27Speaks

Real Estate Leaders Assess The State of the East End Market by The Express News Group

Convincing more East Hampton homeowners to invest in creating affordable rental accessory apartments on their properties has proven daunting for East Hampton Town officials. This week’s discussion focuses on the Town Board’s latest tweaks to boost financial incentives.

The number of South Fork home sales plummeted by around 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, when compared to the same quarter a year earlier, but that data point hardly tells the whole story of what's happening in Hamptons real estate. Chronically low inventory of homes for sale is restricting the number of closed homes sales while also bolstering prices even as mortgage rates have doubled. And sales were bound to look low when compared to the peaks reached during the height of the pandemic-driven buying frenzy. To help interpret the data, Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants joins the editors on the podcast this week.

Ospreys, the large, fish-eating birds of prey once listed as endangered in New York State, have had a miraculous rebound since DDT was banned and initiatives were put in place to provide nesting sites where development has encroached on their habitat. On the East End in particular, the osprey population has grown from around 100 individual birds in the 1980s to more than 350 nesting pairs, according to the Group for the East End, which monitors osprey nests. To discuss the species's reversal of fortune, Group for the East End President Bob DeLuca joins the editors on the podcast this week.

Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren and the village trustees have been at odds lately, and both sides have made their views very public. Much of the divide is due to the trustees appointing their pick for the next chief of the Village Police Department over the mayor's objections. Warren did not hold back in criticizing the choice, and the trustees' chief pick ultimately reversed course and turned down the job. The trustees went on to accuse the mayor of undermining the hiring process and seeking a compliant chief "who would accede to his wishes, with blind loyalty to him, irrespective of the wisdom or propriety of the Mayor’s position." Watching the events unfold has been remarkable. On this week's podcast, the editors discuss the controversy over the police chief situation and the acrimony at Village Hall in general.

This week, with the recent news that Friends of Bay Street has put the property at 22 Long Island Avenue in Sag Harbor on the market, the editors discuss what might come next, not only for the Bay Street Theater, which had hoped to build a new permanent home on the site, but the surrounding area as well.

The Maidstone Gun Club voluntarily closed its rifle range after a bullet struck a house nearby and a judge has ordered the whole facility to remain closed as the neighbors argue in court that the range should be shuttered permanently. In this week's podcast, senior reporter Michael Wright joins the editors to discuss where the court battle stands, the police investigation's conclusions and the fate of the gun club.

Sagaponack Village Mayor Bill Tillotson came under fire from some residents after the village placed a porta-potty on the roadside this past summer to accommodate laborers who work at estates in the village. Tillotson defends the move, saying it's about human dignity. The mayor joins the editors and reporter Cailin Riley on the podcast this week to discuss the controversy and the importance of public restrooms.

Throughout 2022, The Express News Group has presented a monthly series on climate change, The Rising Tide, which concludes this week with a look back on the threats that have been identified and the mitigation measures being proposed or implemented right now. On the podcast, the editors discuss the biggest takeaways from the series and the ongoing challenges climate change will present for the East End.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, the chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Working Group, joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss the redesign of the Suffolk County Transit bus network, including a new on-demand bus service connecting the Southampton and Sag Harbor areas for the same price as a regular bus fare.