<p>A partnership led by a South Boston businessman will pay $5.15 million for 51 acres in Oak Bluffs once planned as a luxury home development. Paul Adamson, a real estate developer, was high bidder at a foreclosure auction Friday.</p>
A partnership led by a South Boston bar owner and condominium developer will pay $5.15 million for 51 acres in Oak Bluffs once planned as a luxury home development.
Auctioneer Justin Manning asked for a starting bid of $8 million, but had no takers.
Auctioneer Justin Manning asked for a starting bid of $8 million, but had no takers.
Paul Adamson, a real estate developer who also owns Shenannigans, a South Boston pub, was the high bidder at a foreclosure auction Friday, held on the property off County Road formerly owned by Corey Kupersmith.
Mr. Adamson, along with partners Chris Sage and Malcom Barber, said they often vacation on Martha’s Vineyard and now intend to spend more time here in the near future. “There are four or five lots going to friends that want to live here,” Mr. Adamson said. “Families that hang around together in Boston, now we’ll hang around on the Vineyard.”
The purchase includes 20 buildable lots and two open space lots once planned as the Preserve at the Woodlands, partially improved but never built. Mr. Adamson said the rest of the lots will be sold individually.
About 20 prospective buyers gathered under a tent at noontime Friday for the auction. Auctioneer Justin Manning of J.J. Manning Auctioneers asked for a bid of $8 million to get the auction started, but found no takers. Harry Patten of the Florida development firm Patten Companies opened the bidding at $5 million. A subsidiary of the Patten Companies held a controlling interest in the property, after buying the mortgage from People’s United Bank in Connecticut, which had begun foreclosure proceedings. A company spokesman said earlier if no buyers offered an acceptable bid, Patten intended to buy the property back and sell individual lots at auction. Local buyers were on hand, hoping for that possibility. But when Mr. Adamson raised the opening bid to $5.15 million, Mr. Patten urged the auctioneer to sell, and the auction was over.
“It’s a beautiful piece of property,” Mr. Patten said. “It’s time for us to move on. I think it’s going to be a great asset for Oak Bluffs.”
Paul Adamson (pictured in middle wearing navy polo shirt) was high bidder.
Paul Adamson (pictured in middle wearing navy polo shirt) was high bidder.
Among other things, the sale is contingent on Patten Companies resolving any permitting issues with town boards and with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. Also, the seller promised to deliver ownership of the roadways and an additional open space lot, at no further charge, at the closing.
The town of Oak Bluffs will benefit also from the sale. The buyer will be required to satisfy all tax liens on the property, which amount to about $350,000. Under another term revealed Friday, owners had agreed that if the property did not sell in its entirety, they would designate four lots to be used as either a buffer for nearby conservation land or for affordable housing. But that term became moot when the property sold as a whole.
The property was at the center of a divisive political battle beginning in the early 2000s when Mr. Kupersmith, a Connecticut developer, tried unsuccessfully to win approval for a private luxury golf club at the Southern Woodlands. A compromise plan emerged in 2004 when the land bank bought the majority of the property for conservation; a subdivision was allowed on the remaining 51 acres but never built.
Comments
As a young man who grew up
Milo Silva Oak BluffsAs a young man who grew up here the idea that any and all open space will be sold to the highest bidder makes me very angry. You weak islanders! I curse you!
You tell 'em, Milo! I'm very
mariYou tell 'em, Milo! I'm very proud of you for speaking truth to powerful, destructive greed.
I lived on MV some years ago.
Dorothea Gilliland KYI lived on MV some years ago. I hate to see continuing developement. Soon the island will be but a big city. I hope the wealthy keep some land for conservation and share with islanders.
The Gazette could do us a
Toby Condliffe Vineyard HavenThe Gazette could do us a favor when running an article like this by providing an accompanying map showing where the piece of property is.
Agreed. More maps, please!
Chris Daly AquinnahAgreed. More maps, please!
Congratulations! Now that the
A concerned neighbor, Oak Bluffs, MACongratulations! Now that the property has been sold, are people still allowed to walk in the development? I love the open space. What a gold mine! You all should be proud. Best of luck to you.
Shenanigans? You guys talking
Rod Farva Somewhere in VTShenanigans? You guys talking about Shenanigans?
Such a shame for this land to
Roberta CtSuch a shame for this land to go. The elite just keep taking it all. A person with a conscience would have designated some open space for the common people.
No one "took" this property.
Edg rez EdgartownNo one "took" this property. It was legally purchased at market value, like any other property. Did you designate any open space on your own property?
