180 Great Plains Road, Formerly Site Of Villa Medici Replica, Sells For $11.5 Million

With the sale of 180 Great Plains Road, the entire property purchased 108 years ago by a New York City lawyer is now in the hands of others. The $11.5 million sale just reported means the total cost to two separate purchasers for two lots was $25,200,000.

Obviously, we must explain the details. In 1910, the attorney Albert Barnes Boardman was 57 years old and quite successful when he invested in the Village of Southampton property consisting of 10 acres. At the 180 Great Plains Road site, Boardman had built a four-story mansion with 24 rooms to replicate the Villa Medici in Rome, at a cost of $250,000—a price which, of course, might get you a pool house today. For 19 years, the Boardman family lived there, until the lawyer’s declining health prompted him to sell the property. (He died in September 1933, age 80.) For the next three decades the manse saw several reincarnations, including as a hotel.

In 1960, Jan Mitchell enters the story. He was the successful owner of Luchow’s restaurant and the Longchamps chain of eateries. He wanted to revive the 180 Great Plains Road site. The original main building was demolished and what had been the gatehouse was renovated and expanded to become the residence of Mitchell and his family. The new residence had six bedrooms, seven baths, a formal dining room, and 6,000 square feet of living space.

Mitchell died at age 96 in 2009, and subsequently his children—one of whom, David, is the owner of the Mitchell Holdings development company—did a new renovation of the residence and had the property divided into two lots. One, consisting of 5.6 acres, sold several years ago for $13.7 million, and it was announced this past week that the remaining parcel has been sold to an entity cleverly titled 180 Great Plains Road LLC for $11.5 million—discounted from 2016’s asking price of $15 million. The first owner, Albert Boardman, still owns real estate in the area, though: You can find his grave at the Southampton Cemetery.