North Fork Broker Eyes $23M For 88-Acre Cutchogue Land

20 November 2025

A rare stretch of Cutchogue acreage is hitting the market with a price that aims to capture the North Fork’s fast-rising luxury curve.

Longtime East End broker and investor Judi Desiderio is preparing to list an 88-acre site running from Oregon Road to the Long Island Sound for $23 million, Newsday reported. She’s positioning the approved subdivision for buyers seeking large estates, farmland or both.

Desiderio told the outlet that she’s soliciting offers before deciding whether to cash out or build the homes herself after a 7-and-a-half year approval slog. The plan carves the land into eight residential lots and more than 60 acres of protected farmland.

Three of the parcels are 5-acre waterfront sites, four are 2-and-a-half acre lots with deeded water access and one is a 2-acre piece that includes a barn. The farmland is already spoken for: DeLea Sod Farm leases the eastern acreage and Wolffer Estate Vineyard works the western side.

Town officials say Desiderio’s low-density layout fits their long-range map for concentrating housing in downtown nodes and keeping farmland intact. Civic groups echoed that stance, framing the preserved acreage as a buffer against sprawl and, in Cutchogue’s case, against light pollution.

The pitch arrives as the North Fork’s luxury market continues its climb.

Median home prices cracked $1 million earlier this year, more than doubling since 2015, according to data from appraiser Miller Samuel for Douglas Elliman. Desiderio argued the waterfront pieces would trade for triple the price in East Hampton, suggesting further headroom for high-end buyers who have increasingly migrated north from the South Fork.

Demand seems to support that view. A 7,500-square-foot bayfront home in Cutchogue notched a record $11.2 million sale last month, reinforcing the area’s shift from farm country to estate territory.

Desiderio said any homes on her subdivision would likely start around 4,500 square feet.

Still, the pricing trajectory has fueled local tension over affordability. More than half of North Fork homes now sell for at least $1 million, pushing out year-round workers and sharpening calls for subsidized housing. Southold Town has leaned on a 0.5 percent transfer tax to build its Community Housing Fund and is planning more incentives to preserve affordability.

— Holden Walter-Warner