Hamptons estate closing at half asking price

A deal on a 55-acre waterfront Hamptons estate is expected to close Tuesday at less than half the original asking price of $80 million that drew headlines before the housing bust.

The buyer is real estate investor Jeffrey Greene, who became a billionaire in Wall Street trades that bet on subprime mortgages defaulting.

Greene, who summers in the Hamptons, wants room to run for his growing family, a son who's almost 2 and a wife who is expecting another child.

Greene declined to give the price for the North Haven property known as Tyndal Point, citing a confidentiality agreement, but seller Robert Rust says it's less than half the $80 million he first sought in 2007.

"I saw this property and I knew right away," said Greene, 56, who last year lost the Democratic primary for Florida's U.S. Senate seat. "It's the perfect kind of property."

The closing was supposed to be done Monday, but Rust said there was a problem with the wire transfer of funds.

The two men -- Rust living in Miami and Greene in Palm Beach -- met on the deal more than two months ago at Greene's home. The land overlooks Shelter Island and has several buildings, including two houses and a barn.

Rust said he's happy that he's found a buyer at last. The retired federal prosecutor, who helped find dynamite in the motel room of a man who had threatened President-elect John F. Kennedy, inherited the place from an aunt.

But the former Cutchogue and Baldwin resident says he tired of trying to get subdivision approval from the village of North Haven. On top of that were the property taxes, he said.

"I'm very happy that he and his family are going to enjoy this property," Rust said. "I'm happy because I'm 82 years old, and I need $250,000 in real estate taxes like I need a hole in the head."

When Rust decided to sell, he said, he pulled a price "out of the air" to test the waters. The last list price was $45 million.

Greene says he's biked around the property many times on his way to the Shelter Island ferry, ever since the first day of his first Hamptons visit in the early '90s. The area appeals to him, he said, reminding him of his New England childhood on the beaches and the region's architecture.

In his mind, Greene is already making memories at his vacation-home-to-be, boating and splashing with his children in the lagoon and taking nature walks on the forested property.

"It's funny, because I always admired those homes, the serenity of the area and the beauty of the area, from the sea and from the land side," he said. "When I heard about it, I took a look at it and fell in love with it."