Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, is coming to the Hamptons.
The Brookline-born billionaire has purchased a $43 million home in Southampton’s Meadow Lane neighborhood, which is home to finance titans such as Ken Griffin, Leon Black, and Henry Kravis.
Nir Meir, a former executive at HFZ Capital, was the seller.
“He flew down for the day with a young woman who was wearing a monstrously large diamond ring. They looked at a number of houses before settling on this one,” a source exclusively told Gimme. “He would have preferred to rent a house on Surfside in Bridgehampton, as he did last year, but none were available.”
Once a prominent Manhattan condo developer, HFZ imploded during the pandemic, leaving behind a trail of “liens, foreclosures, and lawsuits,” according to the Real Deal.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to write on the Kraft contract.
Ziel Feldman, the founder of HFZ, was also forced to sell his $50 million Hamptons mansion at 187 Dune Road due to the construction of a mega-mansion by Ukrainian-born billionaire oligarch Len Blavatnik.
Feldman’s former home, which sits on 1.54 acres, is said to resemble a “Midtown skyscraper” and was valued at at least $75 million, according to reports.
Feldman, on the other hand, illegally added bedrooms to the first floor — which is not permitted due to flood zone hazards — lowering the home’s value.
“That is why it sold for such a low price,” a source explained. “It was a $750,000 mansion.”
Michael Rubin, an e-commerce merchant, was the purchaser.
However, sources tell Gimme that Blavatnik’s wife, Emily, was shocked when she learned the house had sold, as she would have purchased it as a buffer or as part of a compound for her family if she had known it was for sale.
“They were inconsolable,” a source said. “However, they were unaware it was for sale.”
Meir paid $10.5 million for the Meadow Lane property in 2013, using an LLC registered with HFZ’s New York office. He then demolished the house, dubbed “A Wee Lyr Mor,” following legal disputes with neighbors, and replaced it with a new, 7,000-square-foot home in 2017.
At least one creditor attempted but failed to halt the transaction.