Watermill Crossing Closings Begin

Watermill Crossing, a luxury townhouse development on the north side of Montauk Highway in Water Mill, has been in the making for half a decade, or even longer when considering the planning that went into getting town approvals before the current owners came on the scene.

Now, sales deals are closing at the all-but-sold-out development, and the first residents will be moving in imminently.

Watermill Crossing includes 38 cedar-shingled townhouses, 34 of which are market-rate units and four that are “community benefit” units that will be offered as affordable housing. The units offer approximately 2,500 square feet of living space each, plus a one-car garage.

Developed by JS Squared, Watermill Crossing is the first joint venture between the two JS’s who give the company its name: Jeff Suchman and James Stanton.

Suchman is known in these parts for the developing the CVS in East Hampton, and Stanton is a longtime New York City residential real estate developer. They have been working toward Watermill Crossing’s completion for five years, including six months of diligence at the onset prior to purchasing the 6.4-acre property.

Site plan approval for townhouses was already in place when they bought the land, though they asked for and got revisions, most significantly changing the floor plans on many units from two-car garages to one-car garages to accommodate a downstairs den/bedroom.

Getting approvals for the site plan changes amid the COVID pandemic took about a year to complete through virtual meetings.

“They all have basements, which can be finished,” Stanton said. “They all have an optional elevator, which I think half a dozen people purchased. They have excellent finishes and excellent appliances, and they’re very attractive.”

He noted the units have “great light,” and backyards that are plumbed for water and gas.

“It’s a beautifully landscaped site,” he added. “We spent a lot of effort and money landscaping this property.”

Araiys Design in Southampton was the landscape architect. The year-round clubhouse, designed by Mabley Handler Interior Design of Water Mill, has a great room with a fireplace and large television.

“Everything is going to be fantastically furnished,” Suchman said of the clubhouse. “I think our deliveries come in the 1st of January.”

A club room offers conference tables or card tables, and the clubhouse also has a kitchen prep area, a gym, and men’s and women’s locker rooms that flow outside to the pool and hot tub.

“There’s always been a shortage of this type of community in the Hamptons,” Suchman said.

On the developing side, it’s difficult to receive the proper zoning and approvals that are necessary, he explained. And that means that, on the buyer side, there are not that many options for new luxury condos.

“We realize what it entails to maintain a home, and the money and effort,” Suchman said. “And we realize that there are a lot of people who would prefer a management company taking care of all those things for them. It’s easier living.”

When sales began, they weren’t quite sure who their buyers would be.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Suchman said. “I think we figured from our conversations with the brokerage community that we’d have mostly downsizing buyers, selling the large house and coming to a community where everything’s taken care of for them.

“But I think we really got a mix. I think we have first-time homebuyers. We have a lot of people who winter in warm places, who are going to come up for the summer. But we have also people who are here year round.”

The development also attracted international buyers from as far afield as Brazil.

Saunders & Associates worked with JS Squared from the beginning stages, said Steve Glick, the real estate brokerage’s senior vice president of advertising and marketing.

“We helped them with floor plan decisions, helped them pick the designers. We worked closely with the architect and really created it with the developers,” he said. “Saunders and developers worked hand in hand way well before we even broke ground. With the marketing team, we worked on creating the full-color renderings, creating the logo, the name for the development.”

McDonough & Conroy Architects, based in Bridgehampton and Islandia, designed the townhouses. Racanelli Construction, in Melville, is the builder.

“The question was, how do you bring something to market where we’re not breaking ground for one or two years?” Glick said. “So it’s all about having the right assets.”

That includes a detailed brochure of the floor plan models and the specs.

Saunders also had a sales experience in its Southampton office where buyers could learn about the project and touch and feel all of the materials, Glick noted.

“All the decisions were made for the buyers,” he said. “So when they looked at this brochure and they looked at our website, they could see exactly everything that’s going into this development. They could see the floor plans. They could see the full-color renderings. And they feel comfortable putting down a down payment on something that is to be built.

“And when you create something that’s really compelling and put it out there to the market, it works. You really have to have it all figured out before you come to market, and that was very successful in selling out all the units.”

Saunders & Associates associate broker Ed Bruehl and licensed real estate salesperson Jennifer Wilson represented Watermill Crossing, bringing it to market nearly three years ago. It broke ground in 2022.

“We sold it out in about nine to 10 months off cartoon renderings before anything had been built,” Bruehl said.

He said it’s a beautiful community that’s open year round — including the clubhouse, open 24/7 — and adds value to Water Mill.

Bruehl said while others thought the units would go for $1.5 million, he and Wilson put them on the market during preconstruction for $2.2 million, which later went up to $2.5 million, then $2.9 million.

The lone market-rate unit that’s available is listed for $2.9 million. It had been sold previously, but that international buyer now has other plans, so it’s back on the market — for $400,000 more than he had agreed to pay.

“Ed and I have worked for three years, essentially meeting with every single buyer,” Wilson said. “Most of them bought without a stick in the ground. So we would meet and go over the project, and meet them at the site, and go over floor plans and location on the site. So it was just a really fun process for us. And now we have great relationships with every buyer that’s moving in there.”

She envisions having new wealthy homeowners in walking distance to Main Street shops will help a downtown that has been sluggish for years. “It’s really going to transform the village of Water Mill,” she said.

They have gathered gift cards from the shops to give to the new homeowners to welcome them to Water Mill, she said.

The buyers, Bruehl said, were not people downsizing from a big estate to a condo. Rather, it was often a mom and dad buying for their daughter so she would be close by with the grandkids, or it was the kids buying for mom and dad to have them close by, he found.

“It’s an interesting mix of people,” Wilson said. “When we first started selling it, we thought that we would essentially be having local, wealthy people who want to downsize buy one of these. It was not that at all.”

She found there were buyers who already have a condo in Florida and want to have the same maintenance-free lifestyle here.

“We really focused on building a top-grade development … using top-line appliances, top-line finishes. We really wanted to deliver a first-class product, and I think we did,” Suchman said.

“If you walk into one of our units, you probably come away with the impression that it’s a very handsome, good-looking unit, which is what we wanted. And we think it’s going to be a great community,” he added. “It’s going to be a nice group of people.”

The monthly condo association fees will cover lawn maintenance, snow removal, garbage removal, and pool and clubhouse maintenance.

Once the last unit sells, the developers will no longer have a role at Watermill Crossing, and the residents will run the condo association as they see fit. The affordable housing lottery will only begin after sales of the market-rate units have all closed.