East Hampton Village auctioning off summer cottage rental leases

East Hampton Village on Saturday will auction off summer rental leases at a set of 13 oceanfront village-owned cottages.

The unfurnished rentals, known as the Sea Spray Cottages, “are nestled behind ocean dunes on a narrow strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Hook Pond” near Main Beach, the village says in an online auction notice.

The Ocean Avenue buildings are vestiges of the Sea Spray Inn, a long-ago shuttered hotel.

The leases run from mid-May to late September, with a two-year renewal option. Sublets — even to a family member — are not allowed.

The public auction will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in the village's emergency services building at 1 Cedar St.

Would-be renters or their authorized agents may bid in person, and must bring a signed lease and a $15,000 bank check.

“If the highest bidder on a cottage does not submit the fully completed, signed lease and the bank check immediately at the conclusion of the bidding for a particular cottage at the auction, the bid will then go to the next highest bidder,” the village says on its Web site.

Written bids can be dropped off at Village Hall by 4 p.m. Friday. Lease forms are available in Village Hall, 86 Main St., or by download from the Sea Spray Cottage Web site.

Anyone who didn't take a peek at the cottages at Jan. 16 and Jan. 23 open houses is out of luck. There's no chance of seeing them in the next few days.

Minimum bids for the cottages are as follows (the numbers are also marked on an illustration on the village Web site). Several cottages are paired—1 & 2, 3 and 4, and 11 and 12.

Cottage 1 One bedroom, one bathroom $30,000
Cottage 2 Two bedrooms, one bathroom $38,000
Cottage 3 One bedroom, one bathroom $33,000
Cottage 4 Two bedrooms, one bathroom $38,000
Cottage 5 Three bedrooms, two bathrooms $55,000
Cottage 6 Three bedrooms, two bathrooms $55,000
Cottage 7 Three bedrooms, two bathrooms $55,000
Cottage 8 Three bedrooms, two bathrooms $55,000
Cottage 9 One bedroom, one bathroom $35,000
Cottage 10 One bedroom, one bathroom $35,000
Cottage 11 One bedroom, one bathroom $35,000
Cottage 12 Two bedrooms, one bathroom $45,000
Cottage 14 One bedroom, one bathroom $35,000

For further information, call Larry Cantwell, the village administrator, at 631-324-4150. 

Village of East Hampton Photo