The New York Times

Frank Gilbert, a preservationist who helped save Grand Central Terminal from being ravaged by a 55-story skyscraper and in the mid-1960s incubated New York City’s pioneering landmarks law, which undergirded preservation movements across the country, died on May 14 in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 91.

The cause was pneumonia and complications of Parkinson’s disease, his wife, Ann Hersh Gilbert, said.

Mr. Gilbert,

Frank Gilbert, a preservationist who helped save Grand Central Terminal from being ravaged by a 55-story skyscraper and in the mid-1960s incubated New York City’s pioneering landmarks law, which undergirded preservation movements across the country, died on May 14 in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 91.

The cause was pneumonia and complications of Parkinson’s disease, his wife, Ann Hersh Gilbert, said.

Mr. Gilbert, a lawyer who had been New York City’s legislative lobbyist in Albany, had been instrumental in drafting the city’s belated barn-door-closing statute following the demolition in 1963 of Pennsylvania Station, the Beaux-Arts railroad hub designed by McKim, Mead & White on Manhattan’s West Side.

The legislation, passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1965, declared that the city’s global standing “cannot be maintained or enhanced by disregarding the historical and architectural heritage of the city and by countenancing the destruction of such cultural assets.”

The law created the Landmarks Preservation Commission and empowered it to designate buildings that were at least 30 years old and had either historical or architectural merit and to spare them from development or demolition.

Mr. Gilbert served as the first secretary of the newly-minted commission from 1965 to 1972 and then as executive director through 1974. Throughout, the fate of Grand Central loomed large for him.

“I was concerned because the chairman of the Landmarks Commission had said to me — what happened to Penn Station must not happen to Grand Central,” Mr. Gilbert recalled in an interview with the New York Preservation Archive Project in 2011.

“I guess from the very beginning, my job was really to make sure that we follow due process and didn’t slip on a banana peel,” he added. “I recognized how serious the situation was. My primary thought was really to be very careful, and be prepared for a very challenging situation.”

The failing Penn Central railroad company hoped to build a skyscraper above Grand Central Terminal, which it owned, and use rents from the offices to subsidize the company’s deficits from declining train travel.

But the commission declared the terminal a landmark in 1967 and decided that all of the Penn Central’s proposed designs for the skyscraper would eclipse the terminal’s architectural distinction.

Penn Central sued. Fully nine years later, a State Supreme Court justice voided the landmarks designation, ruling that preventing the bankrupt railroad from earning the income it would receive from the office tower would cause “economic hardship” and therefore amounted to an unconstitutional taking of its property.

Mr. Gilbert and other defenders of Grand Central rallied support from a wide spectrum of preservationists, including prominent architects and boldface names like Jacqueline Onassis, to uphold the landmark designation as the city pursued appeals in higher courts.

In 1978, the United States Supreme Court affirmed the city’s authority to preserve a landmark. The Court found that the landmark designation did not interfere with Grand Central’s use as a railroad terminal and that the company could not claim that construction of the office building was necessary to maintain the site’s profitability. The railroad had conceded that it could earn a profit from the terminal “in its present state.”

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 majority decision cited an amicus brief drafted by Mr. Gilbert, who by then was assistant general counsel of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington. His brief pointed out that scores of cities across the country, including New Orleans, Boston and San Antonio, had already approved landmark preservation laws modeled on the New York statute.

Paul Edmondson, the president and chief executive of the National Trust, characterized Mr. Gilbert as “a giant in the field of preservation law.”

“Beyond his critical role in developing and defending New York City’s landmarks preservation law,” Mr. Edmondson said in a statement, “he was responsible for the protection of thousands of historic properties and neighborhoods across the country through his work in helping communities develop historic districts.”

Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, an early appointee to New York’s landmarks commission and its longest-serving member, said of Mr. Gilbert in an email: “Always wanting to do the right thing, he worked to balance the complex needs of all parties — property owners, the public, the press, developers and preservationists.”

Frank Brandeis Gilbert was born on Dec. 3, 1930, in Manhattan to Jacob Gilbert and Susan Brandeis Gilbert, both lawyers. His mother was the daughter of Louis D. Brandeis, the United States Supreme Court justice.

After graduating from the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, Mr. Gilbert earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College in 1952, served in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1957.

From 1973 to 1993 he was chairman of the graduate board of The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper. Earlier this month, he was among the Crimson alumni who signed a letter condemning the paper’s editorial endorsement of the “Boycott, Divest, Sanctions” movement against Israel on behalf of what it called a free Palestine.

“The BDS movement claims to seek ‘justice for the Palestinians’ — a goal we share — but, actually, it seeks the elimination of Israel,” the letter said.

In 1957, Mr. Gilbert joined the legal division of the Public Housing Administration in Washington and went to work for New York’s city planning department two years later. He married Ann Hersh in 1973.

From 1975 to 1984, Mr. Gilbert was the landmarks and preservation law chief counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation and served as the trust’s senior field representative until 2010.

He advised state and local governments on preservation legislation and on issues regarding the designation of specific landmarks and the establishment of historic districts, like those New York City had created in SoHo, Brooklyn Heights, Greenwich Village and Chelsea.

Mr. Gilbert recalled in the Archive Project interview that when the fledgling commission officially selected its first batch of landmarks, The Herald Tribune’s headline declared “Twenty Buildings Saved!”

“My reaction at that point,” he said, “was, ‘20 buildings designated,’ and we had a lot of work to do on these 20 buildings before they were saved.”

He was proved prescient by the then-approaching decade-long legal battle over Grand Central and the disputes with the real estate industry and with individual developers over extending the commission’s powers to designate as landmarks the interiors of buildings as well as entire neighborhoods.

By the commission’s 50th anniversary in 2015, it had designated 1,348 individual landmarks, 117 interiors and 33,411 properties within 21 historic districts.

New York renters are feeling the squeeze, with rents in Manhattan up 32 percent in April from the same time a year ago, according to a report, and housing courts busy as evictions resume after a pandemic moratorium. Some renters are wondering: Is there any relief? Tenant advocates say yes, pointing to a bill introduced last year in the New York State Legislature called Prohibition of Eviction Without Good Cause. But what is “good cause eviction,” and what would it mean for renters and landlords if the

New York renters are feeling the squeeze, with rents in Manhattan up 32 percent in April from the same time a year ago, according to a report, and housing courts busy as evictions resume after a pandemic moratorium. Some renters are wondering: Is there any relief? Tenant advocates say yes, pointing to a bill introduced last year in the New York State Legislature called Prohibition of Eviction Without Good Cause. But what is “good cause eviction,” and what would it mean for renters and landlords if the bill, as it stands now, becomes law?

Under current law, landlords are not required to offer new leases to market-rate tenants. Good cause eviction would require them to offer new leases, though tenants could still be evicted for lease violations, like failure to pay rent or for other infractions.

Good cause eviction “gives you confidence that you can raise kids” in your apartment, said Judith Goldiner, a Legal Aid Society lawyer who helped write the legislation. “You don’t have to worry about being evicted.”

Similar laws already exist in New Jersey, California and Oregon, as well as in several New York municipalities including Albany, Beacon, Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

In the bill sponsored by New York State Senator Julia Salazar, rent increases would be capped at 3 percent or 1.5 times the annual percent change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher. So, if your rent is $2,000 a month, it could go up this year by as much as 12.5 percent, or $250. But the bill also gives landlords room for even bigger increases if they show that their costs have gone up or that they’ve made improvements.

This bill expands protections for tenants, covering essentially all renters in unregulated housing, with a few exceptions, such as owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units. The Community Service Society estimates that the bill would affect 1.6 million households statewide — about half of all renters.

Tenants would be covered if they rent apartments in market-rate high-rises, are on month-to-month rental agreements, rent condos or co-op units from private owners, rent single-family homes or sublet apartments from other tenants.

Renters covered by the bill could still lose their apartments if property owners reclaim the space for personal use.

Landlords and their advocates worry that the bill, as it currently stands, may lead to more housing court cases as tenants challenge rent increases, and that it casts a net so wide that it would affect property owners who might not consider themselves landlords in a traditional sense, like owners of single-family homes, tenants who sublet, and co-op and condo owners who rent out their apartments.

Ann Korchak, the board president of Small Property Owners of New York, a landlord advocacy group with roughly 600 members, said she was concerned that the legislation would prohibit landlords from emptying their properties to sell or take back simply because they no longer wanted to rent them out. “It seems near impossible for owners to reclaim their properties,” she said.

Ms. Korchak, whose family owns two brownstones on the Upper West Side, also expressed concerns about capping rent increases in an inflationary environment. “It’s just not realistic to think that the rising costs on the owner’s side are not going to be passed on to” tenants, she said. “That’s the way the economy works.”

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People like to tell me all the ways that New York is too loud. They send emails to my Ask Real Estate column complaining about the noises that torment them during the day and keep them up at night. There are the usual suspects — barking dogs, crying babies, outdoor diners, jackhammers and sirens. But even seemingly pleasant sounds — wind chimes, children playing, opera singing — can induce rage, given the right circumstances.

So when I stepped

People like to tell me all the ways that New York is too loud. They send emails to my Ask Real Estate column complaining about the noises that torment them during the day and keep them up at night. There are the usual suspects — barking dogs, crying babies, outdoor diners, jackhammers and sirens. But even seemingly pleasant sounds — wind chimes, children playing, opera singing — can induce rage, given the right circumstances.

So when I stepped into the PinDrop, a space billed as “one of the quietest rooms in the world,” inside a nondescript Midtown office building, I thought about all those unhappy New Yorkers and wondered if maybe I’d entered acoustical nirvana.

Or maybe not. The room was so quiet it hurt.

It felt like my ears were popping. Dan Abatemarco, an acoustical consultant for AKRF, the environmental-engineering and consulting firm that designed this room, told me my reaction was common. City-dwellers are so unaccustomed to silence that they often associate the sensation with clogged ears. It also makes people uncomfortable, which explains why “A Quiet Place” is such a creepy movie and why so many New Yorkers pack white-noise machines when they travel. Too much quiet is suspicious.

A Sampling of City Noises

“It’s almost a primal instinct that something is wrong,” said Mr. Abatemarco, as he sat down on a recent afternoon to operate the sound equipment.

About the size of a typical conference room, the PinDrop has no windows and two giant flat-screen televisions against one wall, giving it serious Situation Room vibes. And it is, quite literally, suspended in space. The floor floats, set atop isolation blocks. The Sheetrock ceiling is hung from springs. The walls have double rows of studs on isolation pads, along with multiple layers of Sheetrock and insulation. There are no parallel walls, making it harder for sound waves to bounce around. Acoustic panels hang from the walls and ceiling. And it’s all shut in by a soundproof door. The result is a space so quiet that a low-noise microphone only picks up 13 decibels. (A whisper registers at around 30 decibels.)

Homeowners, developers, designers and architects hire AKRF to help them figure out how to make their brownstones, condos, new and renovated buildings sound a little bit more like this room. Soundproofing is about keeping unwanted noises out, and acoustics is about improving the quality of the sound around you by controlling how it echoes and reverberates in a space. AKRF consultants visit construction sites and properties, taking measurements and offering suggestions for how to address both issues.

Earlier this month, the company opened the room as a space to turn up the volume on its acoustical advice — so clients can actually hear what the advice sounds like.

Raise the ceiling on the living room, and how much louder will it be? Would acoustical windows cut down on street noise enough to be worth the cost? How quiet would the nursery be with another layer of insulation? Play a recording of, say, the subway rumbling by, and the engineers can try it again with double-pane windows, then acoustical ones. Layer in the noise from an HVAC system, and you inch closer to what your bedroom might sound like under those conditions

“If they could just hear it, they would know what the right choice is,” Benjamin Sachwald, an acoustical consultant at AKRF, said of his clients.

Traffic Noise

Mr. Sachwald, who plays drums, says he likes to listen to music in the room through the enormous speakers and subwoofers because, well, music sounds pretty amazing when nothing else competes with it. (He uses the phrase “sonic bliss” a lot.) “Music, when you listen to it in a room like this, you’re transported to another world.”

I visited the PinDrop to sample all the noises that taunt New Yorkers, looking for the breaking point where a noise goes from merely annoying to deserving of a call to 311. And New Yorkers are not shy about calling 311 to vent about noise. Perusing NYC OpenData, I found that more than half of the 5.2 million noise complaints logged by 311 since 2010 were for residential noise — further proof that hell is, in fact, other people.

Of all the noises that New Yorkers love to hate, the AKRF crew was especially enamored with the sound of elevated trains, which rumble through parts of Queens and Brooklyn. So I gave it a go. The volume was set to what you’d hear with the windows open if your apartment looked out at the tracks. “Why you’d open your windows, I don’t know,” Mr. Abatemarco said as he cranked up the dial.

At 94 decibels, my jaw rattled. Then, mercifully, he created the effect of a shut single-pane window, and the din dropped to 75 decibels — not quite mind-numbing, but definitely miserable. Double-paned glass protected my ears a little more. But with a set of acoustical noise-reducing windows, the volume plummeted to around 46 decibels — about as loud as a public library.

I had a similar experience when we sampled the jarring thud of pile-driving, which can make jackhammers sound quaint by comparison. Layer enough insulation into the walls and throw in some high-performance windows, and the sound of pure misery felt more like a dull heartbeat in the background.

Crying Babies

Drowning out the noise between apartment walls was actually a lot easier. With the right insulation, the sound of a crying baby or a house party next door was muted enough for life to peacefully roll along.

But here’s the rub with this exercise: Odds are, you’re not living in new construction. And there’s a pretty good chance your building went up before 1968, the year New York’s building code added acoustic requirements. That means whoever erected your building was probably not concerned about whether you would hear the children upstairs catapulting off their bunk beds. So how do you make your life more tolerable when the windows and walls are already in place?

The AKRF consultants had some suggestions for those of us without the budget or ability to call in the experts and rip out the windows and insulation. If the sound is coming from outside, you can add acoustic curtains or noise-reducing window inserts. Drafty windows are a culprit — if air can get through, so too can noise. Same with light: If you can see it coming through the door frame, it may be time to clean or replace door seals

After experiencing nearly every annoying sound I could imagine in possibly the quietest room in the city, I stepped back outside to Park Avenue South just as a heavy spring storm set in. I rushed to catch my train, hardly registering the cacophony around me.

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Among the more than 33,000 residents of Parkchester, the sprawling 1940s Bronx apartment complex, the most exuberant characters tend to hang out at the buildings’ entrances and corners: folk singers and firefighters, accordion players and harlequins, steelworkers and mermaids. There are exotic fauna as well, not typically found in such urban environs: gazelles, puffins, kangaroos and bears.

Vivid and three-dimensional, these neighborhood fixtures

Among the more than 33,000 residents of Parkchester, the sprawling 1940s Bronx apartment complex, the most exuberant characters tend to hang out at the buildings’ entrances and corners: folk singers and firefighters, accordion players and harlequins, steelworkers and mermaids. There are exotic fauna as well, not typically found in such urban environs: gazelles, puffins, kangaroos and bears.

Vivid and three-dimensional, these neighborhood fixtures are whimsically crafted terra-cotta sculptures — more than a thousand of them, many colorfully glazed — embedded in the facades of Parkchester’s red brick apartment blocks.

These playful architectural ornaments, many by distinguished sculptors, have enlivened Parkchester ever since the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company built the middle-income housing complex starting in 1938. But in recent years some 45 of these signature artworks have vanished after being taken down by maintenance crews, infuriating many residents.

“They’re like the totems for the community, they’re the mascots,” said Sharon Pandolfo Pérez, a creative director for a multicultural advertising agency who spent her childhood in Parkchester and now runs the Parkchester Project, which documents on its Instagram page the removal of the distinctive sculptures.

Standing by the subway station at Hugh J. Grant Circle, Ms. Pandolfo Pérez pointed up at a brick tower, where a larger-than-life sculpture of a hose-brandishing firefighter in period garb jutted from the western corner near the building’s roof. For some eight decades, the building’s eastern corner was home to a companion firefighter, the pair serving as ornamental sentries at Parkchester’s southern gateway. But in 2018, workers removed the second firefighter and bricked up the wound in the facade as if the statue had never been there.

“When that first fireman came down, it was a sign that they just don’t care, because he’s one of the two you see when you come from the subway,” Ms. Pandolfo Pérez said. “It’s a sign that they are being taken for granted, and the people here feel taken for granted. This is working-class New York. If you’re taking that down, what’s that saying?”

In March, the Historic Districts Council, a citywide preservation group, announced the selection of the Parkchester Project for its annual Six to Celebrate program, which honors historic city neighborhoods and community groups that work to preserve them.

The council was impressed by the grass-roots efforts of Ms. Pandolfo Pérez, who, with crowdsourcing help from followers of her Instagram page — including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, now a Democratic congresswoman whose district includes Parkchester — chronicled the removal of several of the complex’s most high-profile sculptures between 2018 and last year. According to Ms. Pandolfo Pérez, the losses include larger-than-life sculptures of two firefighters, a muse, a skier and a woman carrying a flower.

