East Hampton square-footage rule has buyers scrambling for megamansions

The megamansions of Further Lane are some of the largest and most expensive homes in all of the Hamptons. It’s the kind of neighborhood where a 10,000-, 20,000-, or even 30,000-square-foot home doesn’t stick out like a tall poppy.

But in March, the East Hampton Town Board finally said enough is enough, approving a code change that reduces the size of new houses. The rule limits the size of homes to 7% of lot area plus 1,500 square feet — but more important (especially if you happened to have just won the lottery) is that the max square footage is now set at a meager 10,000.

That’s down from the 20,000 square feet previously allowed.

“It perversely advantages people who already built the biggest houses on the smallest lots. Now they have a more valuable property. But it punishes people who held out and protected nature. It seems very unfair to reward people who have these giant, overbuilt houses,” says Douglas Elliman’s Martha Gundersen.

Needless to say, the changes have proven controversial in the town (the village of East Hampton has its own codes). But one thing is clear: Homes with so-called “pre-existing, nonconforming attributes” are now the hottest deals in East Hampton.

Gundersen points to the recently built eight-bedroom, eight-full-bath home at 39 Timber Trail in Amagansett, which she sold last October for $11 million. It’s just over 10,000 square feet on a 2-acre lot. But it’s already back on the market asking $11.75 million with the Agency’s Dana Trotter.

“This is definitely going to be harder to build today,” Trotter says.

But Michael Cantwell of Bespoke Real Estate points out the phenomenon is nothing new. “You see this across the board,” he says, noting that as more and more zoning regulations are added, nonconforming attributes of all types increase a home’s value. “We sold this property at 7 West End Road in East Hampton. It was a tear-down oceanfront property but it had this little beach shack, a pre-existing, non-conforming attribute that someone could turn into something really cool.”

That teardown sold for $24.5 million.

One of his brokerage’s current listings is another example of a home that can never be replicated. It’s a five-bedroom, four-full-bath, 5,500-square-foot home at 64 West End Road with 2.7 acres on Georgica Pond. “It’s on a peninsula and it’s the type of thing that if you wanted to recreate it today, it wouldn’t be as good in terms of footprint and proximity to the water.”

It’s asking $32.5 million.

But if only bigger-than-the-rest will do, 43 East Dune Lane aka Dune Cottage in East Hampton is the top house on the market.

It has 13,176 square feet of oceanfront splendor on a 3.6 acre lot, along with 10 bedrooms and 12 full bathrooms (split between a main and guest residence), a pool, a tennis court and a price tag to match.

It’s asking $84.9 million with Terry Cohen of Hedgerow Exclusive Properties.

Go big or go home.