Once-sleepy Hamptons wider awake now in winter, spring months

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic brought a crush of new residents to the Hamptons, and although that wave has ebbed significantly two years later, sparsely populated winters and springs have taken on a more four-seasons feel, residents and government officials said.

It’s harder to get a table at a Sag Harbor restaurant on winter weekends. Vehicle traffic is up. Trash collection remains in demand. And they said the always-present affordability crisis for lower-wage workers has been exacerbated by spiking housing costs associated with higher demand.

"I think the loss of seasonality on the East End is definitely primarily related to the pandemic," said Will Flower, of Winter Bros., which has an office in Quogue and provides private garbage collection services in East Hampton and Southampton towns, where there is no municipal pickup.

Flower said trash pickup business increased 30% to 40% for the South Fork division of Winters Bros. in March 2020 and has not abated. The company’s crew of 25 workers in the Hamptons has expanded to 33.

"The East End business looks much similar to our waste business across Long Island now, in that seasonal fluctuation is much less," he said.

The population change is reflected in the most-recent census — which showed a 20% increase in population in East Hampton and Southampton towns, from 78,247 residents in 2010 to 97,421 in 2020 — and record South Fork real estate sales driven by the pandemic.

Last year, Southampton Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said in his annual budget message that the 2022 spending plan called for a 5.8% increase to meet rising demand for town services due to a nearly 22% population growth following the pandemic. Schneiderman, speaking last month, noted another impact has been record revenue in the town’s Community Preservation Fund, which is funded through a 2% tax on real estate transfers. Southampton received $118 million in 2021 compared with $80 million in 2020 and $43 million in 2019.

"We took in more in 2021 in Community Preservation Fund revenues than we did in property tax revenues, which is a first," Schneiderman said.

Dawn Watson, an agent with the real estate company Douglas Elliman, said she is seeing a change as wealthier clientele have been scooping up property in traditionally more affordable neighborhoods west of the Shinnecock Canal, even into Brookhaven Town. She noted that in the sleepy hamlet of Remsenburg, where there is no downtown or ocean access, the median home value rose from $837,500 in 2019 to $1.74 million in 2021. Westhampton Beach, once known for being less expensive than other South Fork villages, went from a median price of $1.37 million to $1.8 million in that time, she said.

'You could have a house that you inherited from your family and your parents bought for $100,000 and you can sell it for a million.'

Dawn Watson, an agent with the real estate company Douglas Elliman

For middle-class people who perhaps inherited their home or bought in a different market, selling now could mean a major upgrade for one’s quality of life, Watson said.

"You could have a house that you inherited from your family and your parents bought for $100,000 and you can sell it for a million," she said. "If you've been thinking about it, you should cash out because you’re going to be able to live somewhere else the way rich people live in the Hamptons."

There are some indicators that suggest while the South Fork is still busier than in years past, this winter has not been as crowded as in early 2021 now that vaccines have become widely available. Long Island’s seven-day average of positive COVID-19 cases was 1.68% on Thursday, the state said, with no deaths reported in Nassau or Suffolk. One month ago, the positivity rate was more than 15%.

Data from the state Department of Transportation shows the number of average daily trips through the intersection of County Road 39 and Sunrise Highway’s terminus in Southampton, a major thoroughfare, stood at 39,908 in January 2020. It increased to 42,297 in January 2021 and then fell slightly to 41,683 in December, the most recent month available. For the past two years, during peak season in July, more than 44,000 vehicles were on the roadway.

Moving back, moving out or trying to stay put

Rosemary Sharp, who spent the beginning of the pandemic in her Southampton Village home while her city residence was renovated, said she felt completely comfortable returning to full-time life in Manhattan once she became fully vaccinated last March. From her vantage point, this winter feels closer to years past.

"For the most part, people are back to their routines to some extent," said Sharp, who is in her 60s. "Everybody that I knew tried to get vaccinated and boosted so they could kind of feel a semblance of normality."

Stephen Dubb hunkered down in his Amagansett home during the onset of the pandemic, back when uncertainty over the virus meant touching an elevator button was stressful. Dubb, 36, a principal with the Beechwood Organization, which builds developments like the 19-condo project The Latch in Southampton, said one benefit of life out East was a quick surf in Montauk before the workday. But the arrangement wasn’t meant to be permanent, and he, his wife and their daughter, who was born in May, returned to their full-time New York City life in September.

"I now see the value of being in the office, in person with people," he said. "In our line of work, it’s just so much easier to function and things get done faster, and they get done better. I think hybrid or totally remote work can be really isolating for a lot of people."

For many, a more crowded Hamptons and a booming real estate market has had negative consequences or brought on a lifestyle change they hadn’t anticipated.

Marvin Franklin, 73, a porter at the Southampton Stop & Shop grocery store who works a second job cleaning a parking lot, said he moved to Sag Harbor about four years ago because he had family nearby. He initially paid $900 per month to rent a bedroom in a home, but the rate has since gone up to $1,000 per month as the demand for rentals exploded, he said. He’s looking elsewhere, but moving to a more affordable neighborhood would mean a longer commute.

"I didn’t want to go all the way to Mastic-Shirley to travel," Franklin said of a drive that could take more than 60 minutes in rush hour. "You know, it’s just too far."

Others cashed in their Hamptons earnings and are living well elsewhere.

Dell Cullum, a wildlife rescue handler who was raised in Amagansett, left last year and said he feels like he hit the lottery.

Cullum was renting a two-bedroom East Hampton home for $2,600 a month, paying "too much for too little," he said while conceding that could be considered a good deal for the East End.

'In the past two years, on a scale from 1 to 10, it [rude behavior] went from 8 to 12.’

Dell Cullum, a longtime Amagansett resident who left in 2021

Cullum, 59, described growing up there as living in Mayberry, the setting of the 1960s sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show," but said the growing population over the years destroyed the "aura" of the place. Behaviors he saw as outsiders eroding quality life for others — littering, disrespect for wildlife, failure to obey local traffic laws — worsened dramatically during the pandemic, he said.

"In the past two years, on a scale from 1 to 10, it [rude behavior] went from 8 to 12," he said. "That’s how bad it was."

After his mother died at age 91 in June, Cullum, who was an East Hampton Town trustee from 2018 until 2020, decided to move.

Last year, he and his wife Dee relocated to Hardwick, Massachusetts, a town of about 2,700 residents that is two hours west of Boston. They bought a two-story home that sits 15 feet from a pond — where Cullum watches otters swim — and paid cash.

"Right now, I’m just sitting pretty, paying my utility bills and enjoying life like I’ve never enjoyed it before," Cullum said. "I got my Mayberry back."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect amount for Marvin Franklin's pre-increase monthly rental rate.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.