A Good Deed Unpunished

A Good Deed Unpunished Lona Rubenstein A slice of the good life on the pond and near the ocean. Property listed with The Corcoran Group. Chris Chapin is a long time Prudential Douglas Elliman broker who praises his colleagues. Not a word about himself. He decided in the 90s, at Prudential's East Hampton Office - pre-Elliman, to specialize in one area while selling in all. He became and advertised himself as a Land Broker. He was and is successful in this approach and has a long list of agents as part of his land division. (Professional generosity is not quite the standard in this business unless you have a piece of the action.) Writes Chris about co-worker 23-year-old Justin Agnello with less than two years in the business. "He has more exclusives than 99% of the rest of the agents in the Hamptons. His territory covers the Northwest Woods of East Hampton; it also extends to the Azurest, Ninevah, and Sag Harbor Hills neighborhoods of Sag Harbor. Currently, Justin represents a dozen properties. The average number of exclusive listings held by a real estate agent in the Hamptons is two . . . this means that there are hundreds of real estate agents in the Hamptons who have zero listings." (Wait a minute! Can a bouquet for one agent, be poison ivy by others in the field?) Believing Justin will be one of the "top Hamptons agents within a year," Chapin attributes "technology savvy" as one the keys to his success, writing that "Justin is a member of the Internet Generation . . . electronically marketing a property in ways that most agents cannot even imagine. Also, he has learned the latest business practices in college and can put them to use." Property listed with Prudential Douglas Elliman. I don't know, sure computer friendly, but to outdated me here suggest that the basics for this tough but rewarding business: smarts, hunger, honesty, hard work 24/7. (As a footnote you also have to know how to drive!) Mr. Chapin also tells about long time Prudential broker Lili Elsis, as "one of the best kept secrets in the industry." He says that Ms. Elsis, also out of their East Hampton Office, is the leading Ocean/Water front broker in the business, selling five of such prime product within the recent year. Now to the state of nightclub zoned properties - use code 424 - the pick-up promised from last week's column. This, too, is Chapin information. He writes (and I edit) that "East of the Shinnecock Canal, the number of properties zoned "nightclub" has plummeted in the past quarter century. In 1980s, when I was working at Bay Street nightclub in Sag Harbor - now the Bay Street Theater - nightlife options were plentiful." Gone as well are: LeMans (now the building houses Pier One Imports), the Triple H, and Conscience Point. The Hotel Saint James breathed its last in the 1980s. Water Mill's Danceteria, which burnt down in 1987, is now the Citarella shopping center. On the Sag Harbor Bridgehampton Turnpike is a building that for a good portion of the 20th Century was Pinckney's, then Ed's Music Inn. In Southampton property that is still zoned nightclub is Tuckahoe Lane's The Tavern. Property listed with Prudential Douglas Elliman. In East Hampton: Wainscott's welcoming Montauk Highway discos were the Attic and the Swamp. The Attic site has not been used as a nightclub for years and the Swamp is now the Star Room. On Three Mile Harbor Road, there is a venue which has been a nightclub since before World War II and has been known as Mellowmouth, Hurrah's, Lobster-a-Go-Go, NV-Tsunami, and Resort (the Resort site may be changing zoning.) In Amagansett, east of the Farmers' Market, a fairly new building, the restaurant Pacific East (subject of the Sean Coombs/P. Diddy rumor which we wrote about last week.) So, outside of Montauk, with only two "424" sites in eastern Southampton and the Star Room and Pacific East in East Hampton, we have four viable dancing spots east of the canal . . . down from a dozen in the 1980s. (Yo, Chris, what about The Millstone in Southampton. What a glorious place that was?) Is the message out east - come, play, spend, don't make music noise, and don't expect to dance? Moving on, Gioia diPaolo, Senior Vice-president of The Corcoran Group, announces E.J. Camp's art exhibition opening Saturday, April 21, 2007, from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, at 23 Westwood Drive in Sag Harbor. The opening night party will take place in a newly constructed Sag Harbor waterfront home new to the market. "This waterfront home," reads the press release, is "a perfect marriage of design, nature and lifestyle." There was more, but one can see it at: Corcoran.com web ID # 50117. Yes, well, perhaps can't dance, but you can always go to an opening and buy a house at the same time. East End Real Estate is a very strange business. Lona Rubenstein is an accomplished author residing in East Hampton. Her new book, "Getting Back in the Game: Finding the Fountain of Youth in Cyberspace" can be found at local booksellers and online at www.gettingbackinthegame.com. For more real estate news and views contact Lona at lonafirst@aol.com.