{"id":109023,"date":"2025-08-01T01:39:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109023\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T01:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:39:22","slug":"the-first-residence-at-the-bridge-golf-club-gets-a-price-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109023\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Residence at the Bridge Golf Club Gets a Price Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Life on hole one at the Bridge.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

The Bridge is not like other golf courses. Or at least that\u2019s the image it\u2019s selling. Its developer, Robert Rubin, doesn\u2019t consider himself a serious golfer; he\u2019s a Wall Street guy who got lured into buying<\/a> up this hilly spread outside Bridgehampton when it was a track where he\u2019d race his Ferrari. But then he consolidated ownership and tried to turn it into something it wasn\u2019t zoned for: a suburb of 114 houses. In his telling, someone suggested golf and he went with the idea \u2014 integrating some of the old racetrack\u2019s guardrails and oil signs and trying to turn its rakish spirit into a brand. The New York Times called<\/a> the Bridge the \u201cuntucked country club\u201d after it opened in 2002 for its resistance to the shingly, New England aesthetic of the Maidstone<\/a> and Shinnecock Hills clubhouses<\/a> and their royal airs<\/a>. There\u2019s no florid wallpaper and no nostalgic oil paintings. Rubin decorated from his personal collection with a Warhol of golfer Jack Nicklaus<\/a>, a Damien Hirst shark behind the bar, and rotating exhibitions<\/a> have included a Tom Sachs geodesic dome<\/a> on the lawns. When it comes to actual golfing, there\u2019s no need to call ahead to reserve a tee. Playing in jeans and a T-shirt is encouraged, maybe because Rubin himself \u201chas that urban flannel-shirt look down cold,\u201d per Golf magazine<\/a>. There\u2019s an obvious appeal for rich guys who don\u2019t do rules, and members have included<\/a> the artist Richard Prince (a former club champion<\/a>) and the Def Jam Records vet Lyor Cohen as well as money guys like Howard Lutnick and developer Stephen Ross.<\/p>\n

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But the Bridge is still very much a golf course (initiation fees near $1.5 million, according to<\/a> Golf Digest), so it is doing what many golf clubs have done before it: building a subdivision on the course. The first house to be finished for the Residences at the Bridge, on the grandest lot right on the first tee, was floated<\/a> in 2021 at $25 million, listed in October of last year at $38.5 million<\/a>, and this week got a price cut to $29 million. If and when it sells, the number will answer the question of how much someone might pay to live inside one of the world\u2019s most exclusive playpens \u2014\u00a0and likely determine what Rubin builds next on the remaining 19 lots.<\/p>\n

No. 31 shares its materials and general look with the Bridge\u2019s main clubhouse, which was built in 2008 and could be mistaken for a woodsier Norman Foster airport terminal. The architect is Roger Ferris<\/a>, who has devoted 20 years of his career to building Rubin\u2019s pleasure palace. (They met when Ferris came in to redesign the trading floor at AIG, where Rubin was an executive.) The houses they now plan to build are an attempt to rethink the private-club spec house, Ferris tells me. \u201cWe are subverting everything,\u201d he says. Maybe not everything: The house is 7,530 square feet<\/a> and features six bedrooms and six baths (plus two half-baths). Miele and Sub-Zero appliances appear in the open-concept kitchen. The floors are wide white oak. Zinc panels hung between sliding glass doors are a nod to a classic Hamptons beach house with its rows of teensy shingles. But that\u2019s where the cute ends. There is no foyer \u2014\u00a0a move Ferris made to make the place feel casual, he says. Inside, mahogany frames on doors and windows add a bit of warmth but the rest is classic spec: so slick and bare you could imagine anyone living here. Or no one.<\/p>\n

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\n A slick living area with picture windows, minimalist cabinetry, and white-oak floors.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

But if you ask Ferris, the real subversion is the layout. With club security being what it is (the entire club is gated, security is 24\/7, and the driveway up to the house is a quarter-mile), there wasn\u2019t much of a reason to hide the residents on the upper floors. Instead, all five guest rooms are at ground level and each has a private exit, like little hotel villas. It\u2019s a useful layout for a wealthy traveler who doesn\u2019t want to exist in constant earshot of their assistant, or whose wayward child tends to come home at 3 a.m. \u201cThey could sneak in and do whatever,\u201d Ferris says. The flipped layout<\/a> meant Ferris had space upstairs to give the primary suite the bigger views<\/a>: past the course to the bay, Shelter Island, and beyond to the Long Island Sound. Look down and there\u2019s another scene: America\u2019s power players \u2013 rich guys humbled by the task of thwacking a 1.62-ounce sphere from one spot to another. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t buy this house if you didn\u2019t want to be looking at a golf course,\u201d Ferris said. \u201cIt\u2019s about being part of that whole scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Doors to guest rooms are on the ground level (right). The primary suite is above them. To the left is the terrace living area and the outdoor living area, where sofas face the first hole.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

But does anyone want to join in? The house has been marketed<\/a> since last fall,\u00a0but so far there are no takers \u2014 thus the price cut.\u00a0As for the other 19 homes that could soon line up behind it, Ferris says they\u2019re in the design stage. \u201cWe\u2019d like to see this one sell first,\u201d he says. And as for the 23-year gap between the club\u2019s opening and this house\u2019s finishing touches, \u201cWe\u2019ve just waited to build anything until the time is right; we\u2019re not in a rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Price: <\/strong>$29 million<\/p>\n

Specs: <\/strong>Six <\/strong>bedrooms, six bathrooms, two half-baths<\/p>\n

Extras: <\/strong>Pool, poolhouse with second kitchen, terrace, roof garden, direct access to golf course, private security, groundskeeping and housekeeping services on offer.<\/p>\n

25-minute driving radius: <\/strong>Foster Memorial Beach, Page Sag Harbor, East Hampton Airport<\/p>\n

Listed by:<\/strong> Bespoke Real Estate<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The approach from the driveway. The main house is on the left, the poolhouse is on the right, and the golf course is straight ahead.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Architect Roger Ferris didn\u2019t add a formal foyer. Instead, there\u2019s an outdoor living area shaded by the home\u2019s upper story. Security will page the owner when there\u2019s a visitor, and the approach to the house is a long, curvy driveway. \u201cBy the time you\u2019re there, you don\u2019t want to like go up to somebody\u2019s front door and knock and say \u2018Who\u2019s there?\u2019 You already know who\u2019s here.\u201d
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Mahogany beams warm up the fa\u00e7ade. Zinc panels are meant to nod toward the local vernacular architecture: shingles.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Zoning would have allowed the house to spread out to 15,000 square feet, but Ferris and his staff kept the home to half that size given their experience with wealthy families in the area who don\u2019t go on vacation to do maintenance or look for reading glasses in enfilades of rooms.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

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\n The elevator goes up to a roof deck.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s another private outdoor space on the other side of the living area, where a glass hallway leads to the primary suite. The terrace (right) looks over the course.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

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\n A gunite pool is off the back and has a poolhouse (not shown).
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Guest rooms have doors directly onto the grounds, to access rooms without bugging the owner upstairs.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

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\n Concern for the environment is part of the Bridge\u2019s brand, and slats on windows are one way the home keeps down energy costs.
\n Photo: Pa\u00fal Rivera\n <\/p>\n

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