Road to riches

Hamptons lane listed for $2.5M

A private road in an exclusive estate section of the Hamptons is now for sale — for $2.5 million.

The 1 percenters pay upward of $25 million to live on tony Holly Lane in Water Mill, but they must bizarrely obtain easements to use the private road that leads to their homes.

Now that road is on the market — and a new owner could make the residents’ lives a living hell.

Buying the road would give the owner access to the water, and a spot to dock a boat.

The owner would also have the right to create whatever landscaping he or she desires, as long as it doesn’t block the access of neighboring homeowners.

The owner could also change the road’s gate and add art and sculpture to the space — a potential nightmare for master-of-the-universe types.

“It’s all about control,” listing broker Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman said.

The land was originally owned by merchant financier Ancell Ball and his wife, Isabel, a high-society couple.

In 1929, they sold their waterfront estate to Thomas Edison’s business partner, Joe Murray. In 1959, devel- oper Alfred Padula bought it.

While most of the land has sold — some 18 parcels valued at least $200 million — the Padula family, including artist Warren Padula, still owns the private drive, which consists of a strip of land varying from 40 to 75 feet wide, encompassing several gates, trees and lawns on 1.25 acres.

All of the Holly Lane properties have easements to pass over the road to get in and out.

However, the heirs of the developer still own the fee title of the majority of Holly Lane and its verges to the water.

“A sophisticated investor will understand that Holly Lane is a brand like Chanel, and that majority control and ownership of such a parcel could be very valuable,” a real-estate source said. “The Holly Lane Association should have bought the road, but they never did.”