Real LI

There’s been a $2 million price drop on Startop Estates, the 16-plus acre former thoroughbred horse ranch in Montauk. The hilltop estate, which encompasses up to seven parcels of land, is listed with Raymond and Joan Hegner of The Corcoran Group for $15.5 million.

Joan Hegner says that the property can also be purchased in smaller parcels at various price points starting at $1.2 million. The main parcel, which includes 14.4 acres and the original five- bedroom ranch house, can be purchased for $10.5 million.

Startop Estates borders a 6-acre agricultural reserve and a 1,000 acre county park with trails that lead to the Montauk Lighthouse. The vistas include views of the Atlantic Ocean, Lake Montauk and Block Island Sound.

The estate once encompassed 50 acres and was home to 30 thoroughbreds; today a handful of horses remain. Startop was originally owned by surgeon Dr. Leon Star, who passed away in 1987.

There’s been a price drop on Belle Meade, the Greek Revival mansion in Quogue once owned by Ford Models founders Eileen and Jerry Ford.

The 11-bedroom home originally went on the market with The Corcoran Group last year for $10.5 million. It is now listed with Michael Shaheen of Prudential Douglas Elliman for $8.999 million.

Belle Meade was built in 1906 and is attributed to architect Stanford White. The home is being sold by the heirs of the latest owners, Dr. Robert and Robin Cushing, whose daughter Hilary married at Belle Meade in 1985. The wedding, catered by Martha Stewart, was featured in Stewart’s 1987 book, “Weddings”.

Belle Meade sits on 3.5 acres enclosed by privet hedges. Amenities include a heated Gunite pool and a Har-Tru tennis court.

If you're interested in learning how designers work with clients to bring their vision to life, then scope out the Corcoran Group’s book, “Properties for Living.” The real estate agency partnered with HC&G magazine to write about the designers. The book showcases more than 400 exclusive East End properties with editorial that includes a look at this years 10 most sought after designers, which in turn builds on Corcoran’s branding campaign “live who you are.”

Style gurus Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan have purchased a second home on Shelter Island. The couple already owns an 1,800-square-foot, three-bedroom beach cottage on the island, and recently closed on the sale of a three-bedroom, 2,800-square-foot ranch there.

Penelope Moore of the Corcoran Group represented the buyers in the deal and says her clients were drawn to the bulkheaded bayfront home because of the wide-open water views. Moore says that “Top Design” judge Adler and Doonan, creative director for Barney’s, are both avid swimmers and plan to build a 50-foot swimming pool on the 1.4-acre property.

The home was built in 1998, has 2.5 baths and two fireplaces, and views of Bug Lighthouse. Moore says the new owners plan to do a “big renovation” and will likely retain their current Shelter Island digs until work on the new house is complete. The home was listed for $1.95 million and sold for $1.9 million.

Last year, Adler told Newsday about what drew the couple to Shelter Island: "My husband, Simon, and I just sort of randomly rented there one summer -- the first summer we met. I'd spent tons of time going to the Hamptons, and we stumbled upon Shelter Island and just instantly fell in love. It's just so mellow and chill, and there's something about that five-minute ferry ride, it keeps it all away."

Doonan recently published his fourth book, "Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You" (Simon and Schuster, $24).

As REAL LI reported yesterday, comedian and talk show host Dick Cavett is selling off part of his Montauk holdings.

Listing agent and Corcoran senior managing director Krae Van Sickle today has confirmed that Cavett is asking $30 million for a 76.8-acre waterfront parcel on DeForest Road.

Van Sickle tells REAL LI that Cavett is not selling Tick Hall, the home he owned with late wife Carrie Nye. That house, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1997, sits on adjacent land. The rebuilding of Tick Hall is the subject of a documentary film, From the Ashes.

Van Sickle says that Cavett has been in talks for many years with Suffolk County and the Town of East Hampton to purchase the nearly 77-acres for conservation purposes, but that deal has not yet been sealed and the land is now also available on the open market.

Sources tell REAL LI that talk show host and comedian Dick Cavett may be selling some of his Montauk property.

