Billy Joel sells Long Island estate 'MiddleSea' for $28.75 million, a record outside Hamptons
Billy Joel sold his Centre Island estate, seen in 2005, for $28.75 million — a Long Island record outside of the Hamptons. Credit: Newsday /David L. Pokress
To all real estate novelists: the Piano Man has sold his Centre Island compound.
The $28.75 million sale — confirmed to Newsday Friday evening by Emmett Laffey, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Laffey International Realty, who handled the listing — ends Billy Joel's nearly three-year effort to sell his sprawling 26-acre waterfront estate.
Anchoring the property is the 20,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, 11-bathroom main house, complete with a ballroom, library and wine cellar.
The sale also included the 3,800-square-foot, three-bedroom, five-bathroom guesthouse that features a bowling alley; a 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom beach house with a helipad; and a 1,700-square-foot six-car garage. The property has a 20-by-50-foot swimming pool, a boat ramp and a floating dock.
Joel's "MiddleSea" estate attracted a "global audience" and marked the most expensive real estate sale outside of the Hamptons in Long Island history, Laffey told Newsday in a telephone interview. Friday's transaction shattered the previous record marked in 2024, when an Old Westbury estate sold for $21 million.
"It's a remarkable transaction that has totally changed the luxury market of Long Island," Laffey said.
Joel first purchased the Centre Island estate for $22.5 million in 2002, according to property records. He then acquired adjacent, buildable lots piecemeal style. The entire property was initially listed in 2023 for $49 million, then relisted the next year for $50 million following renovations, Newsday previously reported.
In December 2024, a 5-acre portion of the property dubbed "The Gate House," was taken off the market and listed separately a few months later for $8.5 million, while the rest of the property was listed for $39 million. "The Gate House" sold in May for $7 million, Newsday previously reported.
The remaining estate was listed for $29.9 million in May. The price was slashed again in December, to $25 million.
