He Paid Nearly $2M to Get His Family Out of NYC

That's the reported rental price of the Hamptons home
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2020 9:32 AM CDT
He Paid Nearly $2M to Get His Family Out of NYC
An aerial view of the Hamptons.   (Getty Images)

The 17,000-square-foot Hamptons mansion was listed for rent for only a day before it was snatched up. The cost to stay there from March through Labor Day? Nearly $2 million. "A textile tycoon and his family who were stuck in Manhattan and wanted to leave the city on a day's notice" are now free to enjoy 10 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a large pool, bowling alley, nightclub, movie theater, and tennis courts spread across 11.5 acres, owner Joe Farrell tells the New York Post, per the Guardian. "This was a COVID situation—not a normal summer rental," he adds. It may be the priciest East End rental ever, per the Post. But it's hardly an anomaly right now. New York's one-percenters have been fleeing to Long Island since at least mid-March, when "the short-term rental market was as hot as August," according to New York Magazine.

The outlet describes homeowners renting out properties for up to ten times the normal fee. One renter reportedly paid $750,000 to stay in a waterfront Hamptons home for two months, despite initially offering $200,000. With basic supplies running thin, however, local leaders urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to ban travelers late last month. "A new trend is taking place that puts our residents at further risk—people seeking refuge from the metropolitan areas," Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell told Page Six. One resident went so far as to suggest they "blow up the bridges," per the Post, which described "all-out class warfare." But Long Island hasn't been spared: Some 37,500 cases have been documented there. (Another one-percenter took flak for escaping on a yacht.)

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