Water Mill Real Estate Transfer A ‘Juicy’ Deal

It’s “roundup” time again here on the eastern frontier, starting off with a “juicy” story. The highest dollar amount in recent real estate closings was the $13.75 million Jack and Robin Ross paid for a property on Luther Drive in Water Mill. It probably doesn’t hurt that Ms. Ross is the daughter of Leonard Marsh, a founder of Snapple.

It was in 1972 that Mr. Marsh, joined by a brother-in-law and a childhood friend, began a company called Unadulterated Food Products in New York City. It sold fruit juices to health-food stores. The name wasn’t that sexy, and moving the company to Valley Stream on Long Island did not boost its appeal. But the partners were persistent, and industrious.

Mr. Marsh, for example, continued to operate a window-washing business while sales of what had become the Snapple Beverage Corporation grew. The name of the juice-based beverage was a combination of “snappy” and “apple.”

With interest in healthy eating surging in the 1980s, sales leaped. In 1987, the company introduced a series of iced teas. Some smart advertising helped, especially TV commercials in the early 1990s featuring the Snapple Lady, played by a woman who had been plucked from the company’s order department. By 1994, the Snapple Beverage Corporation was drinking in $700 million in annual sales.

As many of us know, the real money is in selling out. That same year, Mr. Marsh and his partners sold to the Quaker Oats Company for $1.7 billion. He stayed on for a few years as an executive. The company is now the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, based in Plano, Texas. Mr. Marsh died in 2013 at 80.

Among other enterprises, Jack and Robin Ross have been involved in philanthropy. One of their more high-profile endeavors is the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine, which is awarded via the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York.

Charles and Laurie Schaffran have opened their wallets to the tune of $4.5 million to buy a manse on Water Mill Towd Road. Those with long memories of Wall Street machinations may remember that Alliance Capital and its affiliates were the target of an investigation by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2003 as he clawed his way closer to the governor’s mansion. One result of the probe was Alliance had to fork over $600 million to settle various civil charges. Four years later, Mr. Schaffran, an attorney who had been a broker at Alliance, won a defamation case against the company because it had tried to blame him for the scandal. He was awarded $3.1 million; he had sought $16 million.

In the this-is-a-tad-sad department: The former estate of John Randolph Hearst on Lake Agawam in Southampton may wind up sold off in pieces. The 15-acre property is being offered as four separate building lots. You can have it all for $59 million, but if you’re a little short, you can have a piece of Hearst history for $19.75 million for one lot or $13.95 million each for the other lots.

J.R. Hearst was born in New York City in 1909, the third son of press baron William Randolph Hearst, the model for the central character in the classic film “Citizen Kane.” The younger Hearst entered the news business as publisher of the New York Daily Mirror in 1932, and he went on to serve various positions in the Hearst Newspapers empire. In November 1958, John Randolph and his wife were vacationing in the Virgin Islands when he died of a sudden heart attack, at only 49. More than a thousand people attended his funeral in Manhattan.

By the early 1980s, the Southampton estate was owned by Frank Wyman, a businessman with such a fondness for golf that he had six acres planted with special grasses to create fairways. He died two years ago, perhaps ascending to golf heaven. The 6,500-square-foot main house on the property is considered a tear-down. When that happens, maybe a sled named “Rosebud” will be discovered.

Not your usual foreclosure: Going on the auction block on the steps of Southampton Town Hall on May 5 is 268 Main Street in Sag Harbor. As regular readers—and certainly village residents—know, the residential areas close to downtown Sag Harbor are real estate hot spots. All along Main Street are million-dollar renovations and expanded structures. The house and property at 268 Main sure looks like a lovingly done restoration. So what happened? The owner is listed as Leonard Burke, and on May 5, if you bring $1,857,047.12 with you, his house can be yours.

On the East Hampton side of the fence, the biggest sale announced last week was the $4.625 million paid by Lauren and Lee Feldman for a property on Abraham’s Path. Welcome to the neighborhood!