Andy Warhol property divided.

Joseph A. Grotto, president of J. Grotto & Associates, Inc. reports a completed partition of the Montauk Long Island beach front property owned by the Estate of Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. Grotto, and Joseph Grotto, Jr., acted as consultant/broker and arranged for the partition of more than 20 acres of beach front property, with main estate house and auxiliary buildings, to Paul Morrissey and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The property was subdivided and approved by The Town of East Hampton, with Paul Morrissey retaining more than five acres and the house and buildings, and the Andy Warhol Foundation then donating 15.1 acres of dramatic bluffs, wetlands, woodland and beach front to The Nature Conservancy. As part of the agreement between The Nature Conservancy and the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Conservancy will sponsor four walks which promote the visual arts at the preserve each year.

Chapter Director Sara Davison commented on the benefits of a partnership between nature and the visual arts. Archibald L. Gillies, president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. stated the property could have been sold, which probably would have resulted in development, and it was felt that Andy would have preferred its perpetual use and bond between nature and the visual arts. draw people to waterfront areas. The regulations are also intended to discourage development of the "tower in the private park" variety.

To accomplish these ends, the zoning changes require that shorefront development include public walkways and other publicly-accessible areas, developed and maintained to conform with specific design prototypes. In addition, all new construction in the regulated area must provide visual corridors from upland streets to the shoreline. The City Planning Commission's new regulations would reduce the developable floor area on waterfront property, and would require that floor area to be packaged differently in some districts, that is, in shorter buildings and with larger floor plates at ground levels. Development on piers, especially new piers, would be much more restricted.