The project’s inclusion in the Six to Celebrate program lends new momentum to a campaign, begun last year by prominent architectural historians, to persuade the city to designate the 129-acre Parkchester complex a historic district. The effort has attracted the backing of several preservation groups and elected officials.

Preservationists maintain that the clock is ticking.

“The complex’s unmatched set of polychromatic terra-cotta ornament — some 500 statuettes and 600 plaques — is, quite literally, being chipped away,” Roberta Nusim, president of the Art Deco Society of New York, wrote to the Landmarks Preservation Commission in November.

The destruction is the result, she wrote, of “sheer carelessness — the kind of carelessness that landmarks designation could prevent. The damage isn’t overwhelming — yet — and there is still time to act, but that time is slipping away.”

Nancy Johnson, a co-founder of the Parkchester Watch Group, an association for renters and owners of condominium units that advocates for quality-of-life improvements, said that there had been a lack of transparency about the sculptures from Parkchester’s management.

“I think it’s appalling that they’ve taken them down without a restoration plan,” she said. “We don’t know what they’re doing with them, if they’re being stored, or where they’re being stored, and this should have been discussed with the unit owners, with the community.”

The boards of managers of the Parkchester North Condominium and the Parkchester South Condominium said in a joint statement that 80 years of exposure to the elements had taken their toll on some statues and that “the masonry behind them needed repairs to be made safe. In those cases, the Parkchester North and South Condominium boards of managers have found it necessary to remove the terra-cotta elements, which are often too fragile to reinstall safely.”

The boards added that whenever possible, statues had been saved, carefully wrapped and placed in storage for safekeeping, an approach that would continue until a final plan was adopted. A spokesman for the condominiums would not say where the sculptures were being stored and declined to show them to a reporter.

But the boards pointed to the expense of caring for the sculptures. “We hope to be successful in saving and re-displaying as many as possible, if that can be done safely, securely and affordably for the community’s residents,” the statement continued. “Parkchester units have thousands of owners, and as a designated Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, many of those owners are on a fixed income.”

Preservationists say that landmark status is long overdue for Parkchester. In 1978, the landmarks commission’s staff wrote a Bronx Survey report that identified five potential historic districts, with Parkchester at the head of the list. Four have since been designated. But 44 years later, Parkchester remains unprotected.

“It’s one of the most important housing projects in America,” said Andrew S. Dolkart, a professor of historic preservation at Columbia University who worked on the 1978 Bronx Survey and later wrote the book on historic districts for the commission — the first edition of “Guide to New York City Landmarks.

Mr. Dolkart said that Parkchester and the contemporaneous Castle Village in Manhattan were the first housing projects in America to implement the modernist towers-in-the-park precepts set forth by Le Corbusier, the influential Swiss-born architect.

“Castle Village is five buildings, and it was for a solid upper-middle-class audience,” he added. “Whereas what makes Parkchester so important is that it’s an enormous complex and that it was built for less-wealthy people. It’s built for working people to create quality housing for them.”

The landmarks commission “is undertaking a detailed process of research and evaluation of this large complex,” Zodet Negrón, the commission’s spokeswoman, wrote in an email. “While much of the concern has been focused on the terra-cotta decorative elements, LPC must evaluate Parkchester’s architectural merit and historic significance in the context of housing complexes and our standards for designation.”

Easily the nation’s largest apartment complex when it opened, Parkchester was built by MetLife following the passage of a New York State law that allowed insurance companies to invest up to 10 percent of their assets in low-rent housing. With the eyes of the world on the venture, the company assembled an all-star team of design and building professionals led by the architect Richmond H. Shreve.

Known as the Board of Design, the group included Andrew J. Eken of the Starrett Bros. & Eken construction company, which had teamed with Shreve’s firm to speedily erect the Empire State Building.

Parkchester’s master plan was by Gilmore D. Clarke with assistance from Michael Rapuano, with whom he also worked on the master plans for the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs.

“Their impact on American space, primarily the New York metro area but by example, cities throughout the United States, was every bit as profound as the impact of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, if not more so,” said Thomas J. Campanella, a professor of urban studies and city planning at Cornell University who is writing a book about the pair. “Clarke basically was one of the inventors of the modern highway: the Bronx River Parkway, the Hutchinson Parkway, the Saw Mill Parkway.”

As the first major American example of towers-in-the-park urbanism, he added, the Parkchester plan became a template for urban-renewal public housing projects that would “fundamentally change the character and appearance of our cities from coast to coast, for better and worse.”

The pioneering complex was envisioned as a parklike community of more than 12,000 modern apartments on rolling land the company had purchased from the New York Catholic Protectory, which had dotted the area with orphanage and reform school buildings. The East Bronx site was bisected diagonally by Unionport Road, a constraint that Parkchester’s designers elegantly incorporated by widening the thoroughfare to 110 feet and crossing it with a second diagonal boulevard, dividing the complex into four irregular quadrants.

Building heights, too, were irregular, ranging from seven to 13 stories, with each quadrant’s structures arrayed in a variety of orientations, like rotated Tetris pieces, around a large central lawn. There was an intrinsic generosity to the design, which maximized light and air by placing the 51 residential buildings at least 60 feet apart and leaving three-quarters of the complex as open space. When a scale model of Parkchester was displayed at the 1939 World’s Fair, it “awed many a visitor,” Architectural Forum reported.

Not everything about Parkchester was generous, however. At the outset, MetLife restricted residency to white people. But after passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the complex was opened to all races. The 2020 U.S. Census found that its population was 35 percent Black, 33 percent Hispanic or Latino, 25 percent Asian and 3 percent white, according to Social Explorer, a research company. About half of the 12,271 units are owned by the Parkchester Preservation Company, whose management arm superintends the complex.

Parkchester was conceived as a city unto itself, complete with its own “downtown.” The main commercial district still has Streamline Moderne-style facades of colorful terra-cotta, including the first branch of Macy’s. Some store fronts are embellished with elaborate sculptures, like a rondel depicting a pair of women exchanging scandalous gossip.

The former Loew’s American, originally a 2,000-seat cinema and now occupied by a Marshalls, features some of the most charming, colorfully glazed terra cotta. Two harlequins flank the theater, while the building’s rear is decorated with a dazzling row of movie-character types, including a matador, a hula girl and a flamenco dancer.

“The time, care and money that went into” Parkchester’s ornament “is phenomenal,” said Susan Tunick, president of Friends of Terra Cotta and the author of “Terra-Cotta Skyline.” “It’s very special also because some of the pieces can be attributed to the sculptors. Terra cotta is usually unsigned, so it’s very important that the work was done by sculptors who signed their work rather than just workers in a terra-cotta factory.”

As a child, Ms. Pandolfo Pérez was enchanted by the ornaments. But her mother, a cook at a Bronx school, did not have access to information about them, said Ms. Pandolfo Pérez.

It was to fill that void for current residents that Ms. Pandolfo Pérez began the Parkchester Project, researching the development’s sculptors and corresponding with their descendants. She also bought small works by the artists through online auctions.

The complex’s visual smorgasbord of ornament was designed by nine sculptors and produced by the Federal Seaboard Terra Cotta Company, which also made the cladding for the McGraw-Hill Building, including its celebrated crown.

Four of the sculptors —Raymond Granville Barger, Joseph Kiselewski, Carl Schmitz and Theodore Barbarossa — were described in Art Digest in 1941 as “prominent” artists who had done “important sculptural decoration” for the New York World’s Fair and for Parkchester.

Ms. Pandolfo Pérez said that Parkchester’s sculptures sparked her interest in art as a child and set her on a path to becoming a creative director. She hopes to have a similar effect on children, through a walking-tour app and school visits.

For many working-class people “who don’t get the opportunity to go to the Met, it’s attainable art, and it’s inspirational,” Ms. Pandolfo Pérez said of the ornaments. “That’s why identifying the artists is so important, because it gives residents a sense of pride to say, ‘The artist who made this sculpture had work in the Whitney Museum.’”

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Take a gander at the real estate listing supplements that often come with your newspaper, and you’ll find no shortage of city, suburban, beach and mountain Shangri-Las.

One recent edition of View, a publication of Coldwell Banker Realty, touted, in no particular order: a backyard oasis in northern New Jersey, an elegant sunlit Tudor and a “stunningly luxurious French Provincial” with “breathtaking panoramic views” in Watchung, N.J.

Take a gander at the real estate listing supplements that often come with your newspaper, and you’ll find no shortage of city, suburban, beach and mountain Shangri-Las.

One recent edition of View, a publication of Coldwell Banker Realty, touted, in no particular order: a backyard oasis in northern New Jersey, an elegant sunlit Tudor and a “stunningly luxurious French Provincial” with “breathtaking panoramic views” in Watchung, N.J.

Then there was the 7,700-square-foot “stately manor” in Mendham, N.J., nestled on six acres. (Though one might ask how a 7,700-square-foot house can “nestle.”)

The people tasked with writing such descriptions — generally, the listing agents for the properties — have a tricky assignment. In a paragraph, maybe a few sentences, they need to convey the ineffable appeal of the home while also addressing practical matters, like the size of the lot, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the special features — pool, terrace, doorman, whatever — that the discriminating buyer couldn’t possibly live without.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words; one video or virtual tour may be worth several thousand more. But actual words still carry weight, and some choice nouns and adjectives can spark the interest of a prospective buyer, according to industry professionals.

“The things that people tend to forget is that advertising has only one goal in the real estate industry: get the person to go look at the property,” said Frederick W. Peters, the president of the real estate firm Coldwell Banker Warburg, part of Coldwell Banker Realty.

Accomplishing that goal “is a huge communication challenge,” said Allen Adamson, a marketing consultant. “The trick is to go beyond the facts about the house and to make an emotional connection with the consumers.” That might be done by identifying one core theme — “country living close by” or “antidote to civilization” — and then adding “some rational support like ‘recently renovated’ to make buyers know the house won’t be a money pit,” he said.

“If it’s all evocative, consumers will tune out,” Mr. Adamson continued. Some detail helps, he added, “but the more you try to tell them everything the less they’ll hear anything.”

Putting the best possible face on a property requires finesse. But it’s not always clear what listing agents are getting at. We’re here to explain.

The Real Estate Translation Guide

Description: Interesting design

Translation: This house is odd.

Description: Cozy

Translation: Small and dark.

Description: Room to grow

Translation: See: cozy.

Description: Natural beauty

Translation: It’s not landscaped.

Description: Good bones

Translation: It’s a wreck. Get out your checkbook.

Description: Loads of original details

Translation: It’s a wreck. Get out your checkbook.

Description: Right on the water

Translation: Right in a flood zone.

Description: Walk to the beach

Translation: Lace up your sneakers and pack a lunch.

Description: Create your dream house

Translation: It’s a teardown.

Description: For the discerning buyer

Translation: See: interesting design

Description: Be the first to see this

Translation: “You can be sure the listing agent has already shown it to many others,” said Diane Saatchi, an associate broker in the East Hampton office of the real estate firm Saunders & Associates.

Description: Priced to sell

Translation: “Shouldn’t all properties be priced to sell?” Ms. Saatchi asked.

Description: Price reduced

Translation: The previous price was too high.

Description: Price upon request

Translation: “It’s overpriced,” Ms. Saatchi said.

Description: Like new

Translation: The house could be three years old. Or 30 years old.

Description: Close to transportation

Translation: Inquire further. The house could overlook the railroad tracks.

Too often, ads are written to gratify sellers rather than bring in buyers, according to Ms. Saatchi. “They want you to say everything about their property including that the pavers are two years old,” she explained. “Or there will be things like ‘Relax by the pool,’ which sounds stupid,” she said, adding: “Are you going to tell buyers what to do in the bathroom?”

Mr. Peters is amused by new construction developments “in which you have the brand of every appliance and the name of the marble in the bathroom,” he said. “For God’s sake, who cares about the source of the marble? I think it’s done to convey luxury.”

Judy Szablak, an associate broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Westport, Conn., feels differently. “Some buyers may not know what Carrara marble is, but they’d rather read ‘Carrara marble’ than just plain ‘marble,’” she said. “Absolutely, I think that flowery language is valuable, maybe not with all buyers but with what I think of as expressive buyers. A particular descriptive phrase can help them identify with a property, see it and put an offer in.”

Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the content and language of some ads. “Retreat,” “secure” and “private” are frequently deployed. Highlighting features like the home office, tech infrastructure and internet speed, particularly in rural environments, “is now incredibly important if prospective buyers have a hybrid work arrangement,” said Brad Nelson, the chief marketing officer for Sotheby’s International Realty.

Further, Mr. Nelson said, what might have been billed before the pandemic as “a nanny suite” might now be more flexibly labeled a secondary principal bedroom, i.e. accommodations for quarantining friends or family. “It’s the same feature but you’re describing it in a different way now.”

To make sure listings are boiled down to their essence, Sotheby’s International recently imposed a 350-character count on property descriptions in the advertising supplements. “This way,” Mr. Nelson said, “agents are forced to focus on the most important feature that will capture a buyer’s attention.”

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When my grandmother passed away in 1981, my mother, the executor of her estate, oversaw the selling of her one-bedroom apartment on 72nd Street and Third Avenue. Doyle, the New York-based appraising company, assessed her furnishings, and her personal and sentimental belongings were removed. All that remained was her furniture and my mother’s beautiful satin A-line wedding dress, which was left hanging in the coat closet.

As with any open house,

When my grandmother passed away in 1981, my mother, the executor of her estate, oversaw the selling of her one-bedroom apartment on 72nd Street and Third Avenue. Doyle, the New York-based appraising company, assessed her furnishings, and her personal and sentimental belongings were removed. All that remained was her furniture and my mother’s beautiful satin A-line wedding dress, which was left hanging in the coat closet.

As with any open house, a menagerie of strangers came and went over the course of several days. Thirty minutes after the last onlooker left, my mother went to retrieve her dress only to find the closet empty.

The infamous dress story is now decades old. The lifting of objects — jewelry, tchotchkes and prescription drugs are among the top vanishing items — continues to occur, brokers say.

With warmer weather and the optimism of spring upon us, don’t be surprised if open houses start making a return. Aside from the serious prospective buyer or renter, open houses are hotbeds for those looking for a free lunch, a no-cost activity on a random Sunday, a few decorating ideas or even a future mate. They’re also great opportunities for thieves.

“Kleptomania is a real condition,” said Harriet Norris, a New York-based agent with Douglas Elliman. “I tell clients the hand is quicker than the eye. People tend to pick up little things: frames, silver pieces, Limoges boxes. They go easily from the table to the pocket.”

Read Hayes, a research scientist and criminologist at the University of Florida, predicts that thefts will increase as open houses return to their prepandemic rhythm.

“Being confined to our homes during Covid weakened our ability to self-regulate and have self-control. That’s increased our risk-taking behavior,” he said. “People are also angry, pent-up and irritable. They feel owed.”

Rachel DiSalvo, a New Jersey-based agent with Keller Williams Park Views Realty, said open houses pose a fundamental problem: You are inviting strangers into your home and some strangers are entrepreneurial thieves.

She should know. Years ago, Ms. DiSalvo was assisting an agent at an open house when a samurai sword the size of a machete went missing. “It was on the wall when we started, and not when we ended,” she said. “People feel a thrill and a sense of entitlement to take something, whether it’s a candle or a decorative item. They think, Hey, I like this. I want it.”

Dr. Hayes also cited the internet as a factor in the rise of bad behavior.

“If you take something, it’s easy to turn that into money by selling it online,” Dr. Hayes said. “Others want to show off what they took by making videos and being part of the TikTok culture.”

To help prevent a sticky finger situation, Dr. Hayes suggested using nanny cams or other visual recording devices and displaying “camera in use” signs throughout the house. “And have a camera prominently exposed, even if it’s just for show, so that people think their face is being caught,” he said. “These visuals affect people’s behavior.”

For the past two years, thanks to Covid-19, disappearing items have been less of a concern because open houses, like so many real estate experiences, shape-shifted. The “come anytime” process was suspended, and the number of people who could attend any one event was limited and monitored. Most buyers needed an appointment to view an apartment, which they booked in advance, and they visited with an accompanying broker. No more than two people or perhaps a single family were allowed inside an apartment at a time. Early arrivals had to wait outside the building until it was their turn.

Ms. Norris has never experienced theft while showing an apartment. But she’s always on the lookout. “Clients leave all sorts of things out — jewelry, money,” she said. “One time, a client left her Rolex watch in a dish in the baby’s room. When I mentioned she should put it away, she told me it was fake. That doesn’t matter to the person who’s going to steal it. They’ll take it now and check later.”

And let’s not forget staging, which offers another opportunity for thieves to help themselves.