Cavett, who moved to Montauk when it was still a sleepy village in the 1960's, lived in the the Stanford White-designed Tick Hall he purchased with his wife actress Carrie Nye. The home and several nearby structures burned down in 1997. The couple painstakingly rebuilt Tick Hall, with the rebuilding project made into a documentary film. Nye died in 2006.

When contacted by REAL LI, Corcoran's Krae Van Sickle denied that Cavett was his client. Among Van Sickle's listings, however, is an 77-acre oceanfront parcel in Montauk. Coincidentally, public records show that among Cavett's Montauk holdings is a 76.8 acre tract of land on DeForest Road. He also owns another nearly 20-acre tract nearby.

Dottie Herman, chief executive officer of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, will be honored June 21 at the 12th annual "Heart of the Hamptons" gala for the American Heart Association. The part-time Hamptonite will join honorees Robert McMahon, president of U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Inc., Dr. Michael Wolk, past president of the American College of Cardiology, and super model Christie Brinkley, whose Bridgehampton house is on the market with Prudential rival The Corcoran Group. WNBC newsman Chuck Scarborough will be the master of ceremonies for the event, which will be held on the grounds of the Hayground School in Bridgehampton.

Newsday file photo

Agents and employees of The Corcoran Group kicked off the company’s annual Corcoran Cares Charity fund-raiser in Southampton last week.

The event was held at a six-bedroom, 7-½-bath Federal-style home on North Main Street, which incidentally, is on the market for $6.995 million, listed with Corcoran’s Roger Blaugh and Michael Forestano. The home sits on 1.2 acres with ocean views, a two-story, 1,700-square-foot poolhouse, seven fireplaces and a Gunite pool with integral spa.

During the 2007-2008 fiscal year, Corcoran Cares will distribute more than $33,000 to six East End charities, including The Retreat, East End Hospice, Have A Heart Community Trust, Peconic Bay Keeper, The Southampton Hospital Foundation and ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation).

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.

A seven-bedroom, 10-bath traditional home on three acres in Sagaponack closed yesterday for $12.5 million. The asking price was $13.95 million. The 8,400-square-foot home has an ocean view, as well as a heated gunite pool, covered porches with an outdoor fireplace, and tennis and basketball courts. Built by Michael Davis, the interior features custom-designed stonework and mahogany detailing. There is a gym, a sauna and a wine cellar.

Public records show the house belongs to financier Paul Scharfer and his wife, Joyce.

The listing agent was Susan Breitenbach of The Corcoran Group.

"I once got a customer because I knew John Lennon and Yoko Ono," Arlene Reckson, a Corcoran Group senior vice president, tells Dan's Papers. "I was part of their entourage in the '70s and when the Daily News did a piece on the anniversary of Lennon's death, I was mentioned. The customer had seen my name ... and made the connection." The article's other goodies: Beth Troy of Town and Country Real Estate in East Hampton got a client because of a great haircut, Christopher Stewart of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Amagansett finds customers on the playground with his son, and Katia Delouya of Devlin McNiff Real Estate in East Hampton hooks them in with her French accent.

In what certainly is one of the more unique features of a Hamptons property, one of the cottages in this East Hampton compound has its own built-in orchestra pit. Another cottage houses a gym.

The main house is an 1888 restored East Hampton Dutch Colonial with six bedrooms and 5 ½ baths near the center of the village and close to the beach. The property also includes all-weather tennis courts and a heated Gunite pool with spa.

The home is listed for $18.5 million with Jack Pearson and Cee Scott Brown, senior vice presidents of the Corcoran Group. Pearson tells RealLI, “In terms of Hamptons historic homes, this one is the real McCoy. When it was built, it was ahead of its time … It was built with such integrity and the owners have preserved and updated the property with great care.”

Public records show that the current owner is Jonathan Sheffer, composer and conductor who studied under Leonard Bernstein, spent a decade composing in Hollywood, and later founded the Eos Orchestra, an experimental arts group based in Manhattan that operated until 2004. Sheffer is a board member of the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow will soon have Mom nearby when she's out in the Hamptons.

