Gosman’s Listed For Sale In Montauk

The owners of Gosman’s Restaurant and Clam Bar in Montauk could be ready to move on from their longtime family business, which began as just a chowder stand—though at a price tag of $52.5 million.

The 14-acre property on Montauk Harbor was listed with Saunders & Associates about two months ago, according to Julia Prince, the exclusive listing broker who specializes in Montauk and East Hampton real estate.

The property encompasses several restaurants, including the main restaurant and clam bar, a cafe and sushi bar, retail shops, a wholesale fish operation, and even 57 motel rooms, all on and around West Lake Drive.

“I don’t know what the status of it is now,” said Roberta Gosman of the recent listing of the property. “We had something like this happen a few years ago and, obviously, we didn’t sell it—people offered a tremendous amount of money, so we listened to them, but they couldn’t come up with the money.”

She added, “It is one of those things.”

In 2006, the Gosman family had listed the property with Corcoran for $55 million. Tony Cerio, a real estate agent with Corcoran, said this week that the family had entertained an offer from a buyer, though the “money market dried up years ago and then they walked away.”

“There is a lot of interest in the property—there has always been interest in the property,” Ms. Prince said, noting that she has shown the property quite a bit since it was first listed with her. “I think it speaks for itself. It is an iconic property, it is beautifully zoned. It would be really a great thing for the right developer.”

Three of the 11 parcels that comprise the property are zoned waterfront, one parcel is zoned central business, and the rest are resort zoned, according to East Hampton Town officials.

Ms. Prince described the “right” developer as someone who really understands the character of the Montauk community. “I think we have seen different developers come in who have wanted to do really gigantic, sprawling projects that the properties they were buying were not zoned for, and ultimately those things didn’t work out,” said the sales agent, who was an East Hampton Town Board member for four years beginning in 2008.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell recalled the long legacy of Gosman’s. He said he used to roam the docks when he was a child, and even his father had worked at Gosman’s. “I have a long history with the property back when it was really just a commercial dock and a small dock house that shipped commercial fish to Fulton Fish Market, and was a small snack bar, really,” he said. “I was there when Gosman’s was only that, and I have watched the family using their own hard work to build it to what it is today.

“The Gosman family is an integral part of the Montauk community, and will be whether they own Gosman’s or not,” the supervisor added.