“One time, I started an open house with three translucent gemstone sticks stacked on a book. When I came back into the room, there was only one. It wasn’t substantial, but it was annoying,” said Ms. DiSalvo, who added that whoever is paying for the staging is responsible for the missing items. “Objects like that often go less recognized. People know these homes are not occupied so no one is accounting for these belongings every day.”

A wedding dress is sentimental; so is jewelry. It’s also easier to steal. Irreplaceable family heirlooms can fit perfectly into someone’s hands, before finding their way into a pocket or purse.

“I had a client where someone stole $16,000 worth of jewelry that was inside her dresser drawer in a jewelry box. She went to put it on; it was gone,” said Stephen Alessi, owner of an eponymous interior design firm, based in New York, that also does staging. Staging jobs, which usually run one-to-three months, can cost $10,000 to $45,000.

Among the items that have gone missing over the years, said Mr. Alessi, have been a pricey bottle of whiskey, a cigarette box displayed on a coffee table and a pocket watch housed under a glass dome. “And there’s always one or two less towels,” he added. “People do things in bathrooms, or they want a new, fluffy white towel, which is what we put out.”

And that’s the conundrum.

“You want to make a home feel comfortable, but the items you leave out can’t be too nice or else they can disappear,” Mr. Alessi said.

You want your guests “to remember the space, not what you own,” he said.

To combat the problem, brokers suggest removing all desirable objects — from medications to eye-catching watches and jewelry — from sight and from drawers, because as Ms. Norris mentioned, “People open and close things. It’s not always appreciated, but they are there to look around.”

Since Airbnb exploded in popularity, more people have chosen a specific closet to store their important belongings and installed impressively strong locks to protect them. Relying on a home safe, if large enough, is another option. Or, if you trust your neighbors, you can ask them to watch over your valuables temporarily.

“Take photos of each room paired with a corresponding inventory list before you start an open house, even before the broker arrives, who should do the same,” advised Mr. Alessi, who always does a lap with clients in case they’ve missed something. “Not everyone understands that what they have out is valuable.”

The wedding dress was never recovered, but my mother got over the loss. Though she doesn’t have the iconic garment to pass down to me, she does have this story. Forty years later we’re still telling it.

Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Cherry Hill, N.J.: a four-bedroom, three-bath, 3,000-square-foot ranch house built in 1968 with numerous updates in recent years, including a finished basement, an open floor plan linking the eat-in kitchen, the living room with its vaulted ceiling and gas fireplace, and the formal dining room with its wood fireplace and wet bar, plus mature landscaping, a backyard brick patio

Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Cherry Hill, N.J.: a four-bedroom, three-bath, 3,000-square-foot ranch house built in 1968 with numerous updates in recent years, including a finished basement, an open floor plan linking the eat-in kitchen, the living room with its vaulted ceiling and gas fireplace, and the formal dining room with its wood fireplace and wet bar, plus mature landscaping, a backyard brick patio and a detached three-car garage, on 0.82 acres.

In Sands Point, N.Y.: a four-bedroom, three-bath, roughly 3,200-square-foot Tudor built in 1930, with stone and hardwood floors, wood beams, an entrance foyer, a wood-burning fireplace in the formal living room, an eat-in kitchen with high-end appliances, a den, an office and a finished basement, on one acre.

Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Manhattan Valley: a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot prewar co-op with a living room that has parquet floors and 10-foot ceilings, a formal dining room with French doors, a staff room functioning as a home office, a windowed kitchen with a breakfast bar, and a washer and dryer, in a non-doorman elevator building with a live-in superintendent.

Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Manhattan Valley: a two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,200-square-foot prewar co-op with a living room that has parquet floors and 10-foot ceilings, a formal dining room with French doors, a staff room functioning as a home office, a windowed kitchen with a breakfast bar, and a washer and dryer, in a non-doorman elevator building with a live-in superintendent.

On the Upper West Side: a one-bedroom, one-bath, 600-square-foot prewar apartment with a living room that has a niche for a desk, a kitchen with quartz counters and a vented range, a foyer, composite-wood floors, and an en suite windowed bath, in a doorman elevator building from 1928.

In Bushwick: a two-bedroom, two-bath, 800-square-foot condo with a combined living and dining room, an open kitchen with stainless-steel appliances, and a washer and dryer, on the second floor of a seven-story non-doorman elevator building that opened in 2018.

Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.

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Americans have more equity in their homes, thanks to a red-hot housing market pushing up the value of their properties, new research shows.

In the first quarter of 2022, 44.9 percent of the homes in the United States were considered “equity-rich,” meaning the balance of the loan on the home was 50 percent or less of the estimated market value, according to a new report from Attom, a real estate data analytics firm.

Americans have more equity in their homes, thanks to a red-hot housing market pushing up the value of their properties, new research shows.

In the first quarter of 2022, 44.9 percent of the homes in the United States were considered “equity-rich,” meaning the balance of the loan on the home was 50 percent or less of the estimated market value, according to a new report from Attom, a real estate data analytics firm.

That’s slightly higher than the 41.9 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 and a jump from 31.9 percent in the first quarter of 2021, according to Attom, which analyzed public mortgage and deed-of-trust data for more than 155 million U.S. properties.

The increase in equity is prompting some owners to cash out and move, said Rick Sharga, the executive vice president of market intelligence at Attom.

“What we believe is happening is that people are leaving high-cost, high-tax states, grabbing the equity and buying a house in a low-cost state,” Mr. Sharga said, adding that more than a third of U.S. home sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 were cash purchases, higher than usual.

But as mortgage rates creep up, some homeowners who already have low rates are staying put. “It’s being driven by boomers wanting to age in place,” he said, with more owners investing in home repairs rather than selling. “That inventory is not coming back to market.”

Higher values are also helping to reduce the number of homes that are “seriously underwater”: In the first quarter of this year, according to Attom, 3.2 percent of mortgaged homes had a loan balance that was at least 25 percent higher than the property’s estimated market value, down from 4.7 percent a year earlier.

“Being underwater doesn’t mean you are going into foreclosure,” Mr. Sharga said, pointing to pandemic relief measures like the foreclosure moratorium and the CARES Act, which helped keep Americans in their homes. “Last year was the lowest level of foreclosure level in history.”

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A Three-Bedroom Villa off the Coast of Honduras

$579,000

This three-bedroom villa with panoramic Caribbean Sea views commands a high ridge on the northwest coast of Roatán, an island off the northern coast of Honduras.

Built in 2014 on a third of an acre at the pinnacle of a hilly neighborhood

A Three-Bedroom Villa off the Coast of Honduras

$579,000

This three-bedroom villa with panoramic Caribbean Sea views commands a high ridge on the northwest coast of Roatán, an island off the northern coast of Honduras.

Built in 2014 on a third of an acre at the pinnacle of a hilly neighborhood called Topridge, the two-story villa also looks out over the Mesoamerican Reef, the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere, which surrounds Roatán.

“This home’s view is one of the best on the island,” said Steve Hasz, a co-owner and broker at Roatan Life Real Estate, which has the listing. “It overlooks the amazing reef we have here, which is why we have so many scuba-diving visitors.”

The 4,185-square-foot villa, painted in eye-catching pastels, is constructed of ocote pine and shiplap hardwood siding atop a concrete lower level, and has an insulated metal roof, Mr. Hasz said. It was designed by Hal Sorrenti, an architect with ties to Canada and the Caribbean, with more than 100 projects on Roatán.

“Hal specialized in a Balinese pod-style for many of his homes, with colonial-style interior courtyards, and the living areas often separated by covered breezeways, like this home,” Mr. Hasz said.

A red door with pineapple cutout opens to a covered landing, where stairs descend past a furnished sitting area to a patio with access to a swimming pool and the principal living area. A white door with pineapple cutouts opens to a small gold-painted foyer and then to the main living and dining areas, with vaulted ceilings and overhead fans.

The living area has sliding glass doors on three sides and handmade tinted concrete floor tiles. Casement and hardwood jalousie windows circulate the ocean breezes. The home’s furniture is included in the asking price, Mr. Hasz said.

Tucked behind the dining area is the red-painted kitchen, with black granite countertops, a rolling butcher block island and cabinets of huesito, a tropical wood native to Honduras, Mr. Hasz said. A pantry opens to an outdoor kitchen with a barbecue.

Flanking the central living area are two breezeways that access the bedrooms, connected by a large deck overlooking the sea. The main bedroom suite, off the breezeway with the pool, is painted light yellow with ocote wood floors, and has a small balcony.

The other breezeway, with a protected al fresco dining area and the outdoor kitchen, leads to a second en suite bedroom. Stairs descend to a lower covered porch off a third bedroom suite. A stone walkway from the villa’s walled-in parking area leads to the lower-level bedroom, which could be converted to a self-contained apartment, Mr. Hasz said. The home has parking for four cars and a garage with an adjoining workshop.

The villa, located in the Sandy Bay community, is surrounded by old-growth oaks and palm trees, and sits above Lawson Rock, a picturesque gated neighborhood on the north shore of Roatán. The home is about a 10-minute drive from West End, with many restaurants, dive shops, night life and shopping. Two medical clinics and two schools are nearby, Mr. Hasz said.

“There are both flats and deep-sea fishing, snorkeling, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, a sloth preserve and petting zoo, and Bailey’s Key, where dolphins reside, right in Sandy Bay,” he said.

The island of Roatán, with about 110,000 residents, sits 40 miles north of Honduras’s Caribbean coast. Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport is about a 15-minute drive from the villa, and just beyond it are two ferry services that travel to the other Bay Islands and the city of La Ceiba, on the mainland.

Market Overview

At about 32 square miles, Roatán is the largest and most developed of the Bay Islands, which also include Utila and Guanaja. Though an international destination for scuba divers, Roatán has long kept a low profile among Caribbean islands, which has held down housing prices, said Matt Esfahani, the owner of Roatan Sotheby’s International Realty.

“Roatán is a very beautiful island in the Western Caribbean, but has not been fully discovered yet,” he said.

Because of its history as a British colony, Roatán is a mostly English-speaking island, and it retains a rustic, old Caribbean charm, with gorgeous beaches, temperate weather and few hurricanes. In recent years, its infrastructure and services have continued to improve, broadening its appeal, Mr. Hasz said.

According to the Multiple Listing Service of the Roatán Realtors Association, home listing prices grew by about 15.7 percent from 2009 through 2021. As in other tropical destinations around the world, the pandemic ultimately hastened that momentum. In 2022, prices have grown 15.2 percent year over year.

What was a buyer’s market for more than a decade is now shifting to the seller’s side, said Melaina Matute, a broker and managing partner at RE/MAX Bay Islands, even after grinding to a halt for 18 months as the pandemic kept tourists and buyers away. “The last two years, to date, have been very hot for sales — some of the best ever,” she said.

Haydee Muñoz, the owner-broker of Mayoka Realty, in Roatán’s West Bay section, said that inventory can’t keep up with rising demand. “Prior to the pandemic, very little sold at asking price,” she said. “Now, properties are selling quickly at listing price or well above.”

Tourists, including cruise-ship passengers, who help drive the housing market have returned in full force, filling hotels and keeping the dive shops and other tourism enterprises busy. “It’s booming, and we’re wondering if we’ll even have a slow season this year,” Ms. Muñoz said. “That’s usually September, October and early November.”

New-home construction is plentiful on Roatán, and while lot sales are brisk, there is still land available, Mr. Hasz said.

“Beachfront lots range from $275,000 to around $600,000,” he said. “Lots off the beach start at $50,000, with view lots commanding more. I would estimate current building costs at $130 per square foot for luxury wood construction, and concrete at $150 per square foot.”

The western end of Roatán is the most desirable for foreign home buyers and the most developed, with popular areas including West Bay, West End, Sandy Bay, Lawson Rock, Palmetto Bay, Blue Harbour and Parrot Tree. On the eastern end, Camp Bay is the most coveted area, Mr. Esfahani said.

Typically, condos on Roatán range from about $200,000 to $800,000, and houses from $200,000 to $1.8 million, he said.

Who Buys on Roatán

Many home buyers on Roatán have some interest in scuba diving or snorkeling and cherish the spectacular barrier reef, brokers said. Foreign home buyers tend to be retirees or investors who rent out their home when not in use, and plan to retire on the island, Ms. Muñoz said.

American and Canadian buyers predominate, though foreign home buyers also come from Italy, Holland, Spain, Denmark and France, brokers said. There is also “a large and growing population from the Czech Republic,” Mr. Esfahani said.

Many buyers arrive from other Central American nations, such as Guatemala, and a smaller number come from mainland Honduras, Ms. Muñoz said.

Buying Basics

While the process of purchasing a property on Roatán is fairly simple, foreigners are limited to one property of up to three-quarters of an acre of land per person, brokers said.

Foreigners wishing to buy more land or a second property can set up a corporation through a routine legal process requiring a one-time expense of $1,200 to $1,500.

A local lawyer is recommended, brokers said. Legal and notary fees will run about 2 percent of the home sale price, Mr. Esfahani said. The remaining closing costs are about 4 percent.

Properties are listed and home sales transactions take place in U.S. dollars, brokers said. Most properties are purchased in cash, though some homes and home sites have owner financing available, Mr. Hasz said.

“Typical financing is 40 to 50 percent down, 5 to 7 percent interest, payoff in one to five years, with a longer amortization period,” he said. However, owner financing “is getting rarer and rarer in this market.”

Websites

Honduran Institute of Tourism: iht.hn

Honduras travel portal: honduras.travel

Roatán Tourism Bureau: roatantourismbureau.com

Languages and Currency

Spanish and English; Honduran lempira (1 lempira = $0.041); U.S. dollars are accepted in Roatán.

Taxes and Fees

Annual taxes on this property, which include fire and ambulance support along with trash pickup, total about $2,300, with a 10 percent discount for payment before April, Mr. Hasz said.

Contact

Steve Hasz, Roatan Life Real Estate, 011-504-2407-2236, roatanlife.com

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$2.5 Million Homes in Illinois, the District of Columbia and Arizona

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Hinsdale, Ill. | $2.495 Million

A Queen Anne Revival house built in 1876, with six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms, on a 0.4-acre lot

$2.5 Million Homes in Illinois, the District of Columbia and Arizona

23 Photos

View Slide Show ›

Hinsdale, Ill. | $2.495 Million

A Queen Anne Revival house built in 1876, with six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and two half-bathrooms, on a 0.4-acre lot

This house is about half a mile from the Hinsdale railway station, where commuters can catch an express train that will take them to downtown Chicago in about 30 minutes. The area near the station is part of the Downtown Hinsdale Historic District — listed on the National Register of Historic Places — where there is a Georgian Revival building that serves as a public library, several Colonial Revival commercial buildings and the train station, built in the late 1890s in Renaissance Revival style.

Hinsdale Central High School, one of the highest-ranked public high schools in the state, is about 10 minutes away by car; public middle and elementary schools are less than a mile away.

Size: 6,871 square feet

Price per square foot: $363

Indoors: The house, which has a wraparound covered porch, sits at the center of a circular driveway added by the sellers.

The front door opens into a foyer with original red oak floors. The adjacent living room has newer redwood floors and a fireplace with original masonry. This space flows into the main kitchen, which has stainless-steel appliances and two islands, one with a sink and another with room for four diners. The adjoining prep kitchen has more stainless-steel appliances, including a wine refrigerator that holds 120 bottles. The kitchen opens to a family room with coffered ceilings and a four-season sunroom with a built-in barbecue, bar and wood-burning fireplace.

A spacious home office is also on this level, along with two powder rooms, one between the prep kitchen and home office, and the other off the mudroom.

Four bedrooms are on the second floor. To the immediate right of the stair landing is the primary suite, which has an oversize walk-in closet with a center storage island; a refrigerator and coffee station concealed by built-in cabinetry; and a bathroom with an original stained-glass window above the soaking tub. The three guest rooms across the hall each have a walk-in closet and an en suite bathroom. At the far end of the hall is a laundry room with two washer-dryer sets.

Two more guest rooms are on the third floor. One has its own bathroom; the other shares a bathroom with a comfortable sitting room that could be a home office or playroom.

The basement level has a gym, an art studio and several large closets, as well as a full bathroom with a walk-in shower. More wine storage is built into the staircase, illuminated by LED fixtures.

Outdoor space: Several ceiling fans are built into the wraparound porch, which has a section along the side of the house that the sellers use as an outdoor sitting area. The backyard is flat, with mature trees dotting the lawn. The detached two-car garage has a heated attic space.

Taxes: $28,056 (estimated)

Contact: Dawn McKenna, Coldwell Banker Realty, 630-686-4886; coldwellbankerhomes.com

Washington | $2.495 Million

A two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom unit in a 2004 condominium

This building has water views on two sides: In one direction, across the Georgetown Waterfront Park, is the Potomac River and the Francis Scott Key Bridge, connecting the city to Virginia; in the opposite direction is the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, where a walking path winds along the waterway that once served as a crucial link between the District of Columbia area and the Midwest.

