Old Southampton Village Post Office Sells After Being On The Market Since 2011

The old Southampton Village post office property was sold in February, after being on the market since 2011.

Norman Bobrow, the listing agent and president of commercial real estate company Norman Bobrow & Co. in Manhattan, said the building was sold for $3.05 million, a little less than half the $6.5 million he was seeking when he originally listed the building. The buyer is a limited liability company called 39 Nugent LLC.

Built in 1960, the 6,748-square-foot brick building was purchased by Mr. Bobrow’s father, Louis Bobrow, in 1975 when it housed the Southampton Village Post Office. Seeking more space, the U.S. Postal Service decamped to a new 8,000-square-foot facility on North Sea Road in 2009.

The building has not had a tenant since 2009, and Mr. Bobrow tried to sell the property on his own, with little success. Shortly after the initial listing in 2011, Mr. Bobrow contacted TD Bank. Following some negotiations and with a sketch of the layout for a branch office, the project was a go until the bank’s executives slammed on the brakes for TD Bank’s expansion in the area, citing a higher return rate in Manhattan than on Long Island, Mr. Bobrow said.

In 2012, Mr. Bobrow said, he reached out to film director Steven Spielberg about housing the East Hampton resident’s large collection of Norman Rockwell paintings inside the former post office for public viewing. Mr. Spielberg’s office rejected the offer, though, saying his private collection is almost always on tour.

After multiple attempts to sell the property, Mr. Bobrow put the property up to bid on Auction.com for nearly three months. The initial posting kicked off on August 11, and bids started at $750,000, though the property was expected to sell for a price closer to $4 million.

The building never sold, and Mr. Bobrow gave in, realizing he needed to hire a brokerage firm to sell the property. Brown Harris Stevens had the listing.