Members of the Gosman family said this week that rumors the family has reached a deal for the sale of its iconic Montauk property are premature, but acknowledged that there are ongoing talks with prospective buyers.
Reached on Monday, Richard Gosman said that the property has not been sold.
“As of now, it hasn’t happened,” said Mr. Gosman, who is one of five siblings whose families own the 11 properties. “I’m not saying it won’t. You never know. But I don’t count it as sold until someone gives me a check.”
The family listed their property—totaling nearly 14 acres on 11 lots—in 2015 for $52.5 million.
There have been rumors of deals in the offing on multiple occasions since then but nothing that has come to fruition.
Mr. Gosman said the furthest negotiations have gotten was “letters of intent” on past offers.
“Nothing that can be taken to the bank,” he said. “That’s pretty much it.”
The family holdings include the waterfront Gosman’s Dock, long one of Montauk’s most famous landmarks, as well as several acres of upland currently only developed with a parking lot and a smattering of small cottages and three former motels now used for seasonal worker housing.
But some 5 acres worth of the upland, mostly facing onto the Block Island Sound waterfront, is zoned for “resort” in the East Hampton Town code, which allows hotel development and a variety of other commercial uses, and already contains 57 hotel rooms, according to listing information.
The lots that comprise Gosman’s Dock, home to three restaurants, the family’s commercial fishing dock and seafood shop, and the plaza of retail stores, is zoned waterfront, which allows for commercial and retail businesses but no lodging.
During last fall’s hamlet study analyses of the Montauk harbor region, the future of the Gosman’s property was a main focus, with the town’s consultants and some residents foreseeing large hotels as a potential future for the property if zoning is not tailored to fit another sort of development more favored by the community. The consultants had envisioned tinkering with zoning to allow more retail shop development on the waterfront parcels, and even removing portions of West Lake Drive that divide most of the property from the waterfront, to allow for park space or resorts to run to the water’s edge.
Julia Prince, a broker with Saunders & Associates who had an earlier listing for the property, said this week she no longer represents the property or its owners and would not comment on past offers on the property.