Josh Guberman fondly recalls being a 10-year-old UWS kid who would summer in the Hamptons before “P. Diddy” and “white party” commingled in the same sentence. The founder of an eponymous real estate development firm, Guberman lived for highway cleanup, never balking at rolling up his sleeves and pitching in.
“At 10, I’d collect cans and bottles to [turn into] recycling stations in Brooklyn at 10 cents a pound,” says Guberman.
His early entrepreneurial spirit served him well: The 54-year-old real estate mogul is the owner of a sprawling 11,000-square-foot home in Bridgehampton complete with pool and putting greens.
But he notably perks up when talking about his greatest point of pride on the East End — his 54-by-72-inch Sponsor-a-Highway sign advertising the Guberman Group.
The latest status symbol in the world’s richest playground is being the proud owner of a rather pedestrian-looking sign along Montauk Highway and Route 27, especially between Southampton and East Hampton. Competition for such prime stretches is fierce — years-long waiting lists are not uncommon — making them all the more desirable to master-of-the-universe types.
Most sign up for one- or two-year contracts, pledging to pay hundreds of dollars a month to go toward contractors who maintain and beautify roads. In exchange, adoptees can have their names — and their businesses — on a sign for all of New York City’s movers and shakers to see.
Since the fall of 2013, Guberman has shelled out $650 a month to maintain the milelong stretch between exits 66 and 67 on the eastbound side of the Long Island Expressway, plus an initial $2,500 for the cost of the sign.
“There’s very little available, and there’s a waiting list for [Route] 27,” he explains.
“Instead of the location or the spot, we took what we consider an inferior spot,” he says, referring to the more traditionally working-class section of Suffolk County — just outside the Hamptons proper.
Despite being on the wrong side of the road, as it were, he says he’s happy to give back to the community — and get recognition for doing so. “My friend called and said, ‘I always wanted to have my sign on the highway!’ ” says Guberman. “It’s really nice to actually have some measure of acknowledgment. It’s not like having a blimp up in the air.”
The Department of Transportation of Long Island juggles numerous requests for coveted spots — a mere 10 percent of East End road is still up for grabs, leaving desperate Hamptonites scrambling for “adoption” opportunities. Most of the available segments are located in Montauk — less desirable, since the number of drivers dwindles so far out east, limiting exposure.
“There’s very little turnover. Once these sponsors are in, they don’t want to give up their segments,” says DOT staffer Carlos Rojas.
Space is so limited that a onetime wait-lister feels all the more territorial now that he’s claimed his mark — on Route 27 just before East Hampton’s iconic Hook Windmill.
“Offer me a million dollars — and I still won’t give that sign up,” says Eli Wilner, master fine art framer of some of the world’s most valuable collections, who has a gallery on the Upper East Side.
After getting little traction maintaining a stretch of road in Montauk and, later, in Amagansett, he stepped up his appeals to the Sponsor-a-Highway powers that be.
“Finally, I begged them. I said, ‘Here’s my AmEx card, just bill me whenever you want!’ ” he laughs. “I said, ‘Get me to East Hampton — I want to sell a frame!’ ”
Wilner — who’s more blasé about his $50 million estate on 35 acres of pristine Montauk coastline than he is about a modest blue sign — is glad he waited out four years in signage purgatory.
Since landing the Holy Grail of spots three years ago, he’s handily picked up at least 10 new clients — including Martha Stewart. Old friends who had fallen off the radar have called to congratulate him. And he’s constantly asked about it by curious admirers.
“It’s been the most lucrative advertising ever — it’s amazing,” says Wilner, 58. “Plus, the fact that I help everything look beautiful.”
So much so that on occasion, “I slow down and I salute it,” says Wilner, who says he would like to expand his domain to include an additional sign that is “a personal one just for me.”
Jill and Bobby Zarin — who have enjoyed a plum sign for their business, Zarin Fabrics, on Route 27 in Southampton for a decade — would also like a second location to broadcast a more personal message (“Jill loves Bobby”).
But, Jill Zarin reports, there’s nothing left worth having. “There’s definitely a waiting list — location, location, location, like any real estate.”
Meanwhile, such vanity projects continue to bewilder local contractors.
“It’s a pretty big nut for someone to pay just to put their name up there,” says Kenny Oliver, owner of East Coast Highway Maintenance, referring to the $500-plus monthly maintenance fees.
Oliver runs one of four contracting companies hired by the DOT to do the actual cleanup for well-heeled sponsors.
While Oliver has been approached about knocking out a current sponsor of a coveted location, he says he has never allowed a hostile takeover.
“I have people on a waiting list for six years. I could have put them a mile over, but they want [a very specific] location.”
That’s because a good sign, according to adoptees, is a priceless conversation piece — especially if enough eyeballs see it.
“The one thing they talk about is the sign,” says Zarin. “People have asked [about taking it over], but no firm offer has been on the table.”
Adds Zarin: “Some things just aren’t for sale.”