodney Propp.

The plot thickened this week when the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal provided further details on who might actually be putting out the welcome mat at Old Trees this summer. Both papers report that shortly after purchasing the estate, Propp flipped the property to hedge fund manager John Paulson. The Journal says that Paulson paid $41.3 million.

When RealLI asked Don Burns for a comment on the sale, Burns declined to name his buyer, but said, “I know the identity of the current owner, and I have a sense that his family is an excellent match for this one-of-a-kind home.”

Incidentally, as RealLI has reported, Propp’s Bridgehampton home is currently on the market with Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group for just under $14 million. The Journal reports that Prudential’s Michael Shaheen is now listing Paulson’s Southampton home. The asking price $19.5 million.

So if Propp sold off Old Trees quickly and is also selling his Bridgehampton home, inquiring minds want to know if he’s already got another home lined up in the Hamptons. A source tells RealLI that he just may be the person who purchased that $60 million Gin Lane home that last month was rumored to have gone to Tiger Woods. Propp did not return calls for comment, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Last month, the East End was abuzz with news that golfer Tiger Woods may have purchased a home on Gin Lane in Southampton for $65 million. Woods steadfastly denied that rumor, as did listing agent Beate Moore of Sotheby's International Realty.

Rumors have now begun to circulate that hedgefunder David "Tiger" Williams is the new owner of the property. However, REAL LI has been assured by a source very close to Williams that while he does have a home in the Hamptons, he is not the buyer of the Gin Lane property.

What we do know for sure is that the final sales price of the home was $60 million and the new owner is South Lane Properties LLC, a Delaware limited liability corporation. We may just have to wait until the moving trucks pull up to find out more.

REAL LI had been hearing whispers, and then The Palm Beach Daily News reported yesterday that Donald A. Burns closed Monday on the sale of Old Trees, the 10-acre Southampton compound that has been listed for $48 million with Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty.

Grant confirmed to REAL LI that the sale had indeed closed but cited a confidentiality agreement in not providing further details.

The News reported that the buyer is Manhattan real estate developer Rodney Propp and that the sale price was $40 million. When the News asked Burns if he had chartered a separate plane to carry his millions, Burns replied, "Not necessarily. Minus the commish."

Old Trees was built on Lake Agawam in 1911.The 15,000-square-foot home has 13 bedrooms and a dining room that seats 60 people. It had been on the market since 2006.

Propp currently has his six bedroom Bridgehampton home on the market for $13.995 million, listed with Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group.

Propp could not be reached for comment on either sale.

It seems that the Tiger Woods story just won’t go away. The East End real estate world is still abuzz with the news that Woods may or may not have purchased a $65 million home on Gin Lane in Southampton.

On Monday, RealLI reported that the sale of the home, listed with Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty, had closed last week. On Tuesday, a New York Post story declared that Woods was the buyer of the 6-acre property.

Both Moore and representatives for the golfer steadfastly denied the Post’s claim, yet the paper says that it stands by the story.

And now this from the Long Island Business News: David Winzelberg reports that his sources say that Woods is indeed the buyer, having paid full price for the mansion. (We had heard the closing price was closer to $62.5 million). Winzelberg says that other bidders for the home may have included designer Ralph Lauren and money manager Eddie Lampert.

As Winzelberg says, stay tuned.

Talk about a quick turnaround.

A Southampton house listed for $65 million — which hit the market in January and went into contract a month later — recently closed. When asked about the final selling price, Beate Moore, the Sotheby’s International Realty listing agent, said, “It was a big number, that’s all I can say.” Moore told Newsday in February that she expected the owner to get close to the asking price.

The eight-bedroom, 8.5-bath Gin Lane mansion, which closed last Tuesday, once belonged to film producer Marty Richards and his wife, Mary Lea Johnson, granddaughter of the founder of the Johnson & Johnson Company.