Sources tell RealLI that Paltrow's mother, actress Blythe Danner, is set to build a house on a vacant parcel adjacent to her daughter’s home in Amagansett.

The Bluff Road property was purchased last month by West Fourth Street Trust for $3.4 million. The Paltrows are said to be the name behind that trust. The sellers were the heirs of author and editor Joel Carmichael, who had lived on the land for 40 years.

In 1966 Carmichael was instrumental in salvaging the circa 1902 Amagansett Life Saving Station by purchasing the building for 75 cents. He paid $10,000 to move the structure to his property where it sat until last year, when it was donated by the family to the Town of East Hampton. Today, it sits behind the East Hampton Marine Museum.

The 2.3-acre Carmichael property was put on the market over a year ago for $6.25 million with Martha Perlin of The Corcoran Group. The property was later subdivided, and sources say that Danner won out in a lively bidding war over the 1-plus acre parcel she will build on. The remaining parcel with a two-bedroom cottage is still for sale at $3 million. Perlin declined to comment on the sale, as did Danner and Paltrow.

Paltrow and rocker husband Chris Martin -- parents of Apple and Moses -- purchased their nearby home for $5.4 million in 2006. The home was featured last year in Home and Garden. See photos here.

Getty Images photo

Summer rentals these days have reached $1 million in some parts of the Hamptons, but Russian heiress Anna Anisimova made headlines in 2006 when she leased a Water Mill South mansion for $635,000 for three months -- an almost unheard of sum at the time.

Anisimova is now building a Hamptons home of her own, and the 8,500-square-foot, seven-bedroom home that she rented on Cobb Road is listed for sale with Gary DePersia of the Corcoran Group. Originally listed at just under $20 million last year, the asking price has recently been lowered to $17.5 million.

This past weekend the house was featured on WNBC’s “Open House NYC.” You can see the video here.

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.

"It's the strong rental market I've ever seen," says Susan Breitenbach of The Corcoran Group, who has listings ranging from $12,000 to $400,000 for the summer. This season, there are two for $1 million. This one, on Shinnecock Bay, is listed with Brown Harris Stevens for $400,000. Read all about it -- and see a video of one of the $1 million summer rentals -- by clicking here.

A seven-bedroom, 10-bath traditional home on three acres in Sagaponack is in contract. The asking price is $13.95 million. The 8,400-square-foot home has an ocean view, as well as a heated gunite pool, covered porches with an outdoor fireplace, and tennis and basketball courts. Built by Michael Davis, the interior features custom-designed stonework and mahogany detailing. There is a gym, a sauna and a wine cellar.

Public records show the house belongs to financier Paul Scharfer and his wife, Joyce. The house is expected to close in April.

The listing agent is Susan Breitenbach of The Corcoran Group.

Publisher Richard Ekstract has lowered the asking price of his eight-bedroom Bridgehampton home to $15 million. It had been listed for $18 million. The 7,500-square-foot home had been the 2005 Hamptons Cottages and Gardens Idea House. It was designed by San Francisco, Calif., architect Hugh Huddleson, East Hampton designer Robert Stilin and landscape stylist Mario Nievaro. The house is on 3.7 acres. The listing agent is Gary DePersia of The Corcoran Group.

The Corcoran Group has announced a record-breaking sale on the North Fork.

According to the company, broker Sheri Winter Clarry recently completed at $19.5 million transaction for 135 acres in Peconic. The property, known as Indian Neck Farms, has a 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, five-bath mansion, a working organic farm and a 19-acre vineyard. Fourteen buildings, including two barns and a two-bedroom guesthouse, dot the estate.

Property records show that the land belongs to Pat and Phil Marco. He is an internationally renowned photographer and the recipient of numerous awards for his still-life advertising photography. Marco, who was raised in Brooklyn, has also worked on numerous commercials, and has done filmography for movies such as "The Color of Money," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Casino" and "Gangs of New York."

