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A California hotelier is riding a wave of backlash in Montauk.
Locals are petitioning the East Hampton Town Planning Board to stop construction of Este, a two-story restaurant with rooftop access, claiming developers pulled a bait-and-switch — submitting permit approvals for a “casual restaurant” they fear will turn into a rowdy nightclub.
“Este restaurant was approved as a 39-seat cafe with 12 parking spaces. The rooftop venue has banquet tables, fire pits and lounge seating … that’s not how a restaurant works,” Laura Michaels commented in the Montauk Village Facebook group.
But owner Marley Dominguez, who also runs the luxury seaside hotel Offshore Montauk just 50 feet away, exclusively told The Post the controversy has been stoked by rivals fearful that Este, slated to open next summer, will encroach on business.
“It was not until a competitor received this information that the false rumors started,” he said
The planning board approved Este as a 39-seat, two-story restaurant on Montauk Highway last November.
However, a liquor license application, building permit application and private investor packet, all leaked to The East Hampton Press in April, suggest the space is intended for a larger crowd — sparking the petition distributed by anonymous locals on May 28.
“How can a venue claim a 450-person public assembly with only 39 seats and 12 parking spaces approved? This doesn’t add up,” the petition asks. “Is this a restaurant or a nightclub? … we think the latter. Was the Planning Board duped?”
The petition continues: “Twelve parking spaces cannot serve 450 persons. Twelve parking spaces cannot serve a rooftop event venue. Twelve parking spaces cannot support a multi-floor nightlife complex generating $7 million in annual food and beverage revenue.”
But Dominguez told The Post: “Like every restaurant throughout Montauk, New York and the US, occupancy and formal seats are two different numbers that are not related. Restaurant seat count is based on factors primarily focused on infrastructure. Occupancy count is based simply on the square footage of a property.
“A place like Gurney’s [in Montauk] may have 100 formal dining seats but an occupancy of over 1,000 due to the large square footage. Same for Montauk Yacht Club, Mavericks and so on,” he told The Post, referencing other hotspots.
Leaked investor documents show plans for the property to transform into a “large DJ venue” similar to the area’s Surf Lodge, a restaurant and live music venue that can host up to 450 people, according to The East Hampton Press.
Dominguez claims the documents were leaked by a “major investor in a competing property” who misrepresented himself as a “potential investor” in Este, with the goal of “trying to get us not to open.”
He also insisted the documentation were merely a quick draft meant to account for private events such as weddings.
“The ground floor is going to be a wide open co-working space … The second floor is the members’ club, and the main dining area most of the day,” he added. “We may have DJs or a band but we will close after sundown [unless for a private event]. It’s not going to be an open-until-2 a.m. rager.
“We are a hotel [property] first, and do not want noise to affect our guests who would be the most impacted by any noise. This is in stark contrast to what the petition would have you believe — that we are somehow increasing or misleading the intention.”
On Monday, Dominguez met with the East Hampton Town Planning Board to present his vision again — which, he told The Post, is similar to what the Surf Lodge was “15 years ago, prior to the crowds, when it was a more casual, relaxed environment with … familiar local faces.”
Town Planning Director Tina Vavilis LaGarenne told The Post in an email the board determined “a modification is necessary to strictly bind the applicant to restaurant operations, consistent with both the original approval and applicable Town Code provisions.”
Patrick Derenze, a public information officer for the town of East Hampton, told The Post the Planning Board may yet determine further modifications are needed to Dominguez’s plan.
“The intent is to bind them to operating as a restaurant, and nothing else,” Derenze told The Post via email.
To appease the town, Dominguez decreased the approved square footage “by hundreds of square feet,” he told The Post.
“We have also decreased the size of the venue area on the second floor. This was not required, we did this to create more of an intimate experience for guests. We’ll have people on the rooftop, but it’s not going to be shoulder to shoulder.”
The heated summer saga is similar to the battle that played out when East Hamptonites pushed back on Zero Bond owner Scott Sartiano exporting his city hotspot Sartiano’s to the Hedges Inn in 2023.
Locals told The Post at the time a letter from village administration was sent to neighbors urging them to call in noise complaints — sparking an all-out war. Sartiano’s left the Hedges inn after about two months (one full summer season).
Dominguez insists he is trying to be a good neighbor.
“We have spent over two years working through this project and have done everything that has been asked of us,” he said. “We will operate the restaurant exactly as we have always stated and the property will not be a nightclub.”
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