Rich Cribs: 'Suped-up' Sagaponack gym, and more

VROOM ENVY A Sagaponack South estate on the market for $10.5 million has no shortage of amenities, but it’s the basement that features a unique homage to one man’s passion for motion. The property is indicative of what you might expect from a high-end 9,000-square-foot Hamptons home. Its six bedrooms include a master suite with its own living room. The main living room of the 9,000-square-foot house features double-height windows and ceilings. The four-car garage has an apartment. The gunite pool and tennis courts offer views of the neighboring farm fields. “You can see through to the ocean from miles away,” says Susan Breitenbach of The Corcoran Group, who is representing the property with her son, Matthew. “It’s still open farm field. People come from the city and want that. It’s different from other places in the Hamptons.” Yet, it is the lower level, with a renovated gym and sauna, that delivers another noticeable difference. “I like things that move, like motorcycles,” says owner and retiree Ray Schneiderman. Unsatisfied with the tribute paid by his motorcycle collection in his garage, Schneiderman extended his passion. Hiring a craftsman, he created a gym and sauna in the basement showing his appreciation of engines and transportation.
An actual portion of an engine with exhaust headers from a 454-cubic-inch auto motor in the wall serves as a working faucet. After a workout one can rinse off in one of two showers that are exhausts from 18-wheeler trucks. Inside the sauna, a sink runs water from a faucet that was constructed from a 1934 Packard hood ornament. -- NICK DIVICO

MIRACLE COMPOUND It seems fitting that the founder of Miracle-Gro plant food — the late Horace Hagedorn — owned a lovely piece of property in Sands Point. “The gardens are so beautiful,” says Amy Hagedorn, Horace’s widow, a philanthropist and head of the Hagedorn Foundation based in Port Washington. “There are a few people who can take credit for it,” adds Hagedorn, citing, in part, Main Street Nursery in Huntington and her real estate agent, Diane Benisch of Real Living/ Accents on Real Estate, a garden designer. Horace lived on the 4.1-acre waterfront property for more than 40 years, his wife says. After he died in 2005, a neighboring home on 1.6 acres became available. “There is a story of the two homes,” Hagedorn says, noting they were built by two brothers of the Fraser family. She purchased the property and in 2007 had the house gutted and renovated into an Arts and Crafts style. It has six rooms offering views of the water and landscape, which is lush with specimen trees, retaining walls and a pond with a waterfall. “It’s better than a resort,” Hagedorn says, adding, “I feel very lucky to have lived here.” Now it’s time to pass the baton. The compound — comprising two homes and two lots, about 5.7 acres in all, with an in-ground pool and more than 400 feet of waterfront — is on the market for $12 million. (The redrawn parcels are now 3.38 acres and 2.23 acres.) “The homes are lovely and in excellent condition,” says Benisch, noting both are built high on a bluff overlooking buoy number six in Hempstead Harbor, so they are dry and offer incredible views. For seven years straight, Hagedorn hosted fundraisers for Sustainable Long Island, a nonprofit of which she and Horace are co-founders. As many as 400 people parked their cars here and enjoyed the scenery, Hagedorn adds. -- LISA DOLL BRUNO