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Published March 3, 2024, 2:38 p.m. ET
Oops, he did it again.
Harry Macklowe, one of New York's boldest developers, has put his Hamptons home overlooking the exclusive Georgica Pond – with neighbors including Steven Spielberg – up for sale for $38 million.
There's just one catch. It is uninhabitable.
Property developer Harry Macklowe has put his uninhabitable home up for sale for $38 million. Doug Kuntz
This is because the villa does not have a certificate of occupancy and the new owners are not legally allowed to move in.
According to East Hampton Village officials, Macklowe illegally cleared land on the property and built additions without permits, endangering the wetlands and racking up fines for more than 21 violations that have not been paid in five years.
The unofficial renovations to his Hamptons home are reminiscent of his 1985 move to hire a Mafia-run company to blow up four buildings on West 44th Street in the middle of the night without city permission, hours before the city was due to do so Enforcing a ban began with the destruction of single-room buildings.
The destruction put people's lives at risk, officials said at the time. Macklowe paid a $2 million fine but avoided prosecution because “criminal intent” could not be proven, the Manhattan district attorney said at the time.
“This is crazy. He ripped out decks and did whatever he wanted. He cleared land illegally and built without permits – just like he did on West 44th Street,” an inside source said.
The construction of the Hamptons House reminds many of Macklowe's illegal demolition of buildings on W 44th Street in New York. Doug Kuntz
“Plus, the house is in debt to the max,” the source added. “There is no justification for asking for $38 million. The house is fraught with legal complications and isn't even on the pond. “
The insider estimated: “It's worth no more than $12 to $15 million.”
The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals refused to retroactively approve Macklowe's illegal actions, so Macklowe sued them. The case is not yet closed.
For now, East Hampton Village building inspector Thomas Preiato confirmed to the Post that Macklowe “can sell the house, but no one can live in it.”
The house can be sold, but since there is no certificate of occupancy, no one can move in. Doug Kuntz
“He already had a certificate of occupancy for the house in 2017. However, this is no longer valid due to the many fines he has not paid,” said Preiato.
The inspector added: “He has put the wetlands at risk. There is a reason we have a wetlands code. It’s worrying.”
In 2019, The Post reported that officials said Macklowe had built on the property illegally and failed to pay subsequent fines.
Macklowe declined to comment when reached by The Post at this time. He also declined to comment on the sale of the home.
His former spokesman said he no longer has a full-time job: “He hires them on a project basis.”
Top broker Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman, who shares the Macklowe listing with Martha Gundersen of Elliman, declined to comment.
The four-bedroom home features a pool and sits on 2.7 acres at 64 West End Ave. in East Hampton. It is surrounded by protected land, the listing says.
Macklowe paid $10.35 million for the home in 2017 and then began clearing land and building too close to wetlands — all without permission, village officials say.
The land was cleared and the house was built without permission. Steven Hirsch
At the time, he was living there with Patricia Landeau, his now wife, while he was in the middle of a terrible divorce from Linda Macklowe, who still lives across the pond – so close that the exes are from each other's homes can see.
While being close to an ex might make some people uncomfortable, Macklowe is not one of those people. He also taped a 42-foot photo of himself with Landeau to the supertall building 432 Park Avenue, which he helped develop — but for which he never agreed on a unit.
(He recently avoided foreclosure on his units there, at least temporarily, by allowing a company he controlled to file for bankruptcy.)
The Post reported back in 2019 that Macklowe admitted to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals that he didn't have the permits he needed to build and clear the wetlands, but did it anyway.
Richard Whalen, Macklowe's solicitor at the time, told the planning authority: 'The majority of the improvements we are submitting to you for approval have already been carried out. They were built without the benefit of any planning permission or variances or wetland permit from this authority.”
The house violates zoning regulations because it was built too close to wetlands. Doug Kuntz
According to a report in the East Hampton Star, the work was carried out within 150 feet of wetlands in violation of regulations.
“More than 21 charges have been filed several times since 2019, and a stop-work order was issued starting February 11, 2019, but by that time it had already been resolved. They got what they wanted,” Preiato said.
“It's difficult. It's been going on for a while. Someone feels like they have some kind of entitlement, like they're not subject to the regulations, but when you affect water bodies, it's more serious than a terrace that's too close is on the border.”
Macklowe also had a dispute with former neighbor Martha Stewart over planting on her property in the 1990s.
— Additional reporting by Doug Kuntz
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