M Street, one of Georgetown’s main drags, is a few blocks away, putting the units in this building within easy walking and biking distance of shopping and dining. Georgetown University is about half a mile away, and the nearest Metro stop, at Foggy Bottom-George Washington University, is about a mile away.

Size: 1,888 square feet

Price per square foot: $1,322

Indoors: The unit’s front door opens into the foyer with hardwood floors. Off the foyer are a powder room and laundry room with storage space.

The hardwood floors continue into an open living area with built-in bookshelves, a decorative fireplace and a wall of windows overlooking a private terrace in the back. There is space for a dining table at the far end of the room, between the kitchen and a glass door that opens to the garden.

The kitchen has stainless-steel appliances and a center island with space for storage and seating. A walk-in pantry is tucked beneath the adjacent staircase to the second floor.

The spacious stair landing on the second level is used by the sellers as a study. The primary bedroom, to the right, has carpeted floors, a walk-in closet, a wall of windows and a small balcony overlooking the garden; the en suite bathroom has a soaking tub, a shower with glass walls and a sleek vanity with two sinks. Next door is a guest room big enough to hold a queen-size bed, with another walk-in closet and a wall of windows like those in the living room and primary bedroom; the en suite bathroom has an oversize walk-in shower with a glass door.

Outdoor space: On the first level of this unit is a private, brick wall terrace of more than 700 square feet that can become an extension of the living space when weather permits. The landscaping includes mature trees along the perimeter that provide shade. The building also has a roof deck and an outdoor pool with panoramic views of the Potomac; other amenities include a gym and a front desk staffed 24 hours a day. This unit comes with two parking spots in a private garage.

Taxes: $17,712 (estimated), with a $3,077 monthly homeowner association fee

Contact: Michael Rankin, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, 202-271-3344; sothebysrealty.com

Phoenix | $2.495 Million

A modern farmhouse built in 2016, with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, on a 0.2-acre lot

Arcadia, regularly ranked as one of Phoenix’s most appealing neighborhoods, was for much of the 20th century home to citrus groves. Today, it is made up of homes on large lots, with easy access to the shopping and dining of Scottsdale and some of the area’s best hiking. Echo Canyon Trailhead, the beginning of a trail that leads to the top of Camelback Mountain, is about 10 minutes away by car; Piestewa Peak Park, in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, is a 15-minute drive. A handful of golf courses, including Paradise Valley Country Club, Arizona Country Club and Rolling Hills Golf Course, are just five to 10 minutes away.

Driving into the heart of Scottsdale takes about 10 minutes; downtown Phoenix is 20 minutes away.

Size: 2,831 square feet

Price per square foot: $881

Indoors: From the street, a short path lined with brick runs through the front yard, leading to the entrance. Behind the door is a foyer with a built-in bench and white wainscoting.

Hardwood floors continue from this space into an open living area with high ceilings, exposed beams, a fireplace, built-in cabinetry and large windows looking out to the backyard. The dining area is at the front of this space, with glass doors that open to a small front patio. The kitchen opens to the dining area, with white tiled walls, stainless-steel appliances and a pantry with additional storage and a dedicated wine refrigerator.

Also in this part of the house is a guest room currently used as a home office, with a street-facing window and built-in desk; a sunny laundry room; and a full bathroom.

The bedroom wing is off a hallway extending from the living area. The primary suite, at the far end of the hall, has hardwood floors, white paneled walls and a farmhouse-style door that slides open to a bathroom with marble tile floors, a claw-foot soaking tub and a windowed shower with a tiled bench. Two guest rooms off the hallway have carpeted floors and ceiling fans; they share a full bathroom with a double vanity and walk-in shower.

Outdoor space: Sliding glass doors in the living area open to a covered rear patio with an outdoor kitchen, a built-in barbecue and a dedicated dining area framed by flowering plants along the walls. Another patio, at the far end of the yard, is anchored by a brick fireplace with a raised brick hearth. Around the corner is a hot tub. The attached garage holds two cars.

Taxes: $16,968 (estimated)

Contact: Kelly Knapp, HomeSmart, 602-882-1332; homesmart.com

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Rob Spillman and Elissa Schappell closed on their Catskill, N.Y., house, an 1840s farmhouse on 6.4 acres, in the middle of an ice storm in February. “We had to keep stopping to get the ice off the windshield wipers,” said Mr. Spillman, 57, a literary consultant and freelance writer who founded the now-defunct literary magazine “Tin House” with Ms. Schappell.

The couple, who had shared a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with another

Rob Spillman and Elissa Schappell closed on their Catskill, N.Y., house, an 1840s farmhouse on 6.4 acres, in the middle of an ice storm in February. “We had to keep stopping to get the ice off the windshield wipers,” said Mr. Spillman, 57, a literary consultant and freelance writer who founded the now-defunct literary magazine “Tin House” with Ms. Schappell.

The couple, who had shared a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with another couple for 23 years, paid $825,000 for their new home in Catskill — $25,000 below the listing price — and managed to avoid one of the bidding wars that have become the norm in much of the Hudson Valley. (They offered all cash to sweeten the deal, with plans to seek financing after the sale.)

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Two days after their move, they were planning dinner parties at their 3,300-square-foot house. “A lot of our creative friends are already in this area,” Mr. Spillman said. “We sold half of a brownstone for $1.825 million — a million more than we paid for this — and we have so much more space.”

Catskill is a place where “people are jazzed about making art and invested in creating a culture that isn’t a microcosm of New York City, but its own thing,” said Ms. Schappell, 58. “The prospect of being part of such a community and all the possibilities it presents — new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing the world and living in it — it’s a reason to get lit up.”

The couple are among an influx of New Yorkers discovering how much further their money goes in this town of just over 11,000 residents, without sacrificing access to culture. Once home to the 19th-century landscape painter Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School art movement, Catskill has long been a hub for artists and musicians. But two recent investments totaling more than $20 million have enhanced its reputation as an incubator of the arts: Foreland, an 85,000-square-foot visual-arts campus in three 19th-century mill buildings that opened last August, and the Lumberyard Center for Film and Performing Arts, a 20,000-square-foot nonprofit performing-arts center that opened in 2018 at a former lumberyard site.

Foreland’s founder, Stef Halmos, an artist, chose Catskill for the project because it’s an “unpretentious and friendly” place, she said. “Lovable weirdos, artists, farmers, business owners and everyone in between are on equal footing in this town, which is an unusual and endearing quality.”

After Ben Fain moved to Catskill from Fort Greene, Brooklyn, in 2016, he was so taken with the town’s potential that he invested more than $4 million, buying 10 buildings on Main Street, including a defunct movie theater that he hopes to reopen as an art-house cinema and music venue. His plan includes two adjacent net-zero buildings that will house a boutique hotel called Mr. Cat; the hotel’s bar, restaurant and event space will be in a third building. Left Bank Ciders, a brewery and bar, and C. Cassis, a liqueur distillery, currently occupy another of Mr. Fain’s buildings.

“I remember walking around the village and feeling such a strong sense of community,” said Mr. Fain, a sculptor who has also rehabilitated buildings in New York City. “I felt like I had an opportunity to be a part of what was already happening on Main Street and bring some life back into these buildings.”

Although real estate prices have risen sharply in Catskill in recent years, homes are generally more affordable than those in areas to the south like Woodstock, Kingston and New Paltz. And they are much more affordable than those in Catskill’s more celebrated neighbor to the east, Hudson.

“My clients say they want Woodstock or Saugerties,” said Deirdre Day, an agent with Taft Street Realty who worked with Mr. Spillman and Ms. Schappell. “I often say, ‘If you take that money up to Catskill, you’re going to get something much, much better.’ What Elissa and Rob got in Catskill would have cost so much more in Ulster County.”

What You’ll Find

In the three-square-mile village at the heart of the 60-square-mile town, the architecture is a mix of styles. On the outskirts of the town, buyers can find large farmhouses on multiple acres — a testament to the small family farms that once dotted the landscape — as well as former inns and boardinghouses.

On Main Street, new businesses include a cafe-gallery-gift-shop cheekily named Citiot; two breweries with taprooms, Crossroads Brewing Company and Subversive Malting + Brewing; Left Bank Ciders, which makes small-batch cider from local apples; Mermaid Cafe, with farm-to-table tacos and ramen; and the 25-room Mr. Cat hotel, slated to open in January 2023.

Other new hotels in Catskill include Camptown, a motel getting a $12 million makeover as a year-round resort, and Treetopia, a 42-acre campground transformed into upscale lodgings with Airstream trailers, luxury cottages and glamping tents.

Liam and Laura Singer moved to Catskill from Long Island City, Queens, in 2016, and opened the popular Catskill cafe HiLo the following year. “One of the things we loved about Catskill was the artistic energy,” said Mr. Singer, 40, a musician. In 2019, the couple added Avalon Lounge, a retro-style nightclub with live acts and dance parties Wednesday through Sunday.

What You’ll Pay

The median price of a single-family home in Catskill has jumped 77 percent over the past five years, although the number of transactions has dipped slightly because of limited inventory. In 2021, the median price of the 73 single-family homes sold in Catskill was $265,000, compared with $150,000 for the 75 sold in 2017, according to the Columbia Greene Board of Realtors. In 2020, the median price of the 71 houses sold in Catskill was $215,000. The dramatic growth has continued in 2022, with 19 houses selling for a median of $344,500 in the first five months of the year.

Even so, Catskill homes remain affordable by Hudson Valley standards. By comparison, the median price of a single-family home in Hudson in 2021 was $400,000.

Catskill homes also are being snapped up more quickly. In 2019, the average number of days a home spent on the market was 118; last year, that figure dropped to 50.

Low inventory is an issue across the Hudson Valley. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of Hudson Valley homes listed for sale declined by 52 percent, to 5,657 from 11,777, according to the nonprofit research group Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress. As of mid-May, Zillow showed 21 listings for single-family homes in Catskill, ranging from $154,900 for a two-bedroom cottage in the village to $7.495 million for a six-bedroom estate on 17 acres with Hudson River frontage.

The typical Catskill property tax bill is about $4,700 in the town and $6,800 in the village, according to the town assessor’s office.

The Vibe

The sense of community that struck Mr. Fain is palpable in a town where everyone seems to know everyone else. “You can’t be anonymous,” he said. “That’s one of my favorite things about Catskill.”

Every Thursday evening from spring to fall, Left Bank Ciders hosts a market run by Nimble Roots Farm. “It’s become this community evening,” said Dave Snyder, a partner at Left Bank Ciders. “It’s a ton of fun.”

Residents also gather in the town center for the annual Cat’n Around Catskill, which is like New York City’s CowParade, but with cats. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, some 50 fiberglass cat sculptures pop up along Main Street, and the event culminates with a gala and auction benefiting the Heart of Catskill Association and its efforts to revitalize the business district, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Schools

The Catskill Central School District serves about 1,350 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the New York State Department of Education. The district is 66 percent white, 14 percent Hispanic, 12 percent multiracial, 7 percent Black and 1 percent Asian or Pacific Islander.

On 2018-19 state tests, 87 percent of Catskill Senior High School students were proficient in English, 67 percent were proficient in algebra and 88 percent were proficient in geometry, compared with 84 percent, 71 percent and 70 percent statewide.

The high school’s graduation rate in 2021 was 94 percent, compared with 86 percent for the state.

The Commute

Catskill is about a five-minute drive from Exit 21 on the New York State Thruway and less than two hours from the George Washington Bridge, depending on traffic.

Commuters can catch the Amtrak train in Hudson, a 10-minute drive from the village of Catskill. Round-trip tickets to New York City cost $62 to $148, depending on when the ticket is bought and whether it is for peak or off-peak hours. A monthly train pass is $1,008. A six-month parking pass is $650, and an annual parking pass is $1,000.

Trailways offers limited bus service to New York City, with one departure a day from the Exit 21 park-and-ride lot and lengthy layovers in Kingston. The fare is $76 round trip.

The History

The New York State Legislature formed the town of Catskill in 1788 and Greene County in 1800. As the region gained renown for its resorts, steamboats brought tourists to stay at the fashionable Prospect Park Hotel in Catskill, according to a history compiled by the Catskill Community Center.

Thomas Cole first visited Catskill in 1825 on a sketching trip, said Jonathan Palmer, archivist at the Vedder Research Library and deputy Greene County historian at the Greene County Historical Society. Cole later made Catskill his permanent home, and his house is now a tourist attraction called the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

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When Sharon Lipovsky and Colin Phillips left the Washington, D.C., area to pursue the dream of a bucolic life in the country, they were ahead of the curve. It was 2018, long before the pandemic hit, and few companies were telling their employees they could work from anywhere but the office.

Before retreating into the woods became a trend, the couple, who have three children — Henrietta, now 9, Crosley,

When Sharon Lipovsky and Colin Phillips left the Washington, D.C., area to pursue the dream of a bucolic life in the country, they were ahead of the curve. It was 2018, long before the pandemic hit, and few companies were telling their employees they could work from anywhere but the office.

Before retreating into the woods became a trend, the couple, who have three children — Henrietta, now 9, Crosley, 7, and Iggy, 5 — realized that a dramatic change of lifestyle might be possible for them. Ms. Lipovsky, an executive coach, could run her business, Point Road Studios, from a laptop, and Mr. Phillips, who works in communications for the Transportation Security Administration, predicted (correctly) that his employer would be open to a remote working arrangement.

After spending a few weeks each summer at Mr. Phillips’s family camp in the Adirondacks, the couple were smitten with upstate New York. “It’s a place where the important things come forward,” Ms. Lipovsky, 41, said. “You’re in nature, you’re with family, you’re resting, you’re eating well, you’re gardening. It’s just a really lovely, magical place. We thought, ‘Why can’t we have more of this, all of the time?’”

But after making a stop in the Catskills during one of their annual pilgrimages, they realized they liked that area even more than the Adirondacks — a similar sense of escapism, but with an undercurrent of creative energy.

Back home, Ms. Lipovsky pored over real estate listings late into the night until she found a property that put an end to her scrolling. It was a five-acre lot in an Ulster County hamlet called Mount Tremper, with three main structures (not including the smaller buildings for chickens, goats and birds): a ramshackle cottage, a rustic cabin and an octagonal building that was once a preschool.

The weathered buildings appeared to need extensive work, but Ms. Lipovsky couldn’t resist sharing the listing with Mr. Phillips. “It was the second time in my life when my wife woke me up in the middle of the night with some real estate site and said, ‘Hey, this is our house,’” Mr. Phillips, 41, said. “And both times, we’ve lived in those houses.”

Sure enough, when they finally visited the property a few months later, it looked ideal. And it helped that one of Ms. Lipovsky’s clients, Melissa Sanabria, whom Ms. Lipovsky had helped guide through a career change from financial services to interior design, was offering encouraging words and design help.

“It wouldn’t have been for everyone, but I saw their vision,” Ms. Sanabria said. “They’re people who really value an adventure — and it was clear it would definitely be an adventure.”

Ms. Lipovsky and Mr. Phillips closed on the property in August 2018, paying $385,000. On their first night, they set up an air mattress under the skylight at the center of the octagonal building, as rain began to fall. They congratulated each other on their purchase as they settled in to sleep, Ms. Lipovsky said, “and then we realized the skylight was leaking on us.”

Undeterred, they pushed forward. Their real estate agent introduced them to the builder Jeromy Wells, of Hudson Valley Homes & Renovations; he, in turn, introduced the couple to Kurt Sutherland, the principal of KWS Architecture.

“The octagon building was similar to a yurt,” Mr. Sutherland said. “Although it was a cool structure, it wasn’t set up to be a proper home for a family. It was just set up as a classroom.”

To remedy that, Mr. Sutherland designed an expansion that nearly quadrupled the size of the 930-square-foot octagon. On one side, he added a small volume to serve as a foyer; on the other, he demolished an old addition that contained a bathroom and kitchenette for the school, to make way for a new addition providing space for three bedrooms, a kitchen and a study adjacent to the main living space. The walkout basement below the new bedrooms contains a guest room, gym and office.

After the building permit for the 3,600-square-foot structure was delayed, and the date to pour the new foundation was moved back because concrete trucks couldn’t get down the couple’s muddy road, work finally began in April 2019. While contractors labored on the house, the family lived in the cottage, where Mr. Phillips spent cooler nights feeding logs into the wood stove to keep everyone from freezing.

By January 2020, the octagonal house had enclosed walls and a propane furnace, so the family moved back in, even as contractors continued the work around them.

Following Ms. Sanabria’s direction, they restored the octagon to serve as an expansive living-and-dining space equipped with cushy, low-slug leather furniture from Article. In the kitchen, they installed cabinets from deVol and green-and-white textured Cloe tile from Bedrosians Tile & Stone. In the study, they painted V-groove paneling glossy green and added sliding barn doors.

