Boston’s Yacht Haven Marina sold at bankruptcy auction for $8 million today, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the auction marks the end of the years-long soap opera at the coveted North End property.
Neither Joseph Butler, an attorney at Baron & Stadfeld who is serving as the bankruptcy estate’s court-appointed trustee, nor the marina’s auctioneers, Paul E. Saperstein Co., would identify the winning bidder. The bidder’s identity will be revealed early next week, when Butler files paperwork asking the bankruptcy court to approve the sale.
Fourteen bidders registered for the auction. Each brought a $250,000 check to the event. Bidding opened at $3 million, and a pair of bidders chased the price from $5 million to $8 million, in $100,000 increments. "From the number of qualified bidders, this was a very successful sale," Butler said.
At one point, during a lull in the bidding, Saperstein exclaimed, "You don’t realize – the value is here! This is the waterfront, we’re coming out of a depression, and the mayor is a very business-oriented guy!"
The 4.75-acre site was supposed to be auctioned in April, but a last-minute bankruptcy filing by the marina’s owner, Yovette Mumford, derailed that event. Mumford had acquired the marina from Modern Continental in 2005, for $11.7 million. Northern Bank & Trust provided Mumford with a $10.1 million mortgage for the property.
Mumford is the former sister-in-law of Congressman Ed Markey. She ran into trouble with her $10.1 million mortgage this past winter, while serving a stretch in Framingham state prison on felony fraud charges. After her bankruptcy filing, she waged a months-long bankruptcy battle with the bank and with her Commercial Wharf neighbors, the arguing she would be able to service her $10.1 million mortgage if she were allowed to redevelop the marina into condominiums or a boutique hotel. That battle ended in June, when, at Northern Bank & Trust’s request, Judge Frank J. Bailey ordered Mumford’s bankruptcy to be converted to Chapter 7 liquidation.
Mumford wound up in bankruptcy because she significantly overpaid for the choice waterfront property, believing that she could turn a profit by running it as a function space. Such a use is largely prohibited by deed restrictions. The consensus among the bidders, and the dozens of observers who turned up to watch the auction, was that any price north of $5 million would be tough to justify, given the marina’s income streams. The $8 million purchase price is well above that $5 million mark, though it’s also well under the $10.1 million Northern Bank & Trust had in the place.
Under an agreement between Northern Bank & Trust and the bankruptcy trustee, the first $150,000 from the sale will go towards paying off Mumford’s unsecured creditors.
