Owners of Hamptons parcel choose land trust over Jay-Z, Beyoncé
Jay-Z and Beyoncé were among several prominent bidders for the plot of land on Georgica Pond in East Hampton, which is next door to the $26 million home they bought in 2017. Credit: Getty Images/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times
Jay-Z and Beyoncé were among several recent prominent bidders for a vacant 2.7-acre plot of land on Georgica Pond in East Hampton that the owners have decided to sell to the Peconic Land Trust, according to a broker involved in the sale.
The Peconic Land Trust closed April 27 on the parcel on Jones Creek Lane for $8.5 million, says Linda Batiancela, an agent with Town & Country Real Estate who represented the sellers, Daniel Creighton and his wife, Ana Meier, the daughter of renowned architect Richard Meier.
Listed for $11.75 million in September 2021, the property is next door to Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s 12,000-square-foot Pond House, which they bought for $26 million in 2017. It is in the exclusive waterfront Creeks area of East Hampton, where Revlon Chairman Ron Perelman and other luminaries own vacation homes.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé were not outbid: The owners opted to go the land preservation route, Batiancela says. Jay-Z and Beyoncé's reps did not return requests for comment.
“It’s a beautiful piece of property abutting the Fulling Mill Farm Reserve,” says Batiancela. “We had a lot of interest in it, and they just decided to sell it to the Peconic Land Trust to preserve the property.”
The Peconic Land Trust bought the 2.7-acre parcel on East Hampton's Georgica Pond outlined above, to be preserved as open space. Credit: Town & Country Real Estate
The Peconic Land Trust has focused much of its conservation efforts in and around ponds on the East End “because they’ve become so polluted, with all the nitrogen loading,” says Kim Quarty, director of conservation planning for the Southampton-based conservation organization.
In 2020, the trust acquired the Il Mulino restaurant and site at the headwaters of Georgica Pond through a donation by philanthropist Katharine Rayner, who lives nearby. The restaurant was demolished and the land restored to its natural state.
Rayner’s largesse inspired others to give, including an anonymous donor whose contribution, along with a commitment from the Town of East Hampton, funded the Jones Creek purchase, which is a locally significant coastal fish and wildlife habitat, notes Quarty.
As preserved open space, the site will be open to the public and used mostly for kayaking.
“It will just be a passive property that we’ll be managing with the town,” says Quarty.