Their new house was substantially complete in June 2021, for a cost of about $385,000, but Ms. Lipovsky and Mr. Phillips still struggle to fully understand what they’ve accomplished.

“Every so often, we look at our house and say, ‘Wow, that’s where we live,’” Ms. Lipovsky said. “But then we’re like, ‘We earned that. We did two years of hard time.’ Now it’s time to soak it in.”

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When Melissa Pancoast moved her financial literacy start-up, The Beans, into a WeWork office in San Francisco’s Salesforce Tower last May, most of the offices around her were rented out but unoccupied.

As vaccination rates climbed and San Francisco flirted with lifting pandemic restrictions, her neighbors started trickling back in. Ms. Pancoast’s social calendar soon filled up with bike rides and coffee dates with other start-up founders she

When Melissa Pancoast moved her financial literacy start-up, The Beans, into a WeWork office in San Francisco’s Salesforce Tower last May, most of the offices around her were rented out but unoccupied.

As vaccination rates climbed and San Francisco flirted with lifting pandemic restrictions, her neighbors started trickling back in. Ms. Pancoast’s social calendar soon filled up with bike rides and coffee dates with other start-up founders she met in the building.

Today, the co-working space is bustling. “Phone booths and conference rooms have become precious commodities,” Ms. Pancoast said.

She is one of 1,100 members at the 76,400-square-foot WeWork location, which has three floors with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. Her neighbors include start-ups that make business software, online recruiting tools for engineers and open-source database systems.

New members are clamoring to join. Most of the offices have wait lists, and daily desk bookings — drop-in spaces for WeWork members without dedicated office spaces — regularly run out, WeWork said. That is up from 46 percent occupancy across WeWork’s San Francisco locations in December 2020.

The demand for WeWork at the Salesforce Tower is indicative of how start-ups have begun returning to offices around the Bay Area. Instead of going to traditional offices, they are opting for flexible co-working spaces, where they can sign short leases or drop in to common space as necessary. Those co-working spaces are now bursting at the seams.

The long-awaited return to office is coinciding with a start-up environment that is showing signs of faltering, after two years of free-flowing venture capital cash and soaring valuations. Tech stocks have sunk, interest rates have risen and geopolitical unrest has contributed to a general feeling of uncertainty.

In uncertain times — as start-ups undergo tremendous growth, with the knowledge that the funding spigot may yet turn off — short-term leases are more appealing than ever. Start-ups are flocking to spaces like WeWork, the national chain, as well as smaller co-working companies with more elaborate designs like the San Francisco-based Canopy and the New York-based Industrious.

“Start-ups are going to markets where they would traditionally grab leases and they’re finding a Canopy or a WeWork or an Industrious,” said Hugh Scott, the executive managing director of the commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

The Return of Return-to-Office Plans

After the Omicron variant crushed companies’ hopes for a return to in-person work late last year, a new R.T.O. chapter now appears to be opening.

The Beans was one of them. “Things were still really uncertain as far as what our trajectory was, and the plan is to close significant capital and to grow,” Ms. Pancoast said. “We need the flexibility of being able to be in a different space than we could have afforded right in the middle of the pandemic.”

But for many co-working spaces, especially during the pandemic, the short-term-lease models that appeal to start-ups can sometimes present risks.

In San Francisco’s Mission District, the unfortunately named co-working space Covo lost 94 percent of its business in the first months of the pandemic. By October 2020, it had closed.

Last May, the founders tried again. They reopened with a new name, Trellis, and a new business model: Rather than a traditional lease, they negotiated a revenue-sharing model with their landlord. Trellis would pay a minimum monthly payment much lower than that of its previous lease, and the landlord would take a cut of the revenue — sharing the potential profit and the risk.

“It used to be the landlord took no risk — all the risk is on the tenant,” said Rebecca Pan, Trellis’s co-founder. “Asking for that sort of thing, they’re like: ‘Why would I do that? I don’t need to take a risk.’ The pandemic has shifted that quite a bit.”

Other co-working spaces had been moving toward a revenue-sharing model since before the pandemic. That includes independent spaces like the Port Workspaces, with two locations in Oakland, Calif., and Blankspaces, with several locations in Southern California. Chains like Industrious and Common Desk, the latter of which agreed to be acquired by WeWork this year, have also adopted revenue-sharing structures.

WeWork itself, perhaps the most infamous co-working company, took a different approach: Last fall, the company went public, two years after its aborted initial public offering.

Last Thursday, WeWork reported a $435 million loss in the first three months of 2022. The company said 501,000 members signed up in the first quarter, which is over 100,000 more than in the same period last year, but still lower than before the pandemic.

The Bay Area’s initial shelter-in-place order, in March 2020, meant that many WeWork members stopped coming in, the company said. The building stayed open for essential businesses, but attendance dropped and some companies consolidated their WeWork memberships.

In October 2020, Merge, a start-up that makes business software for human resources, payroll and accounting, was one of the first companies to move back into a WeWork location on Montgomery Street, a few blocks away from the Salesforce Tower location. At that point, the company — founded just months earlier — consisted of the two founders and an engineer, their first employee. Feeling cooped up at home, the three were eager to work together in person, and they felt comfortable adopting one another into their Covid-19 bubbles.

“We were the only ones in the office,” Gil Feig, one of the founders, said.

In February 2021, Merge moved over to Salesforce Tower, seeking a bigger office space as the company expanded. Occupancy at that location began to tick back up that month before increasing more rapidly after Covid vaccine appointments started to become widely available in May 2021, WeWork said.

The Beans was part of that wave, Ms. Pancoast said. Already, there were signs that interest in co-working spaces was rebounding; she snagged the last office of her size, she said.

But in a tight tech labor market, the return-to-office plan can be a make-or-break factor for prospective employees. And not everyone is excited to get back to a cubicle.

“Some people I’ve spoken to are itching to get back in the office, but I’m getting a lot of responses saying they won’t entertain an offer without a full remote option,” said Abigail Lovegrove, a recruiter for the Collective Search, a recruitment firm, who works out of the Salesforce Tower WeWork.

Mo El Mahallawy, a co-founder of Shepherd, a start-up that provides insurance for the construction industry, moved in with his two co-workers last May.

“Being in person was a big game-changer at that stage,” Mr. El Mahallawy said. “We were able to draw ideas in the room, whiteboard together, do a jam session, throw ideas around and prototype really quickly.”

But “that whole area was still a ghost town,” he said.

Over the next few months, the “ghost town” started coming back to life. He and Ms. Pancoast started going on bike rides and meeting their neighbors. By the end of the summer, Mr. El Mahallawy said, he had outgrown the space and moved to a nearby WeWork.

After the optimistic return in the fall, daily visitor numbers took a hit in December and January as the typical holiday exodus combined with the surge of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, WeWork said.

By February, as San Francisco ended its masking requirement for most indoor spaces, members were starting to return.

A Valentine’s Day event, complete with chocolate fountains, felt like a return to prepandemic excess — although, Ms. Pancoast noted, “it was not a double-dipping situation.”

For some companies, recreating a prepandemic office environment is the goal. Merge, now with around 40 employees in San Francisco and New York locations, expects employees to come into the office four or five days a week. After the official workday wraps up, they serve a communal “family dinner” in WeWork’s common space.

Mr. Feig acknowledged that his company’s insistence on working in person limited the workers it was able to recruit.

In the early stages of hiring, “you’re going to have some candidates where, like, ‘That’s a no for me — I’m not into it,’” he said. “But once you kind of knock off that 20, 30 percent who’s not into it, you get a 70 percent of candidates who are really excited about the opportunity.”

Mr. Feig said he hoped to expand the company to 80 or 100 employees by the end of the year. He intends to keep the company in co-working spaces, at least in part.

Merge’s vice president of marketing, Nick Kephart, said the ideal plan would be a mix. “The current plan,” he said, “would be some mix of: in some cities, where we have enough scale, to start having our own private office space; in some cities, stick with WeWork; and in other cities, we may actually open up new offices.”

$2.7 Million Homes in California

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Palm Springs | $2.695 Million

A 1975 house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, on a 0.2-acre lot

Stan Sackley, a prolific midcentury architect, designed

$2.7 Million Homes in California

24 Photos

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Palm Springs | $2.695 Million

A 1975 house with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, on a 0.2-acre lot

Stan Sackley, a prolific midcentury architect, designed this house and a number of others in the neighborhood. The sellers, who work in interior design, used his original plans to guide their renovation.

The property is in the Indian Canyons neighborhood, about a mile from Indian Canyons Golf Resort, one of the area’s first 18-hole golf courses. The course, which opened in 1961, was a major draw for celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. It includes a copper fountain that resembles a lily pad, donated by Walt Disney.

Downtown Palm Springs is about a 10-minute drive; Los Angeles is two and a half hours away.

Size: 3,044 square feet

Price per square foot: $885

Indoors: From the street, a paved path leads to the bright green front doors. They open into a wide foyer that steps down to a sunken living room with original tile floors, a double-sided brick fireplace and a wall of windows facing the swimming pool.

Around the corner, on the other side of the fireplace, is a den with more pool-facing windows. (The larger windows here and in the living room and bedrooms have motorized shades installed by the sellers.)

To the immediate left of the front door is an open dining area with an accent wall papered in a 1970s-style graphic print. This space faces a kitchen upgraded with new walnut cabinets designed to resemble the original ones, which were lost in a previous renovation. A window above the sink opens to a small dining patio in front of the house; this space is also accessible through sliding-glass doors in the breakfast area.

To the right of the entry is the primary suite, which has geometric black-and-white carpeting in the bedroom, a walk-in closet, a dressing area with a vanity, a bathroom with turquoise wallpaper and a soaking tub set against a mirrored wall.

Across the hall is a guest suite with an accent wall papered in a green-and-orange floral print; the en suite bathroom has a shower and vanity with original Heath tiles in a classic 1970s burnt orange.

Another guest suite is off the den, with orange walls and a bathroom with a combination tub and shower.

Outdoor space: Like many California desert homes, this one is oriented around the swimming pool in the back. The main living spaces and the primary suite have direct access to the pool, which is surrounded by concrete and a small lawn, with a patio big enough for lounge chairs. Tall privacy hedges line the walls that enclose the backyard. The attached garage has two parking spots; there is room for another two cars in the driveway.

Taxes: $33,684 (estimated)

Contact: Kathryn Tomasino and Shane Wilson, Keller Williams Palm Springs, 760-333-9990; ktpalmsprings.kw.com

Palo Alto | $2.695 Million

A 1906 Edwardian house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on a 0.1-acre lot

This house is in Evergreen Park, a bustling neighborhood anchored by California Avenue, which has a farmers’ market that operates on Sundays and a Caltrain station with trains that will take passengers to San Francisco in about 55 minutes and San Jose in about 25 minutes.

A number of restaurants, a wine shop, bicycle store and natural foods market are within walking and biking distance of this property. Easy access to Stanford University’s campus, a little over a mile away, is another perk of living in the area.

Size: 988 square feet

Price per square foot: $2,728

Indoors: A brick path leads through the lush front garden, landscaped with mature trees and wildflowers, to a covered porch with a hanging swing opposite the front door.

Across the threshold is a foyer with hardwood floors and an oval window looking out into the yard. The hardwood floors continue into a living room with coved ceilings, an original leaded-glass window, decorative trim along the walls and windows with white shutters overlooking the porch.

Behind the living room is a windowed kitchen large enough to double as a dining room, with recently painted cabinets and a built-in desk. Off this space is a bright laundry room with a linen closet.

Two bedrooms with original leaded-glass windows are on this floor, off the living room. One has direct access to a bathroom with a combined tub and shower that is also connected to the laundry room.

The third floor is spacious, with carpeting, two skylights and an attached bathroom with a stall shower and a porcelain pedestal sink. It could be used as a primary suite or a large home office.

Outdoor space: The wood deck off the kitchen is big enough to hold a cafe table and chairs. It steps down to a backyard enclosed by a wood fence and landscaped with drought-tolerant plants, perennials with pink and purple flowers, and fruit-bearing trees. At the far side of the yard is a pretty stone patio.

Taxes: $33,684 (estimated)

Contact: Denise Simons, Compass, 650-269-0210; compass.com

Sonoma | $2.65 Million

A 1948 house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a one-bedroom, one-bathroom pool house, on a 0.3-acre lot

This house is about a mile from Sonoma Plaza, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is the heart of the city. The property is close to a Y.M.C.A. that has a swimming pool and group fitness classes and to Sonoma Garden Park, a city-owned park with community gardens and a seasonal outdoor market from May to October. Prestwood Elementary School, which serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade, is across the street from the property; Sonoma Valley High School is a few blocks away.

Napa is about a half-hour drive, as is the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge, a protected expanse of marsh and wetlands visited by millions of migratory birds every winter.

Size: 2,430 square feet

Price per square foot: $1,091

Indoors: A tidy row of hedges separates this property from the street, and the house is set behind a garden planted with succulents.

The cherry red front door opens into an airy foyer. To the right is a living room with Brazilian chestnut floors and a fireplace with a simple black surround and white wood mantel. Through a set of French doors is a family room with a built-in entertainment center and windows with white shutters.

Beyond the foyer is a dining area with sliding-glass doors that open to the backyard and swimming pool. A breakfast bar separates this space from the kitchen, updated during a recent renovation with stainless-steel appliances and a white subway-tile backsplash. Beyond the kitchen is a guest room big enough for a queen-size bed. Across the hall is a full bathroom.

A wood staircase with iron railings rises from the center of the main level to the second floor. At the top of the stairs is a guest room with treetop views. The primary bedroom, at the end of the hall, has a private balcony overlooking the backyard. The primary bathroom, next door, has a walk-in shower.

The pool house, a few steps from the back patio, has one bedroom and one bathroom.

Outdoor space: There is a large patio behind the main house, as well as a heated outdoor dining area next to the pool house, which has folding doors that turn its living area into an indoor-outdoor entertaining space. The pool is heated with solar energy. The property also has a greenhouse, a set of raised garden beds and a bocce court. The attached garage holds one car, and there is more space for parking in the semicircular driveway.

Taxes: $33,120 (estimated)

Contact: Shannon Reiter, Sotheby’s International Realty — Wine Country-Sonoma Brokerage, 415-990-1472; sothebysrealty.com

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A hefty outdoor seat with a laid-back posture and wide, flat arms, the Adirondack chair has a lot to recommend it. It generally stays where you put it, resists harsh weather and has arms that double as cocktail tables.

Most important, though, “it just screams summer,” said Ann Stillman O’Leary, an interior designer based in Lake Placid, N.Y., who has written books on Adirondack style.

The first Adirondack

A hefty outdoor seat with a laid-back posture and wide, flat arms, the Adirondack chair has a lot to recommend it. It generally stays where you put it, resists harsh weather and has arms that double as cocktail tables.

Most important, though, “it just screams summer,” said Ann Stillman O’Leary, an interior designer based in Lake Placid, N.Y., who has written books on Adirondack style.

The first Adirondack chair was designed in 1903 by Thomas Lee, in Westport, N.Y., Ms. O’Leary said, to address very specific requirements: “He was looking for a chair that was comfortable, didn’t need a lot of fluffing and could hold a drink.”

Mr. Lee’s chair used solid slabs of wood, but countless manufacturers have since modified the design, most notably with wood slats that provide better drainage. “We now have fan-backs, shell-backs, wave-backs and round-backs,” Ms. O’Leary said.

Whichever style you choose, she added, “there’s no wrong place to put an Adirondack chair.”

What’s the best material for an Adirondack chair? Wood is a classic choice, Ms. O’Leary said, “but for my lifestyle right now, I’m doing high-density polyethylene,” which offers maintenance-free durability.

Do wood chairs need to be painted? Paint or stain isn’t essential, but it does increase longevity. Without it, wood — like teak, ipe and cedar — will weather over time.

How many Adirondack chairs do you need? Perhaps two facing a view or four around a firepit, Ms. O’Leary said. But remember that Adirondack chairs take up more space than most seats, she said, “because the backs of the legs stick out.”

Modern Folding Adirondack Chair

Recycled high-density polyethylene chair with a folding mechanism

From $319 at Polywood: 855-935-5550 or polywood.com

Garden Chair

Red cedar chair inspired by Gerrit Rietveld design

$275 (or $400 fully assembled) at Dan Benarcik: danbenarcik.com

The Classic Adirondack

Teak chair with stainless-steel fasteners

$599 at Teak & Table Outdoor: 912-661-4300 or teakandtable.com

Westport Adirondack Chair

Recycled high-density polyethylene chair inspired by Thomas Lee’s 1903 design

$895 at Loll Designs: 877-740-3387 or lolldesigns.com

Paso Teak Adirondack Chair

Teak chair with angular design

$749 at Crate & Barrel: 800-967-6696 or crateandbarrel.com

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Each week, our survey of recent residential sales in New York City and the surrounding region focuses on homes that sold around a certain price point, allowing you to compare single-family homes, condos and co-ops in different locales.

