After buying the Georgica Pond house, as seen in listing photos, Macklowe painted it a blinding white (not in violation of any zoning laws) and removed native plantings (very much a no-no).
Photo: Bespoke Real Estate
For the past six years, developer Harry Macklowe has been at war with the village of East Hampton over his Georgica Pond mansion and the 2.7 acres of protected wetlands it sits on — land he cleared and modified without permits after purchasing it for $10.35 million in 2017. Now it appears he’s finally trying to make peace with the village zoning board so he can sell the property. The house, currently on the market for $32.5 million, has had trouble finding a buyer over the past year, which may have something to do with the fact that no one is actually allowed to live there with all of the outstanding violations. (Brokers also say it’s overpriced — last year one told the New York Post that the house was worth maybe $15 million, less than half the $38 million it was originally listed for.)
Until recently, when it came to renovations on the home, the octogenarian billionaire had been operating on the principle of “act first, apologize later.” He previously asked the board to retroactively approve work he did on the property, which included illegally clearing protected wetlands as well as enlarging the retaining wall, extending the patio and stairs, and adding landscape lighting, a kayak rack, and planting boxes. He also moved the driveway. But the town refused and issued violations instead. “You can’t buy a property on the pond and do anything you want without any permits,” the zoning board chair said at a 2019 hearing. Or, as the village building inspector told the East Hampton Star last year, “He basically made his own beach.” Macklowe sued, and that situation has been dragging on for years.
The house, as seen in listing photos, was built in 1986, and lies within 150 feet of wetlands — far closer than would be allowed if it were built today.
Photo: Bespoke Real Estate
But now, the developer is attempting to sort out the mess and move on. (Perhaps because he really needs the money.) He has submitted a new application — “a mix of concessions, requests for forgiveness, and modifications to reduce environmental harm,” according to the Star, which will be presented to the village zoning board on May 9. According to the Star, Macklowe is planning to restore the native plants that were removed and add more than a third of an acre of additional plantings, replace a large patio with walkways, and remove the kayak rack, the landscape lighting, the storage bin, and some drainage pipes that send water from the roof “directly to the pond” (which is against regulations but may have preceded Macklowe). The septic will also be replaced by a more environmentally friendly system. He’s already removed the phragmites — the invasive grass that grew in the place of the native plants he removed to extend the property’s lawn to the water — but can’t restore the native plantings until he gets a new permit from the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Macklowe is still trying to get some of his illegal work grandfathered in: He’s asking for retroactive approval for his driveway, retaining wall, pergola, pool-equipment enclosure, and the patio and stairs he built on the northern side of the house. If his new application is approved, he would have 90 days to get a building permit and fix the outstanding issues.
It’s not the first legal tussle over Hamptons plantings that Macklowe has been involved in. During the 1990s, he and Martha Stewart fought over some trees and shrubs on the property line between their two Georgica Pond estates — she claimed Macklowe’s plants were on her property and won the right to remove a handful of them. He claimed adverse possession and won an injunction, but not before she’d ripped them out. After Macklowe tried to get her certificate of occupancy revoked and claimed she’d intentionally backed into his landscaper, Stewart abandoned her house mid-renovation. Macklowe’s ex-wife Linda, with whom he also feuded during their divorce, still owns the Georgica Pond house they shared previously. At one point, they listed that property as well, but the divorce has since finalized — and Linda doesn’t need to worry about seeing her ex-husband and his new wife across the pond anymore.
