Some things in life are forever, especially in Hamptons real estate. Take 42 Old Montauk Highway, Montauk, for instance. The place has been on the price LOLlercoaster for more than 10 years now. Back in 2009, the ask was $35 million. Undaunted, the owner, Eli Wilner (the well-known frame maker and dealer), raised the price to $50 six months later. Ever since then the price has gone up and down with the tides, from a high of $55 million in 2016 to a realistic $29 million in late 2019. Now the property is asking $54 million.
So what do you, rich buyer, get for that? Well, 37 acres of oceanfront land, which is fabulous, including ponds. You get the house, which has two rather nice details, the beautiful staircase
and the stunning sliding doors that replicate The Chariot of Aurora, an art deco style mural from the Normandie luxury liner. (The original mural is now in the Carnegie Museum.)
Aaaaand that’s about it. Sadly. The house is done in an inexplicable Asian pagoda style. The floors are shiny, cold marble, which probably looked great on the Normandie, but this is a beach house, not a deco luxury liner. The interiors are uninviting. There isn’t even a pool. And since much of the 37 acres are preserve, who even knows what could be built there? (Apparently Wilner bought the place in 1992 for $630K, without any permits in place to build, which was a gamble.)
Pandemic or no pandemic, we can’t picture this place trading at $54 million. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
- Montauk Hideaway [OE]
42 Old Montauk Hwy, Montauk, NY 11954
