Hamptons powerhouse builder Joe Farrell has finally sold his Bridgehampton home, dubbed Sandcastle, an estate once rented by Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
The massive 11.5-acre spread at 612 Halsey Lane, which features nearly every conceivable luxurious amenity inside and out, was last asking $34.995 million as an open listing. Tal Alexander and Sara Goldfarb of Douglas Elliman Real Estate brought the buyers and closed the deal.
“Beyond excited to announce the sale of this home that is truly one of the most iconic properties in this market,” Goldfarb wrote on Instagram announcing the sale, adding that Farrell built the home for his family “and now it’s passing to another incredible family.”
No word yet on who the new owners are, but Douglas Elliman Real Estate confirmed Thursday that the property traded for $31 million.
The founder of Farrell Building Company, he is known for the rise of the McMansion in the Hamptons, but Sandcastle is on a whole other playing field — there is actually a baseball diamond in the backyard, by the way. The 17,000-square-foot mansion boasts 11 bedrooms, 12 full baths and five half baths.
In the extraordinary 9,000-square-foot lower level there is a two-lane bowling alley with disco area and media room with five televisions, basketball half-court, a half-pipe for skating and a luxurious spa with a fireplace and two hydraulic massage tables, sunken tile Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room.
Aside from the baseball field, there is a 60-by-20-foot pool and an accompanying 2,400-square-foot pool house and a tennis court with a pergola.
Since Farrell completed the home 12 years ago, it has been on and off the market several times over the years, once for as much as $60 million. After coming back on the market in 2018 for $50 million, the price was reduced a year later to $39.995 million.
The property was also available for rent. An anonymous guest reportedly paid $300,000 for a single week in 2014. Then in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandcastle was the most expensive East End rental on the market — ever — at $2 million for March through Labor Day, The New York Post reported at the time. Farrell told Gimme Shelter he rented it for close to its asking price. He had to move out in a day and a half, going over to 51 Sandpiper Lane, closer to the ocean in Bridgehampton, which he went on to sell in March 2021 for $21 million.
Farrell has hosted a who’s who of guests at Sandcastle over the years. Before Jay-Z and Beyoncé bought an estate of their own in Georgica, they enjoyed a month-long stay at this home in 2012. During the summer of 2019, President Donald Trump attended a fundraiser Farrell hosted ahead of his 2020 election campaign. Former New York City mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani celebrated his 75th birthday at the house. Farrell even gave The Real Housewives of New York City a tour on a recent season.
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This article was updated on Thursday, November 4.
