J. Crew Chairman Mickey Drexler Lists Wainscott Home For $21.5 Million

Nov 6, 2017 10:04 AM

A high-profile serial house-flipper has struck again: Mickey Drexler, the chairman of the J. Crew clothing line, has put his Wainscott home on the market, less than two years after selling the Montauk estate once owned by Andy Warhol. Stop him before he buys again!

The latest listing, via Paul Brennan (who sold the Montauk manse) and Ronald White of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, is $21,500,000. For that, the next owner of 120 Beach Lane will enjoy a 3,500-square-foot home on 2 acres with 315 feet of beach right on the Atlantic. There is also a view of adjacent Wainscott Pond. The three-bedroom residence has an open floor plan, double-height ceilings, a media area with an egg-shaped fireplace, and a wraparound deck that connects to a wooden boardwalk leading to the beach. Mr. Drexler paid $17 million for the property, then listed it for $26.6 million. Even after a $4 million reduction there were no takers, so it was removed from the market. Now, obviously, it is back on, after another $1 million off.

The Warhol estate in Montauk had been purchased by the artist and a frequent film collaborator, Paul Morrissey, in 1972, for $225,000. The site was a haven for other artists and rock stars in the 1970s into the ’80s. Mr. Morrissey inherited all of the 5.7-acre property upon Mr. Warhol’s death in 1987 at age 59. In 2007, Mr. Drexler wrote a check for $27.5 million, and the place, consisting of a 3,800-square-foot main house and five cottages, was his. He managed to hold on to it until the last quarter of 2015, when he sold it for $50 million. That set a record for a real estate transaction in Montauk, but that could be eclipsed if/when Tick Hall, the estate owned by Dick Cavett, sells. At last glance, the listed price was $62 million.

Maybe someone should give Mr. Drexler the phone number for Mr. Cavett. After all, in an article in Women’s Wear Daily about the Warhol estate sale, Mr. Brennan stated blithely about Mr. Drexler, “He buys and sells a lot.” Reportedly, he owns property in the Town of East Hampton in addition to the Wainscott beach cottage.