Hamptons Waterfront Compound Owned by Former Financier Lists for $65 Million

Wall Street Journal Article 7/14/22

A nearly 13-acre waterfront compound in the Hamptons is coming on the market for $65 million.

The sellers are Roger and Susan Hertog. Mr. Hertog was a founding member and president of the investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., whose successor company is AllianceBernstein, according to the website for his charitable foundation.

The Water Mill compound, located on a cove off Mecox Bay, comprises five separate parcels of land with multiple structures. The six-bedroom main house spans about 6,000 square feet, and the property also has a guesthouse, boat house and pool house. The grounds include a private dock, a roughly 40-foot-long heated pool, tennis court and garage.

The Hertogs assembled the property in the 1990s, paying more than $10 million for the five parcels in 1996 and 1998, records show.

The roughly 100-year-old main house is built in classic Hamptons style with a blue facade. A large living room has a fireplace and french doors leading to a covered porch overlooking the lawn and the water.

The property is just across the water from the Fordune estate, a property built for auto mogul Henry Ford II and which sold to hedge-fund manager Greg Coffey last year for $105 million.

The Hertog property is listed with Bespoke Real Estate. Cody Vichinsky, a founder of Bespoke, said he doesn’t know why the Hertogs are selling, but it is rare to find such a large contiguous compound in the area.

He noted that while the Hamptons market has slowed in recent months from its pandemic highs, the return of New Yorkers to the Hamptons for the summer months does seem to have stirred up some new deals.

Mr. Vichinsky said the Hertog property marks the first time Bespoke is charging a 1% commission rather than the typical 3%, part of a new commission model for the company. With megawatt price tags becoming ubiquitous in luxury markets like the Hamptons, it is becoming harder to justify why agents should be paid several million dollars for facilitating a single transaction, Mr. Vichinsky said. Bespoke is able to roll out the program because it has salaried representatives rather than independent agents, he said.