Darius Bikoff, who sold his Queens-based Energy Brands line of VitaminWater and other enhanced drinks to Coca-Cola last year, recently bought an oceanfront home in Sagaponack for $19.250 million. The six-bedroom, 4.5-bath Contemporary is on Daniels Lane. Built in 1986, the 8,000-square-foot house has 170 feet of private waterfront. The 2.50-acre property has a pool and a tennis court.

The owners are Leonard and Phyllis Rosen. Leonard Rosen is the retired founding partner of New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which counsels many of the nation's largest companies. According to the firm's Web site, Rosen specialized in representing major institutional lenders in the restructurings and reorganizations of large corporate borrowers

Paul Brennan of Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate was the listing agent. The deal closed Jan. 4. The Corcoran Group's Jennifer Mahoney brought the buyer.

Bikoff founded his company, also known as Glaceau, in 1996. He sold the company last year to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion. He is now running a Coke stand-alone unit.

Musician Paul Simon’s newest Montauk neighbor is Adam Lindemann, art collector, polo player and media entrepreuner. Sources have confirmed to REAL LI that Lindemann is the purchaser of the private, six-acre blufftop property built by developer Tom Gessler.

The home, which had been listed with Bonny Aarons and Janette Goodstein of the Corcoran Group for $25 million, went into contract in October, with the sale to be completed by March of this year. The property sold for $21.5 million.

Other neighbors include photographer Peter Beard, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner and J.Crew chief Mickey Drexler, who purchased the nearby estate once co-owned by Andy Warhol.

Lindemann is married to Amalia Dayan, granddaughter of the late Israeli politician and military leader Moshe Dayan. The couple wed in 2006 in Jerusalem in a ceremony attended by actress Uma Thurman.

The so-called "PURE" house on Leslie Road in Peconic has sold for $1.9 million, says listing agent Sheri Winter Clarry of The Corcoran Group. What drew her client to the house, she says, was “the light that comes into it in any weather…the light is so pure and brilliant.” The home, aptly named “PURE” by its builders, is one of several that the Three Pillars Group has constructed overlooking the Raphael Vineyard.

The exterior design of this newly constructed five-bedroom, six-bath dwelling was influenced by traditional North Fork barns. The loftlike interior is “clean and sleek, with beautiful modern lines,” and lots of windows, Winter Clarry says.

The 5,200-square-foot home has 20-foot ceilings in the great room, a detached guest suite, an art gallery, a library, a pool and a fireplace. The most recent asking price for the one-acre property was $2.25 million.

More summer renters are setting their sights on the North Fork, says Patricia Gleason, senior vice president of The Corcoran Group’s Cutchogue office. Many of these renters, she says, are looking for high-end properties and are opting for extended season leases into September and October.

Gleason just clinched a deal on what she says may be a record price, $90,000, for an extended season rental for a home in Mattituck. “I have not heard of anything higher for this area.” The five-bedroom, 6.5-bath home on Lloyd’s Lane has been leased from the end of April to the end of September. The Long Island Sound-front home is also for sale for $3.4 million.

“There’s a whole different feeling on the North Fork…it’s much more laid back,” she says. “We have beautiful beaches, all with public access, open rural spaces, vineyards and no traffic problems.” Gleason says that renters in September and October enjoy “beautiful weather, changing leaves and fall pumpkin festivals.”

Gleason says that while North Fork rents are still less expensive than those on the South Fork, “the prices are getting closer and closer.” Other recent deals she has closed are a $60,000 summer rental and a $25,000 rental for the month of August.

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.

If it’s privacy you’re looking for, drive down a quarter mile hedge-lined driveway to this 5.9-acre Bridgehampton traditional shingle-style home, listed at $13.995 million. The 6,900-square-foot Ocean Road mansion was built in 1995, has six bedrooms, 7.5 baths, and a tennis court and a heated Gunite pool with a pool house.

Listing agent Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group would not identify the owner, but public records show that real estate developer Rodney Propp purchased the home in 1999. Among the luminaries who have attended parties there are musicians Wyclef Jean and Damon Dash, actor Hugh Jackman and models Christy Turlington and Taye Diggs.

