New York Times Article - Not the Hamptons. Yet.
Original article: New York Times
DEVELOPERS have bought three well-known properties in the last year: the Montauk Yacht Club, the Panoramic View Hotel and the Shepherd’s Neck Inn.
Renovations are under way, as are plans to market co-ops and hotel rooms to wealthy second-home buyers and year-round weekenders. And not far from the Sail Inn, on West Lake Drive, Gosman’s Dock, which grew from a chowder stand 60 years ago into an 11-acre waterfront complex that includes restaurants, shops and a fish market, is for sale for $55 million. For developers, who have sensed an extended summer rental season and more demand for high-end services in Montauk, which is some 120 miles from Manhattan, the time to invest here seems to be now. Distinctive Ventures, the company based in Great Neck, N.Y., that bought the Panoramic View, is converting it to 75 duplex and triplex co-ops with 24-hour concierge service year-round and, if requested, fully furnished units. The Panoramic is an oceanfront resort built into a cliff that has 1,000 feet of beach on the Atlantic. Prices will start at $2.5 million in the first phase of the project, said Adam Manson, a spokesman. The developer researched rental patterns in Montauk in 2006, he said, and found that more people were renting homes for a month or two months, rather than a hotel room. Many of the callers interested in the units, he added, already have second homes on the East End, but are tired of maintaining them.
By VALERIE COTSALAS Published: July 27, 2007