An Amagansett commercial property, long owned by the Principi family and once eyed for a 7-Eleven, has just come to market as the demand for prime commercial property in the Hamptons continues.
The 1.5-acre, two-lot parcel at 519-521 Montauk Highway, which includes a 5,000-square-foot, one-story building, has been listed at $7.95 million. It is located on the eastern side of Amagansett, north of the highway, between the Gansett Meadow apartments and Cirillo’s Market I.G.A., which sold for $10.5 million in 2021.
“This is the first time it’s ever been available for sale,” says Douglas Elliman’s Melissa Principi, who is not only the listing agent but whose family owns the property.
Principi explains that because the property is commercially zoned, there is potential for retail and medical, in addition to its restaurant use. Currently, the building is set up to seat 186 people. There are also 80 parking spaces. The property offers 171 feet of road frontage.
The Principis built the building in 1975 and it was run as a restaurant through the 1990s. Later it was a gallery space and most recently a wine bar. Her family explored turning it into a 7-Eleven a decade ago, but after opposition from the town, abandoned plans, despite a signed lease. The building has been vacant for the last few years.
In the meantime, the area has undergone a metamorphosis. The 37-unit, affordable Gansett Meadow apartment complex was completed in recent years, on property also once owned by the Principis. The apartments are located across the street from the now-decade-old senior housing apartments adjacent to St. Michael’s Lutheran Church.
“It’s become a little bit of a hub,” Principi says.
“There has been such a push away from seasonal, from an investment standpoint, from a resident standpoint,” she adds. “I think there was a lot of negative feedback in the village of Amagansett when a lot of those storefronts — Indian Wells Tavern, things like that, changed hands to real seasonal.”
“Post-pandemic, the Hamptons market, especially the retail market, has certainly moved further away from the traditional seasonal businesses,” says Michael Murphy, president of Douglas Elliman’s Commercial Division. “This has proven to really be like a safe haven. I would say that East End is a safe haven from a retail standpoint. We very much expected a downturn, I think, in the commercial sector in 2023, at least prior to the calendar year, most forecasted as such. But, we’ve been much stronger than we anticipated. And, the demand is tremendous out on that East End, which we’re seeing based on some of the statistics and numbers and assets that have traded.”
So far this year, there have been some major commercial sales, including the $22 million sale of the former Elie Tahari building in East Hampton Village, now occupied by Louis Vuitton.
Murphy says the property has versatility and already the property has generated diverse interest from convenience to auto groups to restaurants. “We’ve had a lot of national brands express a lot of genuine interest,” he says.
“I think partly is a lot of just the zip code of the address and so forth and demographic. But, I think we’ll be in a really good position to kind of cherry-pick the right complimentary fit for not only the community but the family as well,” Murphy adds.
Principi calls the building “a warm, dark shell,” that Murphy says can be retrofitted to suit a buyer’s needs.
Turning it into a medical building is also a possibility and Murphy says he has transacted “a tremendous amount of medical over the last two years.”
“What’s happened is that the hospitals have really acquired a lot of these private practices. And it’s become a major competition between the hospitals,” he says. “I think that given that this has become much more of a permanent demographic for many, I think there’s certainly a need for more strategic type medical.”
“I think it’s 26 miles from Montauk to the Southampton Hospital — that’s no joke,” Principi says.
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