DEMOLITION DERBY
Why superrich Hamptonites are ripping down mansions faster than ever before
RAZE the roof ! Only in the land of $50 lobster rolls and $19 juice would an immaculately maintained multimillion-dollar mansion, tricked out with high-end hardwoods and marbles, be written off as a teardown.
But as land values continue to skyrocket in the Hamptons, the superrich are bulldozing homes — in the pursuit of even more ostentatious mega-estates — faster than ever before.
“People buying under-utilized properties and tearing them down is not a new phenomenon, but what we have seen is that, like everywhere else, trends that were happening already have been accelerated by the pandemic,” said Long Island Assemblyman Fred Thiele. “More people are coming, they are staying longer, so the houses that were being used seasonally no longer work for four to five days a week, all year.”
Believe it or not, the math on tearing down a swank spread also checks out.
Those who want to make the East End their forever home are able to more than double the value of their investment by buying a house, bulldozing it and then maxing out the square footage allowed by zoning on a new build.
In the alternative reality of the Hamptons: 1 + 1 = 3.
“When you have chronically low supply and prices rising rapidly, landowners become a lot more creative,” said real estate analyst Jonathan Miller, who is CEO of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. “Existing properties become a target regardless of what was on the land. Whether it was renovated or looked like a teardown, it became replaceable. It’s always about the land in the Hamptons. It’s the land that appreciates.”
Currently, East End inventory is half of what it was before the pandemic hit — dropping from about 1,900 to between 700 and 800 listings — while demand is up somewhere around 90% this summer in terms of closed contracts, according to Adrianna Nava, a Compass broker and founder of Hamptons Market Data, a regional market trend tracking service.
Of course, bulldozing perfectly good country estates is an old sport for East Enders.
Back in 2003, Calvin Klein scandalized the Hamptons when he bought the historic and multi-turreted du Pont estate on Meadow Lane for around $30 million.
Many Hamptonites thought the fashion mogul would give the 1926 beauty a tasteful upgrade.
Instead, he introduced it to the wrecking ball and built a $45 million minimalist pile in its place.
His punishment: an $85 million payday when the mansion sold to hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin last March.
Other homes of architectural significance are also vanishing fast.
Famed contemporary architect Norman Jaffe built roughly 50 sculptural homes in the Hamptons before his death in 1993. Today, only a handful remain.
Modest homes on prime lots are especially fated.
A gambrel-style 5,000-squarefoot “cottage” on 2 acres of beachfront at 15 West End Road in East Hampton is currently listed for an eye-popping $48 million. Its brokers say that it has “significant potential for expansion,” a k a it’s doomed to demolition, a family member connected to the house told The Post.
These days sellers can even drum up additional cash by marketing their property as a tear down.
That’s what ballerina Sono Osato had to do to sell her 7,200square-foot Cape Cod-style retreat in Bridgehampton in 2019 for $26 million.
“It can sometimes feel shocking what we consider a teardown,” said Bespoke Real Estate Managing Director Joseph De Sane. “But the reality is, if I can sell you a beautiful piece of land with a 10year-old house for $6 million, you can take it down and build a contemporary home for another $6 million or $6.5 million, and that same property can come to market for $14 million.”
Adding 10 to 15% to the value of a property so fast is hard to do in