Inside a $150 million Hamptons summer home for sale

An oceanfront estate in Southampton, listed at $150 million, stands as the priciest home for sale in the Hamptons — and is struggling to move off the market.

The compound, called La Dune, is likely to be used as a summer home and draws from a tiny pool of buyers, probably billionaires, who could afford to foot the bill. Even in the Hamptons, $100-million-plus sales are few and far between.

La Dune, named after the sandy dune it sits behind, spans about four acres across two adjacent lots with two homes, two swimming pools and a sunken tennis court.

It hasn’t been easy to find a buyer for the sprawling compound, which includes a classic Hamptons-style shingled main residence, originally built more than 100 years ago, and a second home on the adjacent lot, built in the early 2000s.

“This house is the furthest thing from a tear-down, but if the house wasn’t here, this lot alone, each one of them would be worth $50 million,” listing agent Shawn Elliott of Nest Seekers told CNBC.

And Elliott promises La Dune’s price isn’t just designed to grab headlines.

“I believe this is, 100%, a very realistic price point to attract buyers in this marketplace,” said Elliott, who co-lists the home with Geoff Gifkins. 

The estate is situated on 400-plus feet of super-prime beachfront along Gin Lane, sometimes referred to as “billionaire’s beach.” It’s one of the most exclusive strips of white sand in the world.

“In real estate we always know it’s location, location, location; that’s not a cliche,” Elliott said. “You are truly on the 50-yard line of nothing but wealth.”

Back in 2016 La Dune’s owner, art magazine publisher and collector Louise Blouin, put the estate on the market with Sotheby’s International at an asking price of $140 million. At the time, there were no takers.

Over the years, the residence has been listed as a summer rental. This year a one-month stay would set you back $1.2 million. 

Since 2016, the home’s been on and off the market, and Blouin has reportedly faced a potential foreclosure and bankruptcy court proceedings to maintain control of the compound. 

She relisted La Dune in August with a new brokerage firm and raised the ask to $150 million.

If the team at Nest Seekers gets anywhere near what their client wants for the compound, it will break an all-time record in the Hamptons.

According to public records analyzed by Jonathan Miller, president of the real estate appraisal and consulting company Miller Samuel, only five compounds have ever sold for more than $100 million in the Hamptons. 

The all-time record is still held by the 2014 sale of three separate but contiguous lots spanning 16 acres located at 60-64 Further Lane in East Hampton that traded for $137 million.  

The two most recent nine-figure deals, according to public records, were both in Water Mill, a hamlet also in the Town of Southampton about two miles east of La Dune.

First came the mega-sale of a 42-acre, 20,000-square-foot oceanfront estate known as Fordune, located at 90 Jule Pond Drive. The former Ford family estate was originally listed for $175 million in 2017 and sat on the market for almost four years before selling for $105 million in 2021, a 40% discount but still an all-time record for single-lot properties in the Hamptons.

In 2022, an even bigger sale eclipsed that one in the quiet off-market purchase of 70 Cobb Road, recorded at $118 million. That compound, which sits on a creek rather than the ocean, was composed of four contiguous lots spanning about 21 acres. The sale included two homes that together delivered more than 32,000 square feet of living space. The mega-deal remains the Hamptons’ second-highest sale of all time.

Here’s a closer look at the latest compound vying for a spot among the short list of summer homes that have sold for over $100 million:

The La Dune compound spans four acres with 21,000 square feet of living space across two homes, according to the listing.

The four-story main residence, located at 366 Gin Lane, is more than 11,000 square feet.

The three-story second home at 376 Gin Lane, which owner Blouin refers to as the “family home,” is more than 9,600 square feet.

The pair of mansions includes a total of 19 bedrooms and 16 baths.

The lowest level of the so-called family home includes a gym, steam room, bar, billiards room and home theater.

There are several kitchens on the estate including a large staff kitchen for catering events on the first floor of the main house. There’s also a more modest family kitchen, one floor above it.

Blouin told CNBC she’s selling her Hamptons home in part because she and her children spend most of their time in Europe — not in Southampton.

According to public records, property taxes across both lots that form the La Dune compound total almost $130,000 per year.