Trail's End, Longtime Montauk Restaurant, Changes Hands

This month, the Trail’s End restaurant in Montauk was sold for $2.15 million, one of the highest-priced, per square foot, commercial sales in the Hamptons, according to a PR firm for the selling broker. Now closed for the season, the restaurant will reopen as The Tauk at Trail’s End, a “shabby-chic” lounge and restaurant that will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner year-round.

Former owner Robert Rottach ran the establishment with his family for 31 years, serving American comfort food in a laid-back setting. The property had been on the market for six years as Mr. Rottach waited for a buyer with the heart of a local, according to Dylan Eckardt of Nest Seekers International, who sold the property. “He just wanted someone to preserve what Montauk was and not turn it into a nightclub,” said Mr. Eckardt, a former pro surfer who represented both the seller and buyer in this deal. “I believe the best fit for Montauk was Michael Nasti.”

A Long Island entrepreneur whose sand and gravel company has worked on many properties on the South Fork, Mr. Nasti has been summering in Montauk with his family since 1993. “I had my eye on [the property] for a couple of years,” he said, noting that Mr. Rottach had received several offers from Manhattan-based clubs, including the Sloppy Tuna.

“I want to keep a Montauk feel,” said Mr. Nasti. Year-rounders should be able to “walk in as a local and feel at home,” he said.

Still, the population drops off in the winter, which makes turning a profit during the “off season” difficult. With that in mind, Mr. Nasti will also have to cater to the summer crowd.

“The real estate has become so expensive that we can’t survive if we made it for locals only,” Mr. Nasti said. “We want to try to cater as much around the local crowd as possible, but we also have to take the summer money that comes out there because that’s what will keep us afloat.”

The new menu will be overseen by Mr. Nasti’s partner, Steven Paluba, chef at Atlantic Terrace in Montauk, who has been featured on the reality show “Hell’s Kitchen.” The duo are working on new design plans with Anna Cappelen of New York City-based Curious Yellow Design, who also worked on Harbor, a restaurant on Montauk’s West Lake Drive.

They will try to maintain some authentic elements. The restaurant’s signature red and blue neon sign, which apparently is grandfathered in, may stay put, for example.

“I’m bridging the gap between the locals and the new people,” said Mr. Eckardt, who has worked with Ms. Cappelen before. “It’s going to be how Montauk was, quiet and quaint” but with a flair of high-end appeal, he explained.

A few design options will be drawn up, including one where the restaurant has rooftop outdoor seating. “We would love to do a rooftop thing for the sunset crowd … but that may be a sticking point with the town,” Mr. Nasti said. “We want the town to be happy that we’re there.”

Trail’s End first opened in 1927 on Fort Pond Bay. The restaurant was knocked off its foundation during the devastating hurricane in 1938 and subsequently relocated to Euclid Avenue, near the town’s center, where it has remained ever since.

Mr. Nasti said he hopes to have it open by next spring.