The “list price” is the asking price when the property came

Each week, our survey of recent residential sales in New York City and the surrounding region focuses on homes that sold around a certain price point, allowing you to compare single-family homes, condos and co-ops in different locales.

The “list price” is the asking price when the property came on the market with the most recent broker. The time on the market is measured from the most recent listing to the closing date of the sale.

New Jersey | 5 bedrooms, 3 baths

$1.022 million

75 Oakview Avenue, Maplewood

A 2,686-square-foot colonial-style house, built in 1918, with a living room that has a fireplace and window seat, a kitchen with stainless-steel appliances, a brick patio and a detached two-car garage, on 0.2 acres.

7 weeks on the market

$840,000 list price

22% above list price

Costs $21,204 a year in taxes

Listing broker Weichert, Realtors

Westchester | 3 bedrooms, 3 baths

$1.15 million

8 Country Ridge Drive, Rye Brook

This 61-year-old, 2,572-square-foot, raised-ranch-style house has a living room with a picture window, a kitchen with island seating and granite counters, a covered patio and a heated pool, on 0.37 acres.

15 weeks on the market

$1.15 million list price

0% above list price

Costs $25,358 a year in taxes

Listing broker Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty

Connecticut | 3 bedrooms, 2 baths

$985,000

27 Orchard Drive, New Canaan

A 68-year-old, 1,382-square-foot ranch-style house, with a combined living and dining room that has a stone fireplace, a galley kitchen with stainless-steel appliances and a home office, on 0.23 acres.

21 weeks on the market

$1.149 million list price

14% below list price

Costs $10,434 a year in taxes

Listing broker William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty

Brooklyn | 2 bedrooms, 1 bath

$876,000

80 Poplar Street, No. R4, Brooklyn Heights

This 700-square-foot prewar co-op has exposed brick walls, a combined living and dining room with a fireplace, a kitchen with a breakfast bar, and a washer and dryer in a non-doorman walk-up building.

22 weeks on the market

$999,000 list price

12% below list price

Costs $1,085 a month

Listing broker Brown Harris Stevens

Manhattan | 2 bedrooms, 2 baths

$985,000

510 East 80th Street, No. 5C, Yorkville

A 910-square-foot postwar condo, with a combined living and dining room that has a door to a balcony, a pass-through kitchen with granite counters and a primary suite, in a doorman elevator building with a roof deck.

17 weeks on the market

$1.05 million list price

6% below list price

Costs $1,247 a month in common charges; $929 a month in taxes

Listing broker Coldwell Banker Warburg

Long Island | 3 bedrooms, 1½ baths

$1.075 million

6 Ivy Way, Port Washington

This 94-year-old, 1,690-square-foot, red brick colonial-style house has a living room with a fireplace, a formal dining room, a kitchen with stainless-steel appliances and a detached one-car garage, on 0.15 acres.

41 weeks on the market

$1.2 million list price

10% below list price

Costs $18,115 a year in taxes

Listing broker Douglas Elliman

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Q: My wife and I have rented an apartment in a three-family house in Queens, N.Y., for the past decade. Whenever our son is on rotation in the U.S. military, we dog sit his golden retriever. Our original lease gave us permission to do this, but it expired years ago and we’ve been on a month-to-month agreement ever since. We are now dog sitting again. The other day, the landlord told me that the building allowed dogs only under 20 pounds, even

Q: My wife and I have rented an apartment in a three-family house in Queens, N.Y., for the past decade. Whenever our son is on rotation in the U.S. military, we dog sit his golden retriever. Our original lease gave us permission to do this, but it expired years ago and we’ve been on a month-to-month agreement ever since. We are now dog sitting again. The other day, the landlord told me that the building allowed dogs only under 20 pounds, even though our original lease did not include weight restrictions. (Other tenants in the building have dogs, though theirs are smaller than ours.) The landlord then told me that we could move out at any time. Can he really evict us?

A: Your position is precarious because you are living on a month-to-month rental agreement. Your landlord could decide to end it at any time — with proper notice — as long as his actions are not discriminatory. In your case, he could terminate the lease with 90 days of notice, under New York law. So, if he decides he’s had enough of bigger dogs in the building, even if the original lease allows pet-sitting, you could lose the apartment, according to Darryl M. Vernon, a real estate lawyer who represents people with companion animals.

But hope is not lost. Your landlord does allow dogs under certain circumstances. “They may be able to work this out,” Mr. Vernon said.

If size is the issue, the landlord may be concerned about safety. Since this particular dog has lived in the building from time to time (presumably without incident), you can speak from experience about his behavior and temperament.

Ask your landlord to have a conversation about the dog and your lease terms. Explain that your son is a serviceman away for a period of time and that the dog has been well behaved in the past. Address the size concerns directly, asking how you could mitigate the landlord’s concerns. For example, you could agree to keep a distance from other tenants and pets. If you can get the landlord to agree to this, ask for a new one- or two-year lease that includes these terms.

But if the landlord does not budge, your son may need to find other arrangements for his dog, or you and your wife risk losing the apartment.

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In the shadow of the oldest lighthouse in New York, summer in the Hamptons and Montauk once meant strawberry ice cream cones from a mom-and-pop shop, and Necco wafers and Pop Rocks from a candy store known for its fudge. For locals, an influx of new faces would wane at the onset of autumn.

By the winter, commercial areas sat speckled with darkened storefronts as vacationers retreated to New York City boroughs and beyond. Snow would blanket a

In the shadow of the oldest lighthouse in New York, summer in the Hamptons and Montauk once meant strawberry ice cream cones from a mom-and-pop shop, and Necco wafers and Pop Rocks from a candy store known for its fudge. For locals, an influx of new faces would wane at the onset of autumn.

By the winter, commercial areas sat speckled with darkened storefronts as vacationers retreated to New York City boroughs and beyond. Snow would blanket a softened East End landscape, tucking its year-round residents in for a season all their own.

“That dichotomy of life is kind of over,” said Jason Biondo, 47, a lifelong Montauk resident and local builder who retrofitted the lighthouse keeper’s quarters several years back.

Confronted with the pandemic, much of the summer crowd that fled from Manhattan to the Hamptons has remained, and the residential real estate swell has sparked commercial change. From health care to dining, new businesses have popped up in the Hamptons. While more health care facilities are welcome, there are mixed feelings about some of the new restaurants.

“I could probably count on one hand, the places between East Hampton, Amagansett, Montauk and Springs, that’s a really affordable place to take all your kids out to dinner where you’re not dropping 300 bucks,” Mr. Biondo said. “I’m not complaining, because I’m also reaping the benefits as a builder, right? So I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me; but it’s impossible to ignore the elephant in the room.”

From April 2010 to April 2021, the population of the town of East Hampton, which includes the hamlet of Montauk, climbed from 21,457 to 28,385, a 32 percent increase, according to U.S. census data. In Southampton, the population rose about 22 percent, from 56,790 to 69,036, in the same time frame.

The New York Times talked to major hospitals and small business owners about their decision to follow people to the summer resort area.

N.Y.U. Langone Health Medical Associates — Bridgehampton

N.Y.U. Langone Health has a Westhampton facility in the works, after opening a 3,500-foot ambulatory care facility in Bridgehampton in May 2021.

“We really saw the opportunity out there way before the pandemic, and we thought there was a real need for quality health care on the East End of Long Island,” said Vicki Match Suna, the executive vice president and vice dean for real estate development and facilities at N.Y.U. Langone Health.

The hospital’s Bridgehampton lease, on a prominent corner along the Bridgehampton part of Montauk Highway, began in June 2019.

“Most of what’s available is small, retail kinds of spaces, which really didn’t work for us and our use; so there was limited availability and it did take some time for us to locate a site that we thought could work for our needs,” Ms. Suna said.

At the Bridgehampton facility, N.Y.U. Langone Health tried to integrate the area’s culture: Interior walls are decorated with art made by local artists. Accent pieces are made of driftwood, sea glass, and other local materials native to the beachside community.

Poppy Heart — Montauk

Tiffany LaBanca-Madarasz saw a “For Lease” sign on a Montauk storefront that for decades housed the toy store, “A Little Bit of Everything,” and took the opportunity to open a business of her own in July 2021. Poppy Heart is a shop, a cafe, a gallery, and an art studio — a one-stop shop for creativity and community and a pivot for Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz, who worked as the head of employee communications and engagement for PayPal for two years following 25 years in the communications industry.

Though she raised her two children in Manhattan, Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz said her family rented a house every summer in Montauk.

“I rented when my kids were growing, every summer, so it’s always been in the back of our minds, like, ‘This is our happy place, this is where we’ll eventually come full time,’” Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz said. “With Covid and the kids going to college, we thought, ‘let’s accelerate that plan and see if we could actually buy a home.’”

She said turning 50 gave her some new perspective. “I was really ready for something bigger, and more interesting, and entrepreneurial, and Poppy Heart was born.”

Poppy Heart provides consistency in an area accustomed to a seasonal cadence. “There really isn’t a lot to do in Montauk, particularly in the off season, and on rainy days, so I built it for Montauk,” she said. “You can paint pottery, you can paint canvases, you can play with clay, you can make jewelry.”

One section of the store is called “A Little Bit of Everything,” and sells nostalgic toys to pay homage to her predecessor.

Il Buco al Mare — Montauk

As an established restaurant owner, Donna Lennard resisted bringing Il Buco al Mare to the Hamptons for years. The right opportunity presented itself, however, when the pandemic did.

“It was definitely not in the works before then,” Ms. Lennard said of the pandemic, insisting that she still didn’t want to operate a restaurant in the same place that she owned a country house. “It was feet in the mud, intractable Donna, no way, no how am I ever going to have a restaurant where I go to relax.”

Ms. Lennard dipped her toes in first, with a summer 2020 pop-up at the Marram hotel in Montauk. She describes it as, “almost like a little kiosk, with like 80 outdoor seats on a big terrace overlooking the ocean.”

As the summer was ending, Il Buco team members told her they were happy out east. An acquaintance had offered to show Ms. Lennard a space in Amagansett more than once, and she had declined.

“We had about a dozen people working in Montauk, and they said, ‘let’s just go see the space in Amagansett,’” she said. “So we did, and everybody loved it, and we made an offer, and they rejected our offer. So I was like, phew!”

Come January, Ms. Lennard had the same acquaintances over for drinks in front of a fire. She asked who had taken the place and found out the deal had fallen through. By Memorial Day 2021, Il Buco al Mare was open for business in Amagansett.

Ms. Lennard has definitely warmed up to the new location. “From kicking and screaming, I’ve really embraced it.”

Weill Cornell Medicine — Southampton

“It’s a natural progression, I think, that in the last couple of years a lot of medical buildings have been popping up,” said Aaron Curti, the Douglas Elliman broker who leased space to Weill Cornell Medicine to open a clinic last summer.

Mr. Curti, who has lived on the East End year round for 25 years, said that as the Hamptons has transitioned into a full-time community for many of its residents, full-service medical facilities were sorely needed.

During the pandemic, he added, Weill Cornell learned that a lot of their doctors and employees also had houses in the area.

The clinic, which fills 4,000 square feet of space on the very-visible corner of Montauk Highway and Flying Point Road, was designed to promote patient and staff wellness while honoring the natural elements of the location, said Emil Martone, the organization’s director of design and construction in capital planning.

The new practice is specializing in primary care — internal and family medicine care — and reproductive medicine. Weill Cornell Medicine plans to offer additional specialties as needed, potentially including dermatology and cardiology, according to a representative for the organization.

Kissaki — Watermill

At Kissaki, a Manhattan restaurant that opened a Watermill location in June 2020, the omakase counter experience can cost about $100 per person or more. But pricing varies based on location.

“I’m sure that not every person who lives in Southampton is interested in paying $200 a person to eat out at dinner,” said Justin Marquez, the director of operations at the restaurant. “There’s probably a little bit of a push-and-pull with the locals about just what’s reasonable everyday dining.”

The need to adapt is familiar to the Kissaki team. The first Kissaki location, in Manhattan, opened in January 2020 and closed in March — “along with the rest of the city,” said Mr. Marquez. The owner and chef partner pivoted, building a successful to-go business. They decided to open a branch of Kissaki in the Hamptons for a number of reasons, including dropping rents in the area.

“By June of 2020, there were plenty of Hamptons landlords that were willing to be more flexible on price,” he said.

Kissaki, which also opened “O by Kissaki” in East Hampton in August 2021, is working on its flexibility, too.

“In order to be good partners to the local community, we are aggressively re-evaluating our price structure in order to make sure that we’re not just there for the high season and to take advantage of the tourists, but that we’re there as a good partner providing a good quality product year round,” Mr. Marquez said.

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With the serene beaches of the Hamptons soon 3,500 feet below his box-fresh white sneakers, Rob Weisenthal, the chief executive of Blade, a by-the-seat helicopter charter company, boasted how the service could slice above the slog of the Long Island Expressway. A New Yorker can go from Manhattan to East Hampton in 40 minutes, better than the expressway’s two-and-a-half hours — or sometimes six — with traffic.

“This is a game changer,”

With the serene beaches of the Hamptons soon 3,500 feet below his box-fresh white sneakers, Rob Weisenthal, the chief executive of Blade, a by-the-seat helicopter charter company, boasted how the service could slice above the slog of the Long Island Expressway. A New Yorker can go from Manhattan to East Hampton in 40 minutes, better than the expressway’s two-and-a-half hours — or sometimes six — with traffic.

“This is a game changer,” Mr. Weisenthal said. Except his noise-canceling headset was not working, and not a word could be heard over the roar. He found another. “This is a game changer,” he said again, into the mic

Loud, fast, pay-per-seat helicopters have indeed changed commuting to the Hamptons for a growing number of people wealthy enough to spend upward of $700 one way for the convenience of zipping to the beach. But as more of the aircraft whir over the dunes, they have also changed a way of life on the ground, according to some people who live beneath their flight path. They say the helicopters’ blades rattle windows on the shingle-style mansions below, destroying property values as their growl forces poolside guests to shout across their cocktails.

Now the aircraft are behind another transformation of the town: Effective May 17, the East Hampton municipal airport will close after 85 years of operation. On May 19, the town will reopen the airport as a private-use facility; it can impose curfews and sharply curtail the number of flights. It was the result of residents below the path of the choppers making their own kind of noise: In 2020, with flights limited by the pandemic, complaints still poured in, including from those two households that complained a combined 4,638 times that season.

The closure of the airport marks the zenith of a longtime air-vs-ground battle that grew increasingly pitched in recent years as shareable helicopters expanded, boosted by a pandemic rush to sequester in the Hamptons. Two decades ago the town took the unusual step of declining federal grant money for the airport in an effort to eventually regain local control; last year that money ran out, giving way for more local control and restrictions by the Town of East Hampton.

Even so, as the summer high season looms, the din is far from quieting down: Arguing that the airport supports the fragile, summertime economy, aircraft enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, as well as residents afraid that fleets of aircraft will divert to tiny landing strips in their neighborhoods, such as in Montauk, have hit East Hampton Town with several lawsuits.

Video ads featuring beloved local shopkeepers supporting the airport for drawing needed business to the area pepper social media, while plans for grass-roots campaigns to drive up noise complaints (and thus the case for closure) hatch in inboxes. Yard signs beseeching passers-by to either save or shut down East Hampton Airport seem as ubiquitous in the Hamptons as hedgerow.

All sides say selfishness (by others, not them) is to blame. Residents below the routes say they are besieged by egocentric helicopter and private jet passengers who don’t care about the toll their commute takes. They are rebutted by an unusual coalition of inconvenienced highfliers whose fun they are ruining, and salt-of-the-earth locals concerned for their businesses. They say a coterie of those privileged enough to own Hamptons real estate have taken down a municipal good in the name of their personal piece and quiet.

“There are those who feel like the airport is serving a small group of people, and impacting negatively a large group of people, and there are people who feel the opposite,” said Jay Schneiderman, the supervisor of the town of Southampton, parts of which the aircraft pass over, loudly.

“Both sides are right in some respects: Yes, the airport has been here a long time, but it has changed, aircraft have changed, flight patterns have changed,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “It’s not really the same airport that it was.”

Before the pandemic, in 2019, about 30,000 flights took off or landed at East Hampton airport, according to data provided by the town. Though helicopters have made up less than a third of the flights, which include turboprop planes and jets, they routinely stir more than 50 percent of complaints, according to a study commissioned by the town. A spokesman for Blade would not disclose how many flights it deploys to or from the airport. Via email, NetJets, a charter and shared jet service, declined to comment for this article, or provide the number of flights.

Dan Rattiner, the founder of the local newsmagazine, “Dan’s Papers,” saw a bigger picture emerging when the town first held an abortive competition to bring a slick, world-class facility to its roughly 600-acre plot in the late 1980s. The issue goes beyond the airport, he said, to frictions over the changed identity of the Hamptons over the past decades; it has gone from elite seaside hideaway to glitz-stuffed scene.

