New York man fleeing pandemic pays almost $2m to rent Hamptons hideout

It is no secret that wealthy New Yorkers have fled the city in recent weeks, hoping to ride out the pandemic at their second homes, but it might still come as a surprise to learn one businessman has paid almost $2m to rent a coronavirus hideout.

Property developer Joe Farrell told the New York Post he had rented out a sprawling mansion in the Long Island neighborhood of the Hamptons, a popular, expensive, summer retreat two hours east of New York City, to a “textile tycoon” fleeing the pandemic.

The near $2m may prove to have been ill-spent, given Long Island is now one of the worst-hit areas of New York state, but the unnamed businessman will at least have plenty of room to roam in the gigantic pile.

Farrell told the Post he had rented the home, in the town of Bridgehampton, until the end of September. It was snapped up, Farrell said, by a “textile tycoon and his family who were stuck in Manhattan and wanted to leave the city on a day’s notice”.

“This was a Covid situation,” Farrell said. “Not a normal summer rental.”

According to the Post, the house has 10 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, and a “large pool”.

It also has a hot tub, tennis courts, a “walnut library”, a bowling alley, a climbing wall, a skateboarding area, a nightclub, a 10-seat movie theater and 11-and-a-half acres of land. The house, the Post reported, “is where celebs like Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and Justin Bieber have stayed in past years”.

Whether the anonymous mogul will be able to avoid the coronavirus is up for debate.

On Thursday Andrew Cuomo said the state is monitoring coronavirus cases in Suffolk county, home to the Hamptons, and neighboring Nassau county, after spikes in Covid-19 cases. The counties, which have about 3 million residents, have reported 34,000 cases.

The Hamptons has experienced an influx of people as the coronavirus swept through New York City. The village of Southampton, a 10-minute drive from the Bridgehampton mansion, has seen its population soar from 60,000 to 100,000.