Fire Island Pines Gay Resort Goes On the Auction Block

Photo courtesy of FIP Ventures

You queens who bypass Rehoboth and Cape Town for summery gay good times in Fire Island Pines may find this interesting: The resort, which includes Pavilion nightclub, myriad restaurants and some retail spaces is being auctioned off today with a starting bid of $8.5 million—considerably less, New York Times points out, than the $20 million entrepreneurs Andrew Kirtzman, Seth Weissman and Matthew Blesso bought it for in 2010. More from NYT:

When three local residents bought up the commercial district along the harbor in Fire Island Pines almost five years ago, they planned to transform the renowned yet rundown gay mecca for a new age of gay acceptance and success.

But rather than building new facilities, the owners found themselves rebuilding old ones following a devastating fire. Their capital drained, they have been trying to sell the property, which constitutes 80 percent of the commercial space in the 650-home community, since the fall for $25 million.

There have been no offers at the asking price on the 320 feet of dockside frontage, and an auction with David R. Maltz & Company is scheduled for Thursday. The opening bid of $8.5 million is less than half of what the property sold for in 2010.

Several familiar parties are said to be vying for the property, including the former owner. The sale may be a letdown for Mr. Kirtzman and his partners, but the Pines itself has remained popular even as homosexuality has found acceptance in places like wedding chapels and prime time television, and on beaches from Montauk to Cape May.

“It’s a beautiful, glamorous place, a place that was central to gay liberation,” said Jay Pagano, president of the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association. “That’s still very important to the people who lived the struggle, and to the people who benefited from it.”

Hopefully it all works out so that it maintains its status as a summer gay mecca. We certainly had a blast there a few years back.