Moore declined to give the identity of the buyer or seller, citing a strict confidentiality agreement. Public records show the seller is listed as 1776 Investments Corp. That corporation is headed by Ivar W. Mitchell, managing director of Andlinger & Co., Inc., a private investment and management firm with offices in the United States and Europe.

A five-bedroom, five-bath Norman Jaffe-designed home on Meadow Lane in Southampton is now in contract. The oceanfront dwelling, built in 1986, sits on 4.2 acres and has a heated Gunite pool and outdoor spa.

The asking price for the property was $26 million; a source tells REAL LI that the sales price is closer to $18 million.

Listing agent Pat Petrillo of Sotheby’s International Realty acknowledged that the home was in contract, but would not discuss the parties involved in the sale or the sale price, other than to say, “we’re proud of it.”

Public records indicate that the home is currently owned by Amy and Van Greenfield. She is managing partner of Van Prooyen Greenfield Llp, a law firm that specializes in providing strategic communications counsel. He is the founder of several investment and money management firms, including Blue River Capital Llc. Three years ago, the SEC accused Greenfield of securing a spot on WorldCom Inc.'s creditors' committee in 2002 by falsely claiming to own $400 million of the company's bonds. Greenfield paid $150,000 to settle the case without admitting or denying wrongdoing.

The Greenfields’ home, which records show was purchased in 1999 for $659,000, is next door to one owned by former ITT chairman Rand Araskog, who is currently a board member at Cablevision.

Beate Moore’s $65 million Gin Lane listing is now “under contract” according to the Sotheby’s International Realty website. The 8 bedroom, 8.5 bath Southampton mansion once belonged to film producer Marty Richards and his wife Mary Lea Johnson, granddaughter of the founder of the Johnson & Johnson Company.

When asked about the current deal, Moore would not divulge any details citing a strict confidentiality agreement.

Last month Moore told REAL LI that there had been “a lot of activity” and that she expected the seller would get close to the asking price.

Real estate records list the current owner as 1776 Investments Corp. Public records show that 1776 Investments Corp. is headed by Ivar W. Mitchell, managing director of Andlinger & Co., Inc., a private investment and management firm with offices in the United States and Europe.

Moore is also listing several other properties with high pricetags including a $1 million summer rental in Sagaponack that is also on the market for $19.95 million.

The former Namagansett Club, which went on the market back in 2006 for $15.8 million, now has a lower price. Harald Grant and Ed Petrie of Sotheby’s International Realty are listing the six-bedroom, 7½-bath home on 3.5 acres for $14.75 million. William Wolff of the Corcoran Group is representing the property as well.

The owner is Edgar Bronfman, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Music Group. Bronfman purchased the three-parcel property in 2005 for $12.5 million and finished renovations that had been started by a previous owner. In 2006, Wolff told Newsday that Bronfman had never actually moved into the house.

The home features wraparound porches, a wine cellar, a billiard and media room, a heated Gunite pool, a pool house, his-and-her offices and gardens designed by Deborah Nevins.

Interior designer Lorraine Kirke is selling her 11-bedroom 1890s mansion in the Georgica section of East Hampton for $12.95 million. The 7,000-square-foot home sits on 1.14 acres near Main Beach, and has three fireplaces, a heated pool and a guest cottage. Kirke is the British-born owner of Geminola, a West Village boutique whose clients have included Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

The designer is married to Simon Kirke, drummer for the rock band Bad Company, which would explain the recording studio mentioned in the listing for the estate. Last month he made a surprise guest appearance on an episode of A&E's "Private Sessions" featuring Ringo Starr, and in December he attended the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in London.

Listing agent Ed Petrie of Sotheby’s International Realty did not return a call requesting comment on the sale.

Are seven-figure summer rentals becoming commonplace?

Last month, Beate Moore of Sotheby's International Realty listed a landlocked Sagaponack home for $1 million for summer 2008. Another million dollar rental has now hit the market, this time a 6-bedroom oceanfront contemporary dwelling designed by Norman Jaffe.

