Asking Price For Tick Hall Drops Nearly $14 Million

Known as “Tick Hall” on nearly 20 acres of lush Montauk green, former talk show host Dick Cavett’s manse went on the market last year for $62 million—and could not sell.

Mr. Cavett has now shifted listing agents under Corcoran to veteran broker Gary DePersia to sell the 7,000-square-foot, three-story residence, and agreed to a heavy price reduction. The new ask: $48.5 million.

Mr. DePersia said in an interview Wednesday that the original asking price was a reflection of what Andy Warhol’s Montauk summer compound sold for the second time: $50 million for 6.5 acres, compared to Mr. Cavett’s 20 acres.

“After seeing that the original asking price might have been a bit aggressive—and the owners do want to sell—we decided to drop it to a more attractive level,” Mr. DePersia said.

The original structure was built in 1882 and was part of a grouping of houses in the Montauk Association designed for financier Alexander E. Orr by the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. The six-bedroom, five-bath home was sold by attorney Harrison Tweed to Mr. Cavett in 1968, and landed itself on the National Register of Historic Places. Guests to Tick Hall have included Woody Allen, Muhammad Ali, Laurence Olivier and Tennessee Williams—as well as the bloodthirsty arachnid that bares the same name as the home.

Mr. Cavett refers to the entire 20-acre property as “Cavett’s Cove.”

“It is what the cognoscenti have called the property since Cavett bought it in 1968,” Mr. DePersia said.

Corcoran’s new strategy is to highlight not just the historical aspect of the original house—that was rebuilt after a fire burned the house to the ground in 1997—but “to hammer home that we have 20 acres with 900-feet of shoreline, a private half-acre pond, pool and miles of walking trails,” Mr. DePersia said.

“This is an unparalleled oceanfront experience and the only one of its kind for sale anywhere in the Hamptons,” he added. In 2008, Mr. Cavett sold 77 acres around the residence for $18 million to Suffolk County, East Hampton Town and the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to create public parkland and prevent developers from purchasing the sought-after property.