NYU Langone Health has purchased a large commercial building in Water Mill, formerly home to Pier 1 Imports, with plans to turn it into a new facility as the health system continues to expand its services on the East End.
After many years on the market, the property at 54 Montauk Highway, just south of County Road 39 on the border of Southampton Village, traded for $10.85 million in a deal that officially closed last week. Hal Zwick and Jeff Sztorc of the Hamptons Compass Commercial Team represented the sellers, while Ted Stratogios of Avison Young represented the buyer.
“54 Montauk Highway at nearly 20,000 square feet of interior space, is one of the largest sites on the East End,” says Zwick. “It was sought after by food markets, furniture and appliance retailers, physical fitness entities and several medical groups. NYU Langone turned out to be a perfect match for the needs of the East End residents and will provide a valuable service going forward.”
“The NYU Langone project will involve the comprehensive renovation of an existing 19,000-square-foot, one-story building in Southampton,” says James Iorio, the director of media relations at NYU Langone Health. “The new facility will provide imaging services and physician practice space, allowing our patients to see their doctor and receive imaging in the same facility.”
NYU Langone Health has been expanding its services throughout the South Fork in recent years. In May, it opened a new practice at 131 Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach. The 6,000-square-foot NYU Langone Medical Associates—Westhampton features five providers specializing in primary care, cardiology and endocrinology services. Locations already exist at the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Ambulatory Care in Bridgehampton and Riverhead. In an announcement about the new 14-exam room office, the health system said it was meant to supplement its latest inpatient hospital, NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, in Patchogue, which joined the health system in March after a three-year affiliation.
Zwick says the deal for the Water Mill purchase was inked almost one year ago. A change of use and approval from the Southampton Town Architectural Review Board is needed.
Currently empty, the building sits on a property just shy of three acres in a high-trafficked area, along 130 feet of highway frontage, just east of County Road 39, making it one of the most visible commercial properties in the Hamptons.
The size of the property allows for 107 parking spaces and potential expansion.
“An easement from Flying Point Road facilitates access for those travelers coming from the east points via a now permitted right turn,” the listing says, which billed it as being able to be turned into a variety of uses under Southampton Town Highway Business Zoning, such as “a massive restaurant and specialty market, a renowned take-out food entity, an automobile dealership, or a fitness/ other recreation destination.” It is also approved for office and medical, according to the listing.
The last asking price was $12.9 million. It was also available for lease at $768,000.
Built in the 1970s, the warehouse-style building was once a nightclub. Pier 1 Imports, the home goods chain’s store, closed in 2019 after leasing the space for approximately 20 years. The building sat vacant for several years, though Collette Home occupied space there intermittently as a pop-up.
Tesla signed a lease, but never opened, after a site plan application for a car dealership stalled. Tesla canceled their lease as it did for several others about 15 months ago, according to Zwick.
The property owner had long been a Los Angeles-based real estate corporation named Long Island Resource Corp.