“We went from wanting to get more and more people out here visiting, and more and more income, and more well-to-do money to save the place,” said Mr. Rattiner, who has lived in the Hamptons since 1955. “Well, that happened. Now the problem is, are we going to lose what they came out here to see — the windmills, the beautiful vistas, the sunsets, the beaches, the quiet?”

The issue has Shane Dyckman torn. The owner of Flying Point Surf School and Sagtown, a coffee shop in Sag Harbor, Mr. Dyckman appeared in a pro-airport ad sponsored by Blade (he was not compensated, he said). “The billionaires are definitely flying out in their Gulfstreams, the millionaires are taking the helicopters, and the locals have always been committed to having the airport there,” he said in an interview.

But after the venom he received from some customers over their lattes at Sagtown, he said he now regrets speaking out, and is for some limits. “It possibly got a little out of control, what hasn’t?” Mr. Dyckman said in an interview, of the airport. And for that matter, so have beach parking, the lines at the supermarkets and the traffic on Route 27, he added, “Have you driven here in the summer?”

John Kirrane, who retired from financial services, lives full time in the hamlet of Noyack underneath a route the aircraft take to the airport. “To take a helicopter from Manhattan to East Hampton because you didn’t want to spend the extra hour on a train or a bus or in an Uber, it seems like it is not really being appreciative of what we have out here,” said Mr. Kirrane, 65.

But Blade was selling that convenience in 2014 when it introduced its shared helicopters as an alternative to inching Out East on the L.I.E., or jammed into standing-room-only Long Island Rail Road cars. (A spokesman for NetJets would not say when NetJets began operating its East Hampton service.) In 2015, there were about 19,000 complaints from early July to the end of September according to HMMH, a Massachusetts-based transportation planning consultancy hired by East Hampton town to study the issue.

By 2019 complaints for the same time period had skyrocketed to about 47,000. The deluge of complaints that summer came from just 553 households, mostly along the flight paths, according to the study.

John Cullen, 62, an investor who lives in Jamesport, in the town of Riverhead, is one of those frequent complainers. On summer weekends, he averaged about eight a day, he said, when more than 100 aircraft skimmed over his home on a daily basis. Although it is on the North Fork of Long Island, separated by over 20 miles and Peconic Bay from the airport, it lay under a common flight path from Manhattan.

Though supporters of the airport say Mr. Cullen and a minority of residents are unfairly loading the dice for closure, Mr. Cullen said the low number of households complaining is not reflective of how many people are affected, just that few bother or know how to report.

Last year, in response to the outcry, many helicopter pilots switched predominantly to a route that skips Mr. Cullen’s house, instead flying over the Atlantic Ocean before hanging a left westward over the estates of Georgica Pond in East Hampton. (Mr. Weisenthal of Blade notes that few complaints seem to originate there, where people like Steven Spielberg and Ronald Perelman have owned homes — and private jets.)

Under quieter skies, Mr. Cullen said he still calls in three to five noise complaints daily. “I want to stick with them,” Mr. Cullen said. “I have been relieved of the pain, but the pain was awful.”

Whether helicopters buzzing over the Eastern white pines, or jet rumbles competing with cawing cormorants actually impacts the value of a property as some have claimed, seems unlikely, said Paul Brennan, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman. Particularly in light of the pandemic, he added, which escalated demand for Hamptons housing — wherever it is.

“We have houses on the highway that are selling like hot cakes, whereas before no one would touch them,” Mr. Brennan said. “Does the airport affect the value of property? No. Does it affect the quality of life? Yes,.”

On both sides of the tarmac is an immense amount of wealth, a situation that has led some to frame the dispute as the one percent vs the two percent: millionaires (the visitor who can shell out hundreds for a helicopter seat) vs. billionaires (the Hamptons landed gentry they buzz above).

It is a characterization that some people on both sides deflect: In the shut-it-down camp, many insist it isn’t just about their garden parties being ruined, but their concerns for the environment — even as they urge people to sit in L.I.E. traffic instead.

Mr. Kirrane said it was not who was flying that bothered him, but what he perceives as disregard for those trying to enjoy the osprey and sand dunes below. “It’s that whole issue of ‘my hour is more important than the hundreds of hours of disruption for the people below me,’” he said.

For Andy Sabin, 76, a resident of the hamlet of Amagansett who owns an international metals company and has shares in three private jets, the wealth of those flying is part of why the airport is a vital economic driver that must be saved.

“People are going to get here one way or another,” said Mr. Sabin, who is also a philanthropist and who has joined one of the lawsuits before Suffolk County Supreme Court seeking to stop the closure of the municipal airport. He has spent his own money on pro-airport ads in the local papers. “A lot of the wealthier community, we provide the jobs, everything from the dishwashers to the construction guy, the farmers to the landscapers to the weeders. Where do you think their jobs come from?”

In an interview, Mr. Weisenthal of Blade distanced his company from wealth and compared his shared helicopter fleet to mass transit, even airborne city buses. He said that he declined a request for Blade to appear in the T.V. show “Succession,” about a dysfunctional and fabulously wealthy Hamptons family to avoid any taint of excess. “That’s not a look we want,” he said.

A spokeswoman for HBO could not confirm the interaction, but did confirm that Blade does not appear on the show.

Mr. Weisenthal said he wants to be a good neighbor. Blade says it has plans to engage a future fleet of what are known as Electric Vertical Aircraft, nearly noiseless electric craft.

But above it all — quite literally — on a recent Thursday, Mr. Weisenthal sat in a Bell 407 helicopter and said that despite the commotion on the ground, he was planning for his company’s busiest summer yet. If East Hampton airport is mostly out of the picture, there’s always the helipad in Southampton Village, Montauk Airport and Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach.

Plus, who needs an airport? Blade is already landing seaplanes in Peconic Bay.

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Timothy Godbold, an interior designer based in Southampton, used to just be an enthusiastic fan of the angular modernist homes perched atop dunes near his house. And, sometimes, when he discovered an early architectural gem that really excited him, he’d share a photo with his followers on Instagram.

But in March 2020, after he posted an image of a home designed by the architect Norman Jaffe in 1977, known as the Lloyds House, a fellow designer

Timothy Godbold, an interior designer based in Southampton, used to just be an enthusiastic fan of the angular modernist homes perched atop dunes near his house. And, sometimes, when he discovered an early architectural gem that really excited him, he’d share a photo with his followers on Instagram.

But in March 2020, after he posted an image of a home designed by the architect Norman Jaffe in 1977, known as the Lloyds House, a fellow designer responded with a comment that stunned him: “He was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we knocked that one down a couple of years ago,’” said Mr. Godbold, who believed the Jaffe house was a masterwork.

Mr. Godbold said he began looking for a preservation group that was working to prevent similar tear-downs in the future, “thinking there had to be, like, 20 nonprofit conservancies out here, like a Norman Jaffe conservancy and a midcentury conservancy, and that I could just add my name and give them a few hundred bucks a year,.”

But he quickly learned there was no such group to join. Even worse, many important homes were already gone and more were being routinely demolished to make way for sprawling new mansions, he learned from Alastair Gordon, a journalist, author and curator who has spent much of his career chronicling Hamptons architecture in books, including “Weekend Utopia” in 2001 and “Romantic Architect: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe, Architect” in 2005.

As Mr. Jaffe’s son, Miles Jaffe, described it: “Norman is a big part of the non-preservation story. Very little of what he designed remains, and what does is often butchered.”

Mr. Godbold decided he couldn’t just let it drop and, somewhat reluctantly, took up the mantle of Hamptons preservationist. By June 2020, he had started Hamptons 20 Century Modern, an organization that began as an Instagram account and website dedicated to showcasing 20th century modern architecture in the Hamptons, but quickly evolved into a registered nonprofit undertaking a wider range of activities.

Over the past year and a half, Mr. Godbold has given presentations and organized panel discussions on modern architecture in the Hamptons. He has promoted real estate listings for modern homes on his Instagram feed in hopes of finding sympathetic buyers and has begun organizing dinners for owners of Hamptons houses designed by notable architects (the first one, last September, was for owners of houses designed by Andrew Geller).

In partnership with Hamptons Cottages & Gardens, he has also organized a modernist home tour for Aug. 14, which he hopes will grow into a multiday event in future years.

“My goal is to create something like Palm Springs’ Modernism Week,” Mr. Godbold said, which celebrates that city’s design history with a wide range of tours, lectures and other events that attract throngs of tourists every year.

“These houses need marketing and P.R., so that people know about them, respect them, admire them and want to conserve them,” he said. “Unless people know about them, it’s not going to happen. They’re just going to disappear.”

Last summer, he had the opportunity to put this theory to a test.

Orest Bliss, the owner of a Jaffe-designed oceanfront house at 88 Meadow Lane in the village of Southampton, was seeking permission to demolish the house built in the late 1970s that featured a bold triangular roofline.

Before making a decision, the village’s Board of Architectural Review & Historic Preservation commissioned Mr. Gordon, the journalist, to write a report on the historical significance of the property. When Mr. Godbold heard about what was afoot, he urged his social media followers (at present, Hamptons 20 Century Modern has no official membership and instead consists of a loose group of interested parties) to write letters to express their alarm.

Paul Goldberger, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former architecture critic of The New York Times, wrote one letter. Mr. Goldberger’s 1986 book, “The Houses of the Hamptons,” had been an inspiration for Mr. Godbold. Sarah Kautz, the preservation director at Preservation Long Island wrote another. So did the artist Daniel Arsham, who owns a Jaffe-designed house just outside of the Hamptons.

“The fact that there’s no protection for these places is baffling to me, considering that Jaffe had a major retrospective of his work at the Parrish Art Museum, which is only a few miles from this house,” Mr. Arsham said in an interview (the 2005 exhibition was curated by Mr. Gordon). “If it’s celebrated locally in the community and museums, how is that not something worth saving?”

After writing his own letter, Mr. Arsham appealed to his Instagram followers for more. “I posted on my account about what was going on and encouraged my followers to write letters,” he said. “I think hundreds of them did.”

In December, the village board voted to deny a certificate that would have allowed demolition of the house, effectively preserving it, for now.

Ironically, when Mr. Jaffe originally presented his design for the house in 1978, village officials, upset by its avant-garde form, required that landscaping be maintained around the structure “in perpetuity” to obscure it; now, that same design has been recognized as something worth saving.

Of course, the decision involves only one house by one architect. Numerous other structures haven’t been so fortunate, which is why Mr. Godbold is equally interested in celebrating buildings by a wide range of other architects who worked in the Hamptons, including Peter Blake, Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel, Myron Goldfinger and Julian and Barbara Neski.

One of the big challenges when it comes to preserving modern buildings is that many municipalities are ill-equipped to consider such recent structures, said Ms. Kautz at Preservation Long Island, because they were newly built, or nonexistent, when the big push to complete historic building surveys occurred after the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Those surveys, she added, typically looked at buildings that were at least 50 years old.

“If you did a survey in the 1970s, that’s going to put you into the 1920s, so you’re not even going to get close to this modernist stuff,” she said. “We need to look and see what’s out there. We need to catch up.”

But as property values in the Hamptons have skyrocketed, many modern houses are being torn down before they even have a chance to grow old.

“Great midcentury houses that are relatively modest but on fantastic sites are being snapped up, torn down and turned into McMansions,” Mr. Goldberger said. “It’s all about the land, unfortunately.”

Mr. Goldberger lamented the loss of innovative early modern houses, including a home that the celebrated French architect Pierre Chareau completed for the artist Robert Motherwell in East Hampton in 1946, and Philip Johnson’s Farney House in Sagaponack, completed in 1947.

Yes, early modern homes were frequently small, cheaply built and designed as summer escapes, he allowed, but there are still ways to preserve the most remarkable ones, even for moneyed buyers who now want expansive estates.

One option is to keep the original structure as a guesthouse or studio and build bigger next to it, like CookFox Architects recently did when it moved and restored Mr. Geller’s 1959 double-diamond Pearlroth house in Westhampton Beach to make way for a new, larger house on the same property. Or, it’s possible to restore, update and expand in a sensitive manner, like Roger Ferris + Partners recently did for a family that purchased a 1980 Jaffe-designed house in Bridgehampton.

But size isn’t everything, and Mr. Goldberger has been disappointed to see even large, recently built houses crumble under the excavator’s shovel, including ones designed by Mr. Jaffe and Mr. Gwathmey.

“There is such an incredible tradition of modernism there that is just being both literally and figuratively run over by money,” Mr. Goldberger said.

With so much 20th century architectural history being lost, Mr. Gordon said the Hamptons is at something of a crossroads. “The question is: Do you want your community to be just reflective of this great wealth that has come over eastern Long Island in the last 20 years, or do you want to somehow retain a diversity and a mixture of not just economic, but also architectural approaches?” he said. “I think a culturally rich community wants diversity.”

Mr. Godbold hopes more people will soon agree. “Maybe one day there won’t be any reason for me to jump up and down about these houses because everybody else will love them again,” he said. “But until then, I’ll just wave the flag as much as I can.”

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On the reservation of the Shinnecock Nation, about three miles west of Southampton Village, stands a house that is half-painted a juicy, glossy red. A circular sculpture — a mandala — composed of seashells collected from Hamptons beaches, lies near the front door, where it is disturbed only occasionally by deer or a wayward UPS delivery truck.

This is Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, founded last August by Jeremy Dennis, a fine-art photographer

On the reservation of the Shinnecock Nation, about three miles west of Southampton Village, stands a house that is half-painted a juicy, glossy red. A circular sculpture — a mandala — composed of seashells collected from Hamptons beaches, lies near the front door, where it is disturbed only occasionally by deer or a wayward UPS delivery truck.

This is Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, founded last August by Jeremy Dennis, a fine-art photographer and Shinnecock Nation tribe member. Mr. Dennis grew up and currently lives in the building, one of roughly 660 residents of the 800-acre reservation. Through donations, sweat equity and the kindness of handy relatives, he has transformed the house into a retreat, educational center and showcase for artists of color. But he still has work to do.

“We’re maybe halfway there,” he said about the renovation project.

The “Ma” of Ma’s House is Mr. Dennis’s grandmother, Loretta A. Silva, who died in 1998 at the age of 78. Built in the 1960s by her then-husband, Peter Silva (they later divorced), with wood collected from a demolished 1845 church building, the property started off as a single room and grew incrementally as it absorbed three generations of family members. Ms. Silva raised six children there, including Mr. Dennis’s mother, Denise Silva-Dennis, who became a multidisciplinary artist and teacher. Mr. Dennis, 31, lived there from birth until the age of 13, when he moved with his parents and older sister, Kelly, to another house on the reservation.

Before Ms. Silva died, she told her daughter that she wished that her home could be turned into a museum that preserved memories of her family and Native American heritage.

More than 20 years later, Ma’s House not only hosts lively exhibitions, workshops and game nights, but its residency program brings BIPOC artists to the reservation for a month at a time to do projects based on some aspect of Shinnecock culture.

Works by the 11 artists-in-residence to date are displayed throughout Ma’s House and grounds. The mandala, for instance, is by the Jamaican-born Pamella Allen, who arrived in October 2021. The whelk shells refer to the source material of traditional Shinnecock jewelry.

Mr. Dennis’s own artwork also concentrates on indigenous themes. Some of his digital photographs show men and women in stereotypical Plains Indian-style deerskin and beads bumping up against contemporary Hamptons people. In another project, he documented Long Island sites infused with Native American importance.

“Jeremy’s work explores the cultural significance of the Shinnecock Nation’s history in the Hamptons,” said Yaya Reyes, the founder of Art & Soul: Hamptons, a weekend festival celebrating BIPOC artists that opens on July 22. (Mr. Dennis will lead a private tour of Ma’s House on July 24.)

When Mr. Dennis first conceived Ma’s House, in 2020, as he was grounded by the pandemic, the building had been abandoned for several years and was decrepit. It gave off a “wet-dog” smell, he recalled, which turned out to be from a colony of squirrels nesting above the first-floor ceiling among acorn hoards.

Despite its terrible condition, he believed $50,000 would bring it back to life, given that he and his father, Avery Dennis, Jr., a builder, would do most of the work. About 400 donors contributed to a fund-raising campaign that brought in close to that amount. But Mr. Dennis soon learned that replacing the plumbing, which was on the brink of catastrophe, would eat the entire budget. A home improvement loan was out of the question — in cases of default, banks are forbidden from seizing collateral on Shinnecock land, effectively redlining the community. Mr. Dennis dug into his own pockets to make essential repairs and many cosmetic ones. So far, renovation costs have totaled about $130,000, he said.

