As the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank prepares to move to its new headquarters on Meetinghouse Way, the land bank’s commission recently announced a request for proposals to purchase its current building on 167 Main street.
A highly-coveted spot on Edgartown’s Upper Main street has just opened up.
As the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank prepares to move to its new headquarters on Meetinghouse Way, the land bank’s commission recently announced a request for proposals to purchase its current building on 167 Main street. The request for proposals is open to any government or nonprofit organization on the Island, with submissions due May 18. The minimum bid is $1.5 million.
“Governments and nonprofits don’t normally have the same purchasing power as private entities,” land bank executive director James Lengyel said. “Knowing there was interest, we wanted to give them the first opportunity.”
The downtown Edgartown property was first built in 1930 and has served as the Land Bank’s headquarters for more than 30 years. In March 2022, the Land Bank commission closed on a 14-acre property at 40 Meetinghouse Way, seeking to consolidate its office space and employee housing into one property. The purchase price was $9.5 million.
“We’ve been very happy with our offices, and wouldn’t be moving if it weren’t for this fortuitous opportunity,” Mr. Lengyel said.
Mr. Lengyel added that the commission would also accept joint proposals for any organizations willing to share the space. In the event that the land bank does not receive an adequate proposal, Mr. Lengyel said that the commission will consider hiring a realtor and selling to any interested party, private or not.
“We wanted to put it out there with plenty of time for people to think creatively,” he said.
Proposals should be submitted to the office at 167 Main street, Edgartown, 02539.
The winning proposal will be chosen at the Land Bank commission meeting at 3 p.m. on Monday, June 5 and posted online at mvlandbank.com.
Comments
The senior center should move
Jon EdgThe senior center should move there if the building is big enough for them
As a neighbor on Meetinghouse
Marty EdgartownAs a neighbor on Meetinghouse Way, I am interested to know if the zoning permits offices, storage, use and repair of non farm, of industrial equipment, as well as employee housing. Edgartown regulates and limits the number of unrelated people allowed to live in a house. This has the appearance of a significant change of use in a rural, residential area. Pleas explain
"Governments and nonprofits
J. Gould Edgartown"Governments and nonprofits don’t normally have the same purchasing power as private entities..." Exactly! $1.5M is an absurd amount of money to ask our municipalities and non-profits to pay for it.
Some MV nonprofits are in the
jim feiner chilmarkSome MV nonprofits are in the process of looking for real estate currently. They all have the capacity to fund raise and currently in our generous donation cycle individual giving is almost always higher when it’s focused on a specific project. Plus they can always leverage the property as well. rent is expensive and owning property can be a good thing for these organizations for a variety of reasons including the ability to keep their staff.
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