The quaint village of Bellport, L.I., is experiencing a renaissance and a building boom as taste-makers buy up property and build new homes.
Condé Nast chairman S.I. Newhouse and his wife, Victoria, who have had a weekend retreat in the village for many years, spent $6 million on an old house on Great South Bay and the lot next door.
“They plan to tear it down and build a new house, and everyone is buzzing about who the architect will be,” one neighbor told me.
The couple keep a Boston Whaler in the harbor so they can get to the beach without taking the ferry. Victoria avoids the sun with a wide-brimmed hat and veil, looking like a Dickensian beekeeper.
Howard Read, of the Cheim & Read gallery in Chelsea, bought the bayfront house of Shirley Lord, widow of New York Times legend Abe Rosenthal. Read razed it and is building a glass-and-steel structure designed by a Japanese architect.
“CBS Morning News” anchor Charlie Rose purchased the home next door to his from Louise Blouin, the publisher of Art+Auction magazine, and is using it as a guesthouse. And Rose’s ex-girlfriend Amanda Burden bought a house nearby for $6 million.
Rose is chairing the Boys & Girls Club benefit on Saturday at the new bayfront house of bond queen Alexandra Lebenthal and her husband, Jay Diamond, which was decorated by the husband-wife design team of Robert and Cortney Novogratz.
Boykin and Celerie Curry are buying the waterfront estate of William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, Isabella Rossellini went the other direction and bought up 8 acres to prevent the land from being developed. Rossellini is opening an organic farm, and planning to sell her produce to The Bellport restaurant.
“She had a tough time getting permits for chickens, but it should be up to speed next year,” a source said.
Other neighbors include Princess Alexandra of Greece, Broadway producer Colin Callender, “House of Cards” producer John Melfi, Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa, Aero Studios president Thomas O’Brien and lawyer Ed Hayes, one of Bellport’s earliest settlers.