June 22, 2026

Trust me when I say you have never encountered anyone quite like the billionaire developer Stefan Soloviev. For starters, he has more than 20 children — though the exact number seems to elude Soloviev himself. And there are probably more on the way: When asked in 2023 if he had any goals for the next three years, he responded, “Having five more kids.” As part of our second annual “Hamptons Issue,” Soloviev recently sat down with features writer Reeves Wiedeman to discuss his plans for the North Fork of Long Island, where he has bought hundreds of acres of land for reasons that remain inscrutable. The area's residents are worried that he will “Stefanize” their rural idyll into an overdeveloped, overcommercialized mess. Soloviev makes clear that such a prospect — and the North Fork in general — couldn't be further from his mind. "I’m really tired of talking about the North Fork,” he wearily tells Reeves. “It’s not my priority.” What he enjoys talking about, at great length and with unusual candor, is his own weird and fascinating life, from his roots as the disaffected son of a famous Manhattan developer to his There Will Be Blood–like conquests of the untrammeled West.
—Ryu Spaeth, features editor, New York

By Reeves Wiedeman

Photo-Illustration: Joe Darrow/GOOGLE EARTH (LAND); GETTY IMAGES (REMAINING)

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