Billionaire sells his smaller Hamptons estate for $42.5M

Natural gas billionaire Michael S. Smith and his wife Iris have finally sold their contemporary Hamptons beach house for close to its last asking price of $42.5 million, sources tell the Post. 

The couple made an even bigger splash in 2016, when they paid $110 million for property on East Hampton’s Lily Pond Lane in an off-market deal. 

The $42.5 million sale of their modern home at 263 Surfside Ave. in Bridgehampton, real estate sources add, was to a mystery buyer in another off-market deal. 

The 7,360-square-foot, seven-bedroom home was designed by Barnes Coy Architects. It features walnut and limestone floors, industrial-style details and floor-to-ceiling windows. 

The property sits on 1.42 acres and comes with its own private walkway to the beach. It also features a pool, a pool house and an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven and a bar — as well as panoramic views of Sagaponack Pond (nicknamed Sagg Pond) and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Three years ago, Smith — who is chairman and CEO of Freeport LNG Development — paid $110 million for three Lily Pond Lane properties from hedge funder Scott Bommer of SAB Capital. At the time, it was the second-most-expensive purchase on the East End, trailing only activist-investor Barry Rosenstein‘s record-setting $147 million purchase in East Hampton. 

The Smiths also splashed out $30 million for a Tribeca penthouse in 2016 and $110 million for a Malibu beach house just last year.

The Surfside Drive off-market sale was brokered by Eileen O’Neill of Douglas Elliman and Ryan Serhant of Nest Seekers.