The Gables: New Condo Community Rises in Westhampton Beach

Phase 2 is underway at The Gables at Westhampton Beach, the new 45-unit condominium community at the northeast corner of Montauk Highway and Depot Road.

So far, two units are occupied. Another Phase One unit will close in about a week, and to date, more than a third of the units have found buyers.

Developer Ryan Jantzen of the commercial real estate investment company behind The Gables, Inlet Real Estate Capital, gave a tour of the community on Friday. He noted that the units average just under 2,000 square feet each but range from 1,720 square feet to 2,200 square feet. Every unit has two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, with 9-foot ceilings and 7-foot solid wood doors plus 5-inch white oak floors. Each unit also has a fireplace and a 10-foot unfinished basement with a large egress window that provides natural light. About half of the units have a one-car garage, and two units stand alone, detached from any other units.

The kitchens include Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances and Porcelanosa custom cabinetry. The full bathrooms have either an oversized walk-in shower or both a walk-in shower and a separate soaking tub.

The Gables has a community clubhouse with a kitchenette, card tables, comfortable seating and a fitness facility that includes treadmills, Peloton bikes, free weights and a private yoga/training room. A double-sided fireplace has one side indoors and the other outside, facing the patio adjacent to the community pool and barbecue. The pool is lifeguarded from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the community also offers a walking trail.

“We did collaborate with Iconic Modern, which is a designer based out of Water Mill, and they did a lot of the design work for us, not only in the clubhouse, but in the units,” Jantzen said. “You could buy the furnishings here from them, or they could curate something specific to the buyers. But they’re basically designed to bring your duffel bag and show up. Everything is turnkey, ready to go.”

That being said, several buyers have requested customizations. For instance, he explained, some have elected to exchange some double-height ceiling space for a bonus den upstairs. One buyer fully redesigned a unit.

“It really ranges from changing locations of outlets and some very nominal changes to the countertop or the backsplash, to hundreds of thousands of dollars of changes,” Jantzen said. “So you don’t have to do that, but based on people’s preferences, that’s what seems to be happening.”

He described the units as having a clean, modern aesthetic. Upgrades are available, such as waterfall edge counters, built-in benches and California Closets.

The architecture firm behind the project is BLD of Patchogue, and Case’s Creek in Jamesport is responsible for the landscape.

“We’re paving the rest of the community today,” Jantzen said. “There’s still construction that needs to be done to finish the last bit of units, but based on the approval that we got from the village, we can move people in as we go. So we have several contracts down the rung that we have not yet delivered those units because we’re still in construction.”

Owners will be permitted to rent out their units in accordance with village laws.

Jantzen noted that the first few buyers at The Gables came from seasonal homes farther east. He said they’re coming west for ease of access to the city, health care and airports. “People are just sick of the commute,” he said.

He said some buyers have been younger professionals but the majority of buyers are retirees who already had places on the East End who are downsizing from houses that cost maybe $3 million to $5 million with $100,000 a year in operating costs.

“It’s simplifying their life,” he said. “I think that’s the theme. People don’t want to deal with the tennis court, the basketball court, the pool — and they want the finishes of their $5 million house. And we’re delivering that in a more efficient package.”

The idea behind the project, he explained, was to deliver a higher level of quality, a level that’s not seen in the typical townhome development — something that is elevated and not designed to compete with what already exists on the market.

Prices for market-rate units range from $1.35 million to $1.825 million.

Seven of the 45 units were set aside for affordable housing. The nonprofit Long Island Housing Partnership conducted the affordable housing lottery in May.

Inlet Real Estate Capital, founded five years ago, owns half a million square feet of commercial real estate, including in Richmond, Virginia, and Denver, Colorado, and is developing a single-family subdivision in Port Jefferson in addition to developing The Gables.

Though Jantzen has developed single-family homes on the South Fork in the past, The Gables is his first time developing something on the scale of a condominium community. He said Inlet is looking at a few other opportunities locally. “We have offers in on some other sites, but we’re not in construction,” he said.

Jantzen grew up in Shoreham-Wading River and now lives in Long Beach and Montauk. He said over 40-some-odd years, he’s seen the area change and improve a lot. He expressed admiration for recent improvements to Main Street in Westhampton Beach, buoyed by sewer service that enables new restaurants. He predicted that horrific traffic to the east will continue to help real estate values and redevelopment in Westhampton Beach.