I did not designate open land
ginny west tisburyI did not designate open land on my property because it is not huge and because it would not have the environmental impact that this development is going to have.
Our island is being developed way too much. Clearly, the money, profit, more, more, more mentality has arrived.
We will soon look like the Hamptons and worse.
Wow some of the comments
Bob EdgartownWow some of the comments above make me laugh. There is open space on this property that will not be built on please read the article. They buyers also will be paying a land bank tax of over $100K which will buy more open space. The land bank has over 3,000 acres of open space and other conservation groups have much more for ever wild open space.
No amount of money paid to
Astrid Martha's VineyardNo amount of money paid to the land bank can make the land wild again once it is developed, and no amount of money can make up for the impact that building and maintaining luxury homes has on the island (and on the world, really).
You said the buyers will be paying the Land Bank $100,000 ($0.1 million) This is a terribly small amount of money if you look at the other numbers. The 51-acre property sold for $5,150,000 ($5.1 million). How much open space would the Land Bank be able to buy with that?
Another important figure it the 3,000 acres you said is owned by the Land Bank. The total area of the United States is 2,435,840,000 acres. This means that 1 out of 811,947 acres of our country is protected by the Land Bank. There are other conservation groups, of course, but is that really enough wilderness?
People will always need land to live on. We should use the land well. After we ask ourselves whether or not land should be developed in the first place, we should consider the best way to utilize it. My family owns 1.5 acres of land and I think that's relatively common. With properties of that size, 34 families could live on those 51 acres year round instead of the 4 or 5 families that want to "hang around on the Vineyard." According to Mr. Patten, this sale is "a great asset for Oak Bluffs." Everyone should take the time to really think about that statement. What will benefit our community the most and truly be an asset?
As a high school student with no experience in buying or selling property, procedures like this are confusing to me. Please let me know if I mixed up any of the main points in the article.
@Astrid,be thankful that
deshandra brown mv@Astrid,be thankful that families like to 'hang around' and pay grossly inflated prices for average goods and services. But more importantly, while they come here to 'hang around', they pay real estate taxes 'year round', which supports the schools that you attend, and keeps property taxes artificially low for your parents on their 1.5 acre home and the rest of the year round resident property owners. If people didn't come here to buy 'luxury homes', the economy would be as it was 40 years ago, with impoverished islanders digging clams& cleaning houses in the summer, and doing some scalloping in the winter 'off the books' while collecting unemployment $$. Like it or not, without the people who come here to 'hang around' and spend LOTS of money, there wouldn't be funds for the landbank to buy conservation land, and the construction based economy would be non-existent.The next time this paper publishes an aerial photo of the Island you will see that undeveloped land far outnumbers the developed parcels.
How much development can one
Cyndi Los AngelesHow much development can one small island take?
Stay in Boston.
Tuck VailStay in Boston.
The Island has much more
George Stein EdgartownThe Island has much more stringent property codes than the Hamptons. This property could have been developed years ago. Single family homes are not as bad as the multiple unit housing that inevitably arrives to ease the housing crunch for legit Islanders. Towns should begin the path for this process so the sky is falling crowd can meet with my family can not get a place for a family of four during season gainfully employed types.
As an all-year-round resident
Abraham Seiman Oak Bluffs, MAAs an all-year-round resident, I understand why the most wealthy people on the Island are so eager to rid the Island of its middle class and low-income residents, who's appearance on the Island ruins the pleasures of its summer population. After all, wasn't the Island designed to be a summer playground for the wealthy?
Summer playground for the
Not me WH CTSummer playground for the wealthy ?!?!? -- OMG ....that's not who came over for summer, campground .....for those of us who are not those with millions to purchase property -- we should be thankful that the Land Bank and other land/savers exist, like the Trustees of the Reservation. There are very few onMV who do not depend on summer tourism and dollars brought in by seasonal Islanders. Let's take a look at the SIZE of the OB Fire Dept. site being built......is that not development?!?!?
Astrid, then the land bank
DoggiedogoodAstrid, then the land bank should have purchased it, they had their chance at auction.
The price of this property
Anne Bennett Oak BuffsThe price of this property would have been a drop in the bucket for the mega money that is on this Island. Apparently, the wealthy chose not to purchase this property and "donate" it to open space. That is their right. It seems strange to me that people on this Island expect people to donate land to open space. It's nice when they do that, but it's not a requirement. I'll probably be scolded, but the boat has sailed as far as this Island is concerned. I keep telling my son that. You can't put the cork back in the barrel.
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