Harald Grant of Sotheby's International Realty is listing the Memorial Day through Labor Day rental situated on Meadow Lane in Southampton. The 6,500 sq. ft. home sits on more than 4 acres, with 200 ft of ocean frontage, and has a Gunite pool and sunken tennis courts.

This is at least the second year in a row that Grant has listed a home for that amount, although he declined to give details of last year's rental, other than the price, when questioned by Newsday earlier this month.

Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg has added another property to his Georgica Pond holdings in East Hampton, a source tells Newsday. Spielberg closed on the purchase of the three-acre lot this week on Apaquogue Road for a bit less than the asking price of $19.95 million.

Sources say the transaction was handled by Spielberg’s lawyer, California-based Gerald Breslauer, whose company name appears on records for nearby tracts that Spielberg owns. Included in the purchase is a 4,500-square-foot, six-bedroom home that a local agent told Newsday last month was likely being purchased as a tear-down. “It’s all about land value,” the agent said. It has been reported that Spielberg is also in talks to purchase an adjacent lot owned by the estate of the late philanthropist Arthur Ross.

Spielberg’s neighbors include writers Nora Ephron and Nick Pileggi, who last summer reportedly rented their home to Paul McCartney’s ex, Heather Mills.

The listing involved a four-way exclusive with the The Corcoran Group, Sotheby’s International Realty, Brown Harris Stevens, and Prudential Douglas Elliman, sources say.

A source tells Real LI that Old Trees, the 1911 Southampton estate owned by financier Donald Burns, is in contract. The current asking price is $48 million.

The 10-acre compound has been on the market since 2006. Situated on Lake Agawam, the 15,000-square-foot home has 13 bedrooms and a dining room that seats 60 people.

Listing agent Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty did not return a call about the sale, but last May Grant told Newsday: “It’s probably the premiere estate in the Hamptons. I am fortunate to have it as a listing.”

The home was previously listed with Jay Flagg of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Goldman Sachs chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein had reportedly offered $41 million for the property early last year, rescinding the offer once word of the sale leaked to the press.

Another Gin Lane estate has hit market with an astounding price tag, this time $65 million. Listing agent Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty tells Newsday that there “has been a lot of activity” on the Southampton property and that seller should get his asking price.

Moore says that the eight-bedroom. 8.5-bath, 13,000-square-foot oceanfront home was once owned by film producer Marty Richards and his wife Mary Lea Johnson, daughter of J. Seward Johnson, Sr., whose father founded the Johnson & Johnson Company. The current owner, she says, is a “European gentleman” who owns several other homes and “does not want such a beautiful house to sit empty”.

Public records show the mansion was purchased from Richards in 2003 for $23 million by 1776 Investments. Moore says the current owner renovated the home “to the highest standards” at an expense of over $20 million. The house, originally built in 1924, has five fireplaces, a music room, a library paneled with cypress wood, and a living room that overlooks a bluestone terrace and the ocean. There’s also a guesthouse and an olympic-sized pool, lily pond and rose gardens.

Moore says there is also 400 feet of ocean frontage with a deep rock revetment so that the house, “will never fall into the ocean.”

Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty is listing a Sagaponack home for rent for Memorial Day through Labor Day 2008 for $1 million. That works out to a little over $10,000 a day for the summer season. The house is also for sale for $19.9 million.

Records show the owner of the eight-bedroom, 12,000-square-foot traditional home on Parsonage Lane is Andrew Saunders, a real estate agent for Sotheby’s in the company’s Bridgehampton office. Moore says that Saunders, a former Wall Street executive, is not representing himself in either the sale or rental of this property.

According to Moore, the home was briefly listed for sale last year for just over $20 million, and during a showing of the property, Saunders was offered $1 million to rent it out for the summer. At the time, Moore says, “The owner did not entertain the idea of a rental,” but the $1 million offer, “put the idea in his head.” Saunders, who currently lives in the home, now owns a second home in the area.