In December, the New York Post reported that Propp and his wife, Eleanor, had purchased a condo on Central Park North in Manhattan for $6.6 million, a record for a Harlem residence.

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.

Looking to party like a Hollywood celebrity next summer?

There may be no better place than Goose Creek, a 5.5 acre estate in Wainscott South that is available for rental for summer 2008 for $400,000. While that may seem a tidy sum, it’s a relative bargain compared to the $600,000 asking price for summer 2007.

The 25,000 square foot home overlooks Georgica Pond, and has a steam room, sauna, tanning bed and its own barber shop. There is even a theater that can seat more than 100 of your closest friends. Former renters have included music mogul Jay-Z and Brookville’s own Jennifer Lopez. Academy award winner Geena Davis married there in 2001 and Rosie O’Donnell hosted Madonna’s 40th birthday at the mansion.

But you may have to act fast. Listing agent Susan Breitenbach of the Corcoran Group says that the property, which is also for sale for $19.95 million, has seen some, “good interest lately. It seems that the strong Euro is quite a factor.”

Jon and Sharon Luther purchased a newly constructed five-bedroom traditional home on Pleasant Lane in Southampton village after nearly a year of looking, says Gale Conetta of the Corcoran Group. The house, which the couple plan to decorate using local designers, had been listed for $3.45 million.

Jon Luther, known to friends as “Jack”, is the CEO of Masachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts. The couple bought the 4,000-square-foot shingled home as a summer retreat for their family, making sure there is plenty of room for the grandkids, Conetta says. They also recently purchased a home in Palm Beach, Fla.

The Luthers are now listing the property with Corcoran as a rental for the month of August 2008 for $65,000.

Donuts not included.

The Corcoran Group’s Susan Breitenbach has been recognized by the firm as top East End sales agent by sales volume for 2007. Breitenbach, a name familiar to anyone who knows anything about Hamptons real estate, is the listing agent for the 60-acre, $75 million Three Ponds Farm, and Christie Brinkley’s $30 million Tower Hill estate, both in Bridgehampton. The announcement was made yesterday at Corcoran’s annual holiday party and awards ceremony at the Maidstone Club in East Hampton.

Top exclusive listing agent honors went to Gary DePersia of the East Hampton office.

Breitenbach and DePersia were also listed among a select group of brokers, including Bonny Aarons, Linda Haugevik, and the team of Cliffeton Green and Drew Green, with over $50 million in sales volume.

"There's nothing not to love about this house," Evan Kulman, a Corcoran vice president, tells Forbes Video Network in this video tour of a $9 million Hamptons estate. Unless you're looking at it: Before the reporter even has a look around, she has to take off her shoes. Some of us find that just plain icky. See it here.

It was just a typo, Jossip. As Real LI reported first on Monday, designer Tommy Hilfiger's newly sold East Hampton house only has 5-1/2 bathrooms. Still, the math on bathroom sharing is brilliant.

A source has confirmed to Newsday that designer Tommy Hilfiger just sold his five-bedroom, 5-½ bath mansion on Further Lane in East Hampton. Hilfiger purchased the home in May 2006 for $17 million, renovated it, and placed it back on the market a few months later for $24.5 million.

The house was taken off the market and rented to singer Mariah Carey this past summer for about $350,000. It is said that Carey is not the buyer. Neighbors include Jerry Seinfeld, Helmut Lang and Donny Deutsch.

The house was sold furnished for $26.5 million. Hilfiger traveled to Bali with Brooklyn and Hamptons-based furniture designer Jason Lambeth to create some of the furnishings.

Listing agent Deirdre Jowers of the Corcoran Group would not comment on the sale.

Billy Joel's officially a neighbor of himself.

He has closed on his latest beachfront house, a 1-acre Sagaponack property located right next door to the $16.75-million, five-bedroom surprise he snagged in June for wife, Katie Lee.

One of several celebs with a constant eye out