$118.5 Million Sale In Water Mill Shatters 2021 Record

At the buzzer, a breathtaking deal closed out the fourth quarter of 2021 just before the new year — a record-breaking $118.5 million, even by East End standards, for a compound of four properties in Water Mill that now has a lawsuit on its heels.

In the biggest sale of last year, and the second largest in Hamptons history, deed transfers show that 70B and 70C Cobb Road sold on December 30 for $56.5 million and $60 million, respectively, which sit adjacent to a vacant parcel at 70A Cobb Road and another unaddressed Cobb Road property that sold for $1 million each, according to the Real Estate Report Inc.

Although each sold to different, yet similarly named, LLCs, the off-market deal screams that they went to a single buyer, who has now acquired two mansions — with 18 bedrooms and just over 33,000 square feet of living space between them.

The seller, on the other hand, is actually a duo — fashion magnate Arthur “Artie” Rabin and his son, Jason Rabin, who serves as the president of his father’s company, Wear Me Apparel/Kids Headquarters, which creates merchandise for brands including Kenneth Cole, Timberland, and Sketchers USA.

And they’re now at the center of a lawsuit.

According to Behind the Hedges, Nest Seekers International — which reportedly entered a year-long agreement for a co-exclusive to sell the properties with Hedgerow Exclusive Properties — is seeking a $1.5 million commission fee, plus attorney’s fees and other relevant costs.

The claim, filed on January 18 in Suffolk Supreme Court, says that the agreement specified that if the sale occurred within six months following the October 7, 2021, expiration date and the showing happened during the year-long agreement, Nest Seekers would be “entitled to 2.5 percent of the gross selling price of the property,” the article explains.

“Nest Seekers alleges that during the last week of September 2021, the co-broker showed the property to the eventual purchaser, but did not apprise Nest Seekers,” the article states. “The suit further alleges that the Rabins not only concealed the showing from Nest Seekers, but ‘misrepresented to Plaintiff the date that the showing occurred claiming it occurred in December 2021 in an effort to avoid liability for Plaintiff’s brokerage commission.’”

The trade is second only to the $147 million sale of an oceanfront estate in East Hampton — a combination of three lots 60, 62 and 64 Further Lane — in 2014.