Bewitched, Bumped Up and Brought Down

Bumped Up

BBDO ad exec Phillip B. Dusenberry may have passed away two years ago, but his famous slogans live on. He oversaw ad campaigns for Pepsi (“The choice of a new generation”) and Visa (“It’s everywhere you want to be”). Now, a new generation will surely want to be at Dusenberry’s former 5 bedroom, 6.5 bath, 6, 800-square-foot home on an 11-acre estate overlooking Sag Harbor.

The property was originally listed for $18 million. Recently, a separate 3,800-square-foot lot was added to sweeten the deal, and fatten the price tag, bringing the asking price up to $25 million. As Dusenberry’s slogan for General Electric promised, “We bring good things to life”…. in this case, at a price.

Brought Down

Even though East Hampton’s Swan Cove sold days after it arrived on the market this July, new details are constantly emerging. First, the mystery buyer was revealed to be investment banker Peter J. Solomon, founder and Chairman of the independent investment-banking firm of the same name.

Now, it turns out he paid $19 million for the 3, 5000-square-foot home pink home, even though it was listed for $22.5 million. The hundred-year-old East Hampton home once belonged to Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the iconic role of Samantha Stephens in the 1960s television series Bewitched.

How did Solomon snag such a discount so early on? Could he have some bewitching powers of his own? Or perhaps he made a strong argument about how pink houses are just so last season (or so last century, to be exact).  Either way, we now know everything there is to know about the on the 14,000-square-foot estate…or do we?