A $1 million pricetag for the season is not unheard of, but it is rare. Harald Grant of the Southampton office of Sotheby's confirmed to REAL LI this week that he had rented out a Southampton home for $1 million for the summer of 2007. Although Grant declined to give any details of the transaction, real estate sources say the property was an oceanfront mansion on Gin Lane.

A spokeswoman for the Corcoran Group says that company's highest rental for the summer of 2007 was $750,000. Of the asking price, Paul Brennan, senior vice president of Prudential Douglas Elliman says, "That's very ambitious...I have not heard of anything over a million."

While this new listing in Sagaponack does not set a record, it "might be setting a record for something that is not on the ocean," according to Janet Hummel of Town & Country Real Estate in Southold. "It’s a beautiful house," she adds.

Hummel says that the rental market for the summer season looks strong. Despite jitters about the real estate market in general, "people still want to be out in the Hamptons…we’ve had 20 rentals already in the Bridgehampton office, and three or four are pretty high end, in the $300,000 to $400,000 range."

Whoever winds up renting this home will be in good company. Rocker Billy Joel purchased two adjacent properties in Sagaponack last year. In June, Joel purchased actor Roy Scheider's home for $16.75 million for wife, Katie Lee. In November, the singer closed on the purchase of the house next door for $11.6 million.

The Associated Press has reported that a 5.9 acre property on Gin Lane in Southampton has gone on the market at $65 million, listed with Beate Moore of Sotheby’s International Realty. There’s an 8 bedroom, 8 bath, 13,000 square foot main house, as well as 7,500 square foot guest house, a spa, tennis courts and lily pond. The home reportedly once belonged to producer Marty Richards, and his wife Mary Lea Johnson, daugther of Johnson & Johnson company heir J. Seward Johnson.

Patricia Kennedy Lawford’s estate closed on the sale of her Southampton home on First Neck Lane in October, public records show. The 1.9 acre property had been on the market for $12.5 million since the spring of 2007, listed with Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty. It sold for $9.8 million to a limited liability corporation.

The 10,000 square foot home has 12 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and tennis courts, gym and a horse stable. She had owned the home for many years; records show it was placed in a family trust in 1998.

Lawford, sister of the late president John F. Kennedy, married British actor and “Rat Pack” member Peter Lawford in 1954. The couple had four children, eventually divorcing in 1966. Lawford was a fixture at Hamptons society and charity events. In 2006, she died at age 82 at her Manhattan residence.

We’ve been hearing rumors that Old Trees, the 10-plus acre compound in Southampton listed with Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty, has gone into contract. The asking price for the estate, owned by financier Donald Burns, is $48 million.

When asked about the rumors, Grant would only say that Old Trees is “not in contract” and is “still on the market.”

Whether or not that is true, you can’t blame Grant for being cagey. The New York Times reported last month that a previous buyer, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, rescinded an offer of $41 million for the property once word of the sale leaked to the press.

Actor Kelsey Grammer is at it again: The serial real estate buyer and seller has put his 7,500-square-foot Bridgehampton home on the market for $16.1 million.

The six-time Emmy Award-winner purchased the house new in 2005 with wife, Camille, for $8.5 million.

The traditional-style home is on 1.67 acres and has a heated Gunite pool, blue-stone terracing, a separate pool cottage with two fireplaces and a sunken Har-Tru tennis court.

Kelsey, who owns homes in Beverly Hills, Hawaii, Colorado and upstate New York, confessed to Hamptons magazine in June that, "My wife and I have a bad habit of developing and renovating homes. It's a silly little hobby, and a little expensive, especially since we don't tend to sell them after we've bought them."

The listing is with Faye Weisberg of Sotheby's International Realty's Bridgehampton office. She declined to comment.