A pair of adjoining properties in the estate section of Southampton Village sold this fall for $40 million total after being on the market for $53.5 million.
The addresses are 2 Gin Lane, which is on the corner of Gin Lane and Meadow Lane, at the south end of First Neck Lane and across the street from the Meadow Club, and 2 Meadow Lane, which is on the oceanfront.
According to The Real Estate Report Inc., 2 Meadow Lane sold for $30 million and 2 Gin Lane sold for $10 million on September 13.
The buyers were identified only as 2 Meadow LLC and 2 Gin LLC, but according to Southampton Town property records, both of the limited liability companies are connected to George Walker, the chairman and CEO of investment management firm Neuberger Berman. His full name is George Herbert Walker IV, and he’s a cousin of Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
The seller of 2 Gin Lane is listed as Konji Corp by The Real Estate Report Inc., and as Five J Daughters Corporation in town property records. The seller of 2 Meadow Lane is the estate of Janet Stein.
Stein’s late husband, Howard Stein, was an investment industry pioneer who was considered to be the “father” of the mutual fund industry. He died at home in Southampton in 2011 at the age of 84, according to his obituary, which notes that in 1968 he made a controversial move by taking a leave of absence to work as chief fundraiser for Senator Eugene J. McCarthy’s anti-Vietnam War campaign and was added to Richard Nixon’s “Political Enemies Project” list.
In the 1970s, Stein set up a fund to invest in companies that were concerned with environmental conservation, and he served on the Presidential Task Force on Market Mechanisms, which investigated the October 19, 1987, market crash.
A 2020 blog post by Mary Cummings of the Southampton History Museum notes that this property was formerly the site of James Parrish’s beachfront home Zee-en-Duin, also known as “The Ark” after it survived the 1938 hurricane. Cummings went on to write that it was later owned by the Bee Gees, who sold it to Woody Allen for $3 million in 1982. “His was a brief stay since the sound of the surf made him nervous,” Cummings wrote.
The Ark burned to the ground in January 2003, according to an article in The Southampton Press at the time, which noted that Howard and Janet Stein had owned the property since 1996.
According to the real estate listing from Tim Davis of Corcoran, the Meadow Lane property is 2.7 acres, with more than 300 feet of oceanfront, a portion of which has a bulkhead buried deep in the dune. A pool and cabana are a few feet away from a private boardwalk to the ocean.
The guest house, named “Ark Angel,” is on the 1.35-acre Gin Lane parcel, the listing states. “It has three floors of rooms which spill out to the porches, decks, balconies and separate swimming pool,” the listing continues. “There are 8 fireplaces and as many bedrooms, each with white-washed gloss painted floors and satin walls; certainly a beach house for all seasons.”
The guest house also has a greenhouse/solarium installed in 2005 as an annex to the main living room.
Also this past fall on Gin Lane, No. 233 sold for $26 million on October 21. The William Finneran Trust sold to an LLC, according to The Real Estate Report Inc. It was also listed by Davis.
The 2.14-acre estate designed by Fleetwood & McMullan, never before listed, hosts an 8,000-square-foot residence with ocean views, including from the primary suite, the listing states. The home also features a double-height grand foyer with easy access to the elevator and the large rooms designed for formal and informal living. Outdoor amenities include a large covered loggia, a 50-foot swimming pool and tennis court.
Davis’s busy fall in Southampton Village’s estate section also included the sale of 468 First Neck Lane on September 30. It traded for $9.85 million from the estate of Whitney Stevens to an LLC. It had been listed for $10.75 million.
The 1.5-acre property has frontage on Lake Agawam, and the listing notes that a new house of nearly 6,000 square feet with ocean views plus a finished lower level could be built there. The existing home is a traditional with four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
Staff Writer on Dec 19, 2022