There are plenty of gleaming new hotels in Montauk, the seaside town at the tip of Long Island’s East End that has transformed from a rustic village to a chic destination over the past two decades. There’s Marram, a sleek lodge with Frette linens and meditation classes, and Montauk Beach House, which offers a new vegan restaurant and half-acre beach club, to name a few.
Then there’s Daunt’s Albatross, a no-frills 1950s motel, right in the middle of it all. Leo Daunt, the motel’s 29-year-old general manager, is committed to ensuring it remains relevant and independent in this country of big-money development deals. After all, the legacy of the family business is at stake.
As jet-setters and influencers continue to flock to Montauk, investors with deep pockets have struck and longstanding mom-and-pop stores have offered millions of dollars for their properties. This spring, Liar’s Saloon, a beloved watering hole that used to offer $1 beer, was set to sell for millions.
But a small group of millennials with ties to the area, such as Mr. Daunt, takes over their family businesses and modernizes them to ensure they last at least one more generation. The idea is that as long as they’re in charge, their families won’t be tempted to sell.
Daunt’s Albatross dates back to 1977, when it was bought and renamed by Rich Daunt, the grandfather of Mr. Daunt, a retired Nassau County police officer. “They had a bungalow, but they needed a bigger space to accommodate all their friends when they came to visit,” said Mr. Daunt about his grandparents’ foresighted real estate and business move.
The motel quickly became a home away from home for the Daunt family.
“I remember me and my siblings and cousins running around and throwing each other in the pool,” Mr. Daunt said. “We have guys who have really watched me grow up year after year.”
His plan was to become a history professor. But when Mr. Daunt returned to Montauk after graduating from college, he realized the Albatross wasn’t keeping up with the newer developments in town.
“In 2014 we didn’t even have a website. There was no online reservation system and everything was done by fax,” he said. “It hadn’t been renovated for a long time. We absolutely had to get new bedding, soundproofing.”
mr. Daunt became increasingly involved with the Albatross, officially taking it over in 2018. Three years later, he hired Home Studios, the Brooklyn-based design firm behind the Spaniard, a stylish West Village gastro pub, and Elsa, a cocktail bar with art deco is thriving in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, to oversee a full renovation. Soon the courtyard had fire pits and the rooms had vintage furniture and flagstone floors. In May, Mr. Daunt Bird on the Roof, the restaurant across the street, turned it into an all-day brunch spot.
“Properties in Montauk are now worth a fortune,” said Mr. daunt. “But it was more important for all of us to continue the family tradition.”
It’s something that longtime visitors to Montauk, some baffled by the influx of young revelers, appreciate.
“I don’t want to go to one of those motels where I’m just a number, and there’s nothing personal, and nobody knows me,” said Maureen Benckwit, a 72-year-old retiree who lives in Massapequa and has visited Daunt’s Albatross every year since 1983. even during the pandemic. “I would be devastated if this place changed hands. I don’t know if I would continue my tradition of coming to Montauk if this place changed.”
She is even up to date with the modern updates of the place. “I always put aside how old the accommodation was because everything was good, but now Leo has done a fantastic job.”
One of Mr. Daunt’s childhood friends is Alexis Engstrom, 30, a former surf instructor who has lived in Montauk all her life, except for a year in Hawaii. She grew up at Montauk T-shirts, a store her mother owned.
“I’ve been working there before I could speak properly,” said Mrs. Engstrom. “When I was 5 I was already folding clothes.”
When her mother, Kathleen Engstrom, 64, started talking about scaling back, Ms Engstrom knew right away that she wanted to take over the store. “It was a rite of passage,” she said. “You learn the manners and take over when your parents are tired.”
For years, she’d watched other nearby stores completely change their look and focus when new owners, not originally from the area, took them over. “I know change is inevitable, but I don’t want designer stores coming to Montauk any time soon. If you want that, go to East Hampton,” she said.
Kathleen Engstrom doesn’t know what she would have done if her daughter hadn’t stood up. “Montauk is insanely busy and I can’t do it alone physically or mentally,” she said. “Letting your own blood in, not everyone has that.”
She believes her daughter is making vital changes. “She’s more aware of the colors of the season, what styles,” she said, pointing to the Montauk crop tops that had become one of the best-selling tops since her daughter took over.
When Gray Gardell-Gross was in sixth grade, his family moved from Manhattan to Montauk after September 11. “We lived right next to the Twin Towers downtown and I was at school a block away,” he said.
In 2005, his parents opened Gig Shack, a place for comfort food. “I was the chef by the time I was 19,” said Mr. Gardell-Gross.
When his parents told him they were ready to move on, they were delighted to learn that Mr. Gardell-Gross was considering taking over. “It was kind of out of the blue,” he recalls. “They were super supportive.”
Unlike Mrs. Engstrom, Mr. Gardell-Gross didn’t really take the opportunity without doing some soul-searching first. “How long can you work on the kitchen line?” he remembered thinking. After all, he had other interests. In the early days of the pandemic, he had tried to start a wholesale business of duck confit and chicken wings.
But eventually Mr. Gardell-Gross, now 32, took over Gig Shack on the advice of Mr. Daunt, his friend. “He made me realize that I have a lot of ideas to run the business.”
He recruited his friends to build a Moroccan-style tiled arch through the dining room, installed central air conditioning, and hired musicians to play six nights a week during the summer.
“I wanted it to have a new energy,” he said, adding that he’s happy with his decision to take over the family business. “I’m going nowhere.”