Southampton Town looks to buy Neptune Beach Club

Southampton Town wants to buy the Neptune Beach Club, a popular Hamptons oceanside party destination that has drawn police attention and neighborhood complaints about sunbaked revelers.

The town board will vote in October whether nearly 3 acres on Dune Road owned by the club should be added to a list of properties to purchase. Neptune Beach Club Inc. has expressed an interest in selling the property to the town, Southampton officials said in a memo.

The land in East Quogue sits near "shimmering waters, expansive salt hay meadows and pristine maritime dunes," the resolution notes. The club also hosts thumping DJ dance music on summer weekends.

"It's a beautiful piece of property" that's environmentally sensitive and important to fishermen and shellfishermen, Councilwoman Bridget Fleming said. She added that the beach club "is a real concern to the local community" and has sapped a lot of police resources in the past.

Southampton Town police have arrested up to a dozen patrons at a time on drug charges.

Buying the beach club would protect an environmentally sensitive barrier beach parcel, Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said in a statement, and "provide the ancillary benefit of eliminating a nuisance establishment."

Neptune Beach Club representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

The Southampton Town board unanimously set the public hearing for Oct. 8. A potential purchase price will not be known until appraisals are completed.

To buy the land, the town would tap its Community Preservation Fund, which has typically been used to protect open space, farmland and scenic vistas.