Calvin Klein’s former East Hampton estate has hit the market with an asking price of US$165 million (A$231 million), a figure that would shatter the Hamptons’ all-time property sale record if achieved.
The fashion designer, who founded his global fashion empire, sold the eight-acre property at 121 West End Road for US$85 million (A$119 million) in 2021.
The current owner has since completed a major renovation, and the estate is now listed at nearly double that price just five years later.
The property’s seven-bedroom, 9,000-square-foot main house was originally built for noted attorney Henry A. James, according to The Daily Beast.
A boathouse on Georgica Pond and a red-clay tennis court were added during Klein’s ownership, according to The Real Deal, and the estate has waterfrontage on both the pond and the Atlantic Ocean, a rarity that listing agent Ed Petrie of Compass says helps justify the price.
“We generally don’t get properties with this type of acreage and an additional buildable oceanfront lot,” Ed said. “That’s part of the reason for the price tag.”
The timing of the listing isn’t incidental. Ed explained the recent SpaceX IPO has expanded the pool of buyers who can credibly afford a property at this level with mega-IPOs from AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI expected later this year likely to add further fuel to the top end of the market.
Should the estate sell at or near its asking price, it would surpass the current Hamptons record of US$137 million (A$192 million), set in 2014 when hedge fund billionaire Barry Rosenstein purchased an East Hampton property.
It’s also the second Hamptons listing this month alone to chase a potential market record – hedge fund founder Zach Schreiber listed his own Sagaponack estate for US$152.5 million (A$213.5 million) just two weeks earlier.
Other recent nine-figure and near-nine-figure deals this year include a US$72 million (A$100.8 million) oceanfront sale in March and a US$59 million (A$82.6 million) off-market sale of a Wainscott estate featured in HBO’s Succession.
The full listing can be viewed at compass.com.