But now the original 1960s front portion has new flooring and fresh drywall for displaying art. The corner kitchen has been remodeled and contains a little gift shop. An enclosed summer porch is a dining niche. And that metal pole in the middle of the living room is for structural support? Not exactly, Mr. Dennis said: It is for aerobic exercises performed by his live-in girlfriend, Brianna Lynn Hernández Baurichter, a multidisciplinary artist whose primary subject is grief. Visiting children love it, he added.

Double glass doors lead to a rear portion with an art-bedecked hallway dedicated to Shinnecock and family history. On the second floor is the residency room, its walls hung with colorful abstractions painted by Yanyan Huang (July 2021), based on the contours of Long Island and Shinnecock ancestral lands. Bookcases are filled with volumes on Native American history, anthropology and culture donated by the public library in nearby Sag Harbor.

The books continue into a little office that was Mr. Dennis’s childhood bedroom. It is furnished with a computer, a printer, a plaster bust of his father that Mr. Dennis made as a college art project and Ms. Hernandez’s Día de los Muertos altar paying tribute to departed relatives.

On the third floor, under the roof gable, is a large space that was Mrs. Silva’s bedroom and is now Ms. Hernández Baurichter’s studio. The light-soaked room with treetop views has somewhat uneven, blue-painted floors, giving it an oceangoing feeling as much as the quality of an aerie. “Apparently my grandfather Peter never used levels,” Mr. Dennis said. “You always feel like you’re leaning.”

Ma’s House also has a walkout basement that is being fixed up for visiting artists to use as studio space. (Family photos show it crammed with cousins during Christmas celebrations.) A few steps below that is a subbasement where Mr. Dennis had been horrified to find the remains of an uncle’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle, not to mention a 700-pound rusted iron furnace that required a small army of relatives to remove. The dirt floor was covered with cement, and the room now holds gym equipment.

A tour of the tree-studded surroundings came with a warning to watch out for ticks. Chickens will arrive later this year to eat them, but for now Mr. Dennis led the way gingerly to a pair of beehives in back of the house. The hives (and two years of beekeeping services) were a gift from Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd band founder, who lives in Southampton and has financially assisted the Shinnecock Nation through recent struggles with New York State.

Nearby, raised garden beds were being prepped for seedlings delivered by Sarah Chien, a dancer who recently moved from Brooklyn to work on Quail Hill Farm, in Amagansett. Ms. Chien hugged a box with surplus herbs and greens. “A lot of kale, celery. Winter savory? I don’t know. You’ll have to smell it and get used to it,” she told Mr. Dennis. “Thyme, chives, lettuce.” She lifted a little pot.

“And some very sad collards I think you could nurse back to health.”

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In the shadow of the oldest lighthouse in New York, summer in the Hamptons and Montauk once meant strawberry ice cream cones from a mom-and-pop shop, and Necco wafers and Pop Rocks from a candy store known for its fudge. For locals, an influx of new faces would wane at the onset of autumn.

By the winter, commercial areas sat speckled with darkened storefronts as vacationers retreated to New York City boroughs and beyond. Snow would blanket a

In the shadow of the oldest lighthouse in New York, summer in the Hamptons and Montauk once meant strawberry ice cream cones from a mom-and-pop shop, and Necco wafers and Pop Rocks from a candy store known for its fudge. For locals, an influx of new faces would wane at the onset of autumn.

By the winter, commercial areas sat speckled with darkened storefronts as vacationers retreated to New York City boroughs and beyond. Snow would blanket a softened East End landscape, tucking its year-round residents in for a season all their own.

“That dichotomy of life is kind of over,” said Jason Biondo, 47, a lifelong Montauk resident and local builder who retrofitted the lighthouse keeper’s quarters several years back.

Confronted with the pandemic, much of the summer crowd that fled from Manhattan to the Hamptons has remained, and the residential real estate swell has sparked commercial change. From health care to dining, new businesses have popped up in the Hamptons. While more health care facilities are welcome, there are mixed feelings about some of the new restaurants.

“I could probably count on one hand, the places between East Hampton, Amagansett, Montauk and Springs, that’s a really affordable place to take all your kids out to dinner where you’re not dropping 300 bucks,” Mr. Biondo said. “I’m not complaining, because I’m also reaping the benefits as a builder, right? So I’m not going to bite the hand that feeds me; but it’s impossible to ignore the elephant in the room.”

From April 2010 to April 2021, the population of the town of East Hampton, which includes the hamlet of Montauk, climbed from 21,457 to 28,385, a 32 percent increase, according to U.S. census data. In Southampton, the population rose about 22 percent, from 56,790 to 69,036, in the same time frame.

The New York Times talked to major hospitals and small business owners about their decision to follow people to the summer resort area.

N.Y.U. Langone Health Medical Associates — Bridgehampton

N.Y.U. Langone Health has a Westhampton facility in the works, after opening a 3,500-foot ambulatory care facility in Bridgehampton in May 2021.

“We really saw the opportunity out there way before the pandemic, and we thought there was a real need for quality health care on the East End of Long Island,” said Vicki Match Suna, the executive vice president and vice dean for real estate development and facilities at N.Y.U. Langone Health.

The hospital’s Bridgehampton lease, on a prominent corner along the Bridgehampton part of Montauk Highway, began in June 2019.

“Most of what’s available is small, retail kinds of spaces, which really didn’t work for us and our use; so there was limited availability and it did take some time for us to locate a site that we thought could work for our needs,” Ms. Suna said.

At the Bridgehampton facility, N.Y.U. Langone Health tried to integrate the area’s culture: Interior walls are decorated with art made by local artists. Accent pieces are made of driftwood, sea glass, and other local materials native to the beachside community.

Poppy Heart — Montauk

Tiffany LaBanca-Madarasz saw a “For Lease” sign on a Montauk storefront that for decades housed the toy store, “A Little Bit of Everything,” and took the opportunity to open a business of her own in July 2021. Poppy Heart is a shop, a cafe, a gallery, and an art studio — a one-stop shop for creativity and community and a pivot for Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz, who worked as the head of employee communications and engagement for PayPal for two years following 25 years in the communications industry.

Though she raised her two children in Manhattan, Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz said her family rented a house every summer in Montauk.

“I rented when my kids were growing, every summer, so it’s always been in the back of our minds, like, ‘This is our happy place, this is where we’ll eventually come full time,’” Ms. LaBanca-Madarasz said. “With Covid and the kids going to college, we thought, ‘let’s accelerate that plan and see if we could actually buy a home.’”

She said turning 50 gave her some new perspective. “I was really ready for something bigger, and more interesting, and entrepreneurial, and Poppy Heart was born.”

Poppy Heart provides consistency in an area accustomed to a seasonal cadence. “There really isn’t a lot to do in Montauk, particularly in the off season, and on rainy days, so I built it for Montauk,” she said. “You can paint pottery, you can paint canvases, you can play with clay, you can make jewelry.”

One section of the store is called “A Little Bit of Everything,” and sells nostalgic toys to pay homage to her predecessor.

Il Buco al Mare — Montauk

As an established restaurant owner, Donna Lennard resisted bringing Il Buco al Mare to the Hamptons for years. The right opportunity presented itself, however, when the pandemic did.

“It was definitely not in the works before then,” Ms. Lennard said of the pandemic, insisting that she still didn’t want to operate a restaurant in the same place that she owned a country house. “It was feet in the mud, intractable Donna, no way, no how am I ever going to have a restaurant where I go to relax.”

Ms. Lennard dipped her toes in first, with a summer 2020 pop-up at the Marram hotel in Montauk. She describes it as, “almost like a little kiosk, with like 80 outdoor seats on a big terrace overlooking the ocean.”

As the summer was ending, Il Buco team members told her they were happy out east. An acquaintance had offered to show Ms. Lennard a space in Amagansett more than once, and she had declined.

“We had about a dozen people working in Montauk, and they said, ‘let’s just go see the space in Amagansett,’” she said. “So we did, and everybody loved it, and we made an offer, and they rejected our offer. So I was like, phew!”

Come January, Ms. Lennard had the same acquaintances over for drinks in front of a fire. She asked who had taken the place and found out the deal had fallen through. By Memorial Day 2021, Il Buco al Mare was open for business in Amagansett.

Ms. Lennard has definitely warmed up to the new location. “From kicking and screaming, I’ve really embraced it.”

Weill Cornell Medicine — Southampton

“It’s a natural progression, I think, that in the last couple of years a lot of medical buildings have been popping up,” said Aaron Curti, the Douglas Elliman broker who leased space to Weill Cornell Medicine to open a clinic last summer.

Mr. Curti, who has lived on the East End year round for 25 years, said that as the Hamptons has transitioned into a full-time community for many of its residents, full-service medical facilities were sorely needed.

During the pandemic, he added, Weill Cornell learned that a lot of their doctors and employees also had houses in the area.

The clinic, which fills 4,000 square feet of space on the very-visible corner of Montauk Highway and Flying Point Road, was designed to promote patient and staff wellness while honoring the natural elements of the location, said Emil Martone, the organization’s director of design and construction in capital planning.

The new practice is specializing in primary care — internal and family medicine care — and reproductive medicine. Weill Cornell Medicine plans to offer additional specialties as needed, potentially including dermatology and cardiology, according to a representative for the organization.

Kissaki — Watermill

At Kissaki, a Manhattan restaurant that opened a Watermill location in June 2020, the omakase counter experience can cost about $100 per person or more. But pricing varies based on location.

“I’m sure that not every person who lives in Southampton is interested in paying $200 a person to eat out at dinner,” said Justin Marquez, the director of operations at the restaurant. “There’s probably a little bit of a push-and-pull with the locals about just what’s reasonable everyday dining.”

The need to adapt is familiar to the Kissaki team. The first Kissaki location, in Manhattan, opened in January 2020 and closed in March — “along with the rest of the city,” said Mr. Marquez. The owner and chef partner pivoted, building a successful to-go business. They decided to open a branch of Kissaki in the Hamptons for a number of reasons, including dropping rents in the area.

“By June of 2020, there were plenty of Hamptons landlords that were willing to be more flexible on price,” he said.

Kissaki, which also opened “O by Kissaki” in East Hampton in August 2021, is working on its flexibility, too.

“In order to be good partners to the local community, we are aggressively re-evaluating our price structure in order to make sure that we’re not just there for the high season and to take advantage of the tourists, but that we’re there as a good partner providing a good quality product year round,” Mr. Marquez said.

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Born and raised in Southampton, JB Andreassi knows the area’s polarity when it comes to the seasons: summer and not summer.

Mr. Andreassi, 31, is a broker and builder, selling and developing real estate in the Hamptons, known for its resort towns and waterfront homes. He is an agent for Nest Seekers and is part of the cast of “Selling the Hamptons” on Discovery+, and formerly on the Netflix show “Million Dollar Beach House.” Season

Born and raised in Southampton, JB Andreassi knows the area’s polarity when it comes to the seasons: summer and not summer.

Mr. Andreassi, 31, is a broker and builder, selling and developing real estate in the Hamptons, known for its resort towns and waterfront homes. He is an agent for Nest Seekers and is part of the cast of “Selling the Hamptons” on Discovery+, and formerly on the Netflix show “Million Dollar Beach House.” Season 2 of “Selling the Hamptons” is scheduled to begin filming in June.

He is also a co-principal in the residential luxury development company Andreassi Development, where he works alongside his brother and their father who is a longtime local developer.

That makes him a local who knows how critical those hot summer days are to the towns’ economy and how real estate ebbs and flows as sure as the tide. He recently spoke about his job, the state of Hamptons real estate and his ties to the area. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Tell me how you got into real estate. Your dad was in the business, right?

I just grew up around it. I grew up being on bulldozers, I grew up swinging a hammer. My dad (Joseph B. Andreassi, Jr.) built the library in Southampton back in the late ‘90s; and SYS (Southampton Youth Services), which is a big, 55,000-square-foot athletic facility. He did a lot for the town, for the local community, and he also built homes.

When you get a little older, you wonder, “Who’s living here? Who’s purchasing this?” And you learn, “Oh, this is a community for some of the most successful people in the world, that are lucky enough or successful enough to come and buy a second or third home out here.” I was always fascinated with that lifestyle, because we did not grow up that way.

Which current trends have you noticed while selling?

I’ve seen pushes to places that were never really considered Hamptons, but maybe are now, or are in that general area. Places like Westhampton Beach and Remsenburg, compared to Sag Harbor, East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Southampton, didn’t get as much love five or so years ago. Now, it’s one of the hottest trading areas out here.

The North Fork isn’t the Hamptons, but it’s very close to the Hamptons. It’s a place that has really beautiful landscapes, the sound to the north, gorgeous wineries; it just hasn’t been developed as much as the Hamptons. I’m seeing people start to really consider living and investing there.

Do you have any sense of why that is happening?

Lack of inventory. It’s simple economics, supply and demand. It’s like we have no properties to sell, we have a lot of buyers, and of the properties that are selling, the pricing is inflated. Sellers are getting really wild numbers because they know they can, the inventory’s razor thin, and there’s still a very large contingent of people who want a piece of the Hamptons.

Are buyers asking you for anything specific lately?

Indoor-outdoor living. And they want everything centralized inside their home, if they’re able to do that. Having an extra office space has become vital in a purchase for most of my clients; same thing with space for a gym, whether it’s a pool house where they can put a Peloton or something similar. Solar paneling is also a big one that has hit over the last three to four years.

Which trends have you noticed in the rental space?

The rental client is often just someone who’s going to buy in like three years, kind of testing it out, seeing if the Hamptons is for them. I’m seeing a lot of people my age who are looking for a full-year rental, and have to pay way too much money for it.

I know it’s not part of the Hamptons’ identity, but I think there should be more buildings that are more affordable, because there are a lot of people looking for housing who have to commute into the Hamptons to work every day.

We call it the trade parade, because it’s a lot of tradesmen that are coming out to help build the homes out there. The line starts at 6 a.m., trying to cross the Shinnecock Canal to get into Southampton, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Montauk. But there are so many people, I don’t even know where you’d put them, so it’s almost like you have to commute in. With gas prices over $5 a gallon, I don’t know how sustainable that is for a lot of people who rely on their next paycheck to get by.

How would you describe the Hamptons real estate market?

It used to be a secondary market, and it’s becoming a primary market now. Properties that used to sit on the market for six months to a year are now going within a month. If you’re coming in to buy, you need to be prepared and have conviction. If you find the right thing, you’ve got to pull the trigger.

How does “Selling the Hamptons” compare to “Million Dollar Beach House?”

On “Selling the Hamptons,” we’re showing the pandemic style of really high-paced, highly active buyers, investors. It’s more of us being experienced in what we do, more real estate, more homes. The other thing is, we actually show the Hamptons. We show local places, like the barbershop — the kids who run that barbershop grew up in East Hampton — and Hill Street boxing, founded by a local Southampton kid. I love that we’re bringing exposure to places like Golden Pear cafe, the mom-and-pop shops that make the Hamptons so distinct. That’s something I was really proud of with “Selling the Hamptons” compared to the other show.

Is the show good for business?

A lot of your business doesn’t make TV, and you’ll be doing a scene, it takes four hours; you get back to your phone and the people are like, “JB, where are you, what are you doing?” You say, “Oh, I’m shooting the show,” and they’re like, “That’s great, I’m happy for you, but we’ve got to get this deal done.”

A lot of my clients understand, and they come to me because of the TV thing. But I’ve lost business because of it, because I couldn’t give them the attention they needed. We try to make it work, find the balance. I’m getting better with it, but it’s challenging.

Are there properties available for under $1 million?

They’re hard to find; they’re in certain areas. Springs could be an area where you could find something like that. Hampton Bays, East Quogue. And that’s really it. It’s slim pickings.

What are the most and least expensive houses you’ve sold?

$20 million. It was listed for $20 million, sold for pretty damn close to that. The least expensive was $810,000, sold to a friend, in Springs.

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Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Elmsford, N.Y.: a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath home, built in 1893 and later renovated and expanded, with 4,225 square feet, three fireplaces, a sunroom, a sunken family room, formal living and dining rooms, several stone patios, a finished lower level with a wine room, a detached two-car garage and a potting shed, on 1.3 acres abutting the Knollwood Country Club golf

Click on the slide show to see this week’s featured properties:

In Elmsford, N.Y.: a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath home, built in 1893 and later renovated and expanded, with 4,225 square feet, three fireplaces, a sunroom, a sunken family room, formal living and dining rooms, several stone patios, a finished lower level with a wine room, a detached two-car garage and a potting shed, on 1.3 acres abutting the Knollwood Country Club golf course.

In Greenwich, Conn.: a three-bedroom, four-bath, 2,700-square-foot home with wide-plank floors, a newer kitchen with a built-in banquette, a living room, a dining room, a family room, a finished lower level with a kitchenette, a covered back deck, a stone patio, a private dock and an attached one-car garage, on 0.2 acres on the Mianus River in the Cos Cob section.

Given the fast pace of the current market, some properties may no longer be available at the time of publication.

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