The Curbed Cup, our annual award to the Hamptons neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 8 towns/villages/hamlets vying for the prestigious fake trophy. This week we'll have one matchup per day, and all the results and the full tourney bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends 24 hours after it begins. Please remember—no wagering.
Two-time Curbed Cup champ Sag Harbor is hoping for another win this year. Perhaps the biggest news in the town was that the long-aborning Watchcase condo project finally began showing and selling apartments. Another condo project called One Ferry Road is on the horizon, while the troubled West Water Street condo project was put up for auction, and when no one ponied up the minimum bid, worked restarted on the bank-owned property. Christie Brinkley put her late parents' house up for sale. New restaurants the Cuddy and Madison and Main opened, and then Madison and Main was sold. Havens Beach was finally cleaned up. 2014 looks bright for Sag Harbor, with talk of a new waterfront park with a boardwalk.
Lots of change in Montauk in 2013. Two local institutions were sold--Gurney's Inn for a reported $25 million; Gurney's is currently being refurbished by the new owners. The East Deck Motel was sold for a reported $15 million and the rumor is that it will become a private surf club. A Ponzi scheme was discovered at the Panoramic View. MTK Café went away. Endless amounts of discussion ensued about Army Corps of Engineers plans to shore up the vulnerable downtown. Fort Pond House was saved as a park, and taxi anarchy continued. In real estate, agents crowned Montauk as the hottest market in the Hamptons. An oceanfront parcel was sold for almost $8 million, to celebrity Bill O'Reilly, who is having Farrell build a house there. Can't wait to see what 2014 holds.