Anderson Cooper pays $1.7M for Hamptons estate NEXT DOOR to the one he already owns just to avoid new neighbors



Home previously owned by On The Waterfront screenwriter Budd Schulberg



The Quogue home is the journalist's third high-priced property in New York

Anderson Cooper, the CNN anchor and talk show host, has shelled out $1.7million for his third upscale home in New York -- and he doesn't even plan to live in this one.



Mr Cooper bought the house next door to his own estate in Quogue, near the Hamptons on Long Island, so that no one would tear it down to replace it with a 'McMansion,' according to reports.



The home, with four bedrooms on 2.4 acres along Aspatuck Creek, once belonged to Oscar-winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg who wrote On The Waterfront.



The house was once priced at $3.5million, but was most recently listed on the market for $2.25million.

Mr Cooper's new purchase is blessed with 3,654 square feet, two fireplaces, a billiard room and a slate patio.



A garage with an office as well as a pool and a pool house are also located on the wooded property.

Mr Cooper paid $1.7million for the 1946 home because he did not want to see new neighbors move in only to tear it down, the New York Post reported.

This is not the first big purchase for the globe-trotting newsman. In September 2009, he paid $4.3million for an old firehouse in New York City's West Village.



The 9,000 square-foot 1906 brick building at 84 West Third Street has been undergoing renovations since Mr Cooper bought it.



Mr Cooper, who has recently entered the daytime talk show world with his program 'Anderson', is relatively private about his personal life but has shared some detailed about his first home in the Hamptons.



On the waterfront: Mr Cooper's new property was owned by Budd Schulberg, who wrote the screenplay for 'On the Waterfront'

Waterfront property: Anderson Cooper's new house sits in 2.4 wooded acres with a view of Aspatuck Creek

Bargain price: The four-bedroom home was originally listed at $3.5million but Mr Cooper picked it up for $1.7million

He has described the house as a place to settle down and get away from the news world and publicity that he stalks as a top journalist.



Before Mr Cooper brought the second Quogue home, it was owned by Mr Schulberg, who died in 2009.

Mr Schulberg is most famous for writing 'On the Waterfront,' which won him an Academy Award in 1954.