Photo courtesy of the town of Nahant
The former site of 12 homes for Coast Guard personnel are being auctioned off by officials in Nahant starting this week, a rare chance for homebuilders to develop new properties in the exclusive North Shore town perched on a rocky outcrop in the Atlantic Ocean.
“There are so many reasons to live in Nahant,” Board of Selectmen Chair Josh Antrim said in a statement. “It’s safe, small community, very friendly, warm, and welcoming. It’s a great place to raise a family. There is so much to do here if you love the outdoors. Plus, the views can’t be beat.”
The town bought the properties on Castle, Gardner roads and Goddard Drive from the Coast Guard for $2 million in 2005 and Nahant Town Meeting voted to approve the sales in 2021.
All 12 are between 10,000 square feet and 12,244 square feet and have at least 75 feet of frontage, making them buildable as single-family homes without zoning relief under the town’s bylaws, bid documents say. However, those documents also note the town is placing restrictions on the sale that appear intended to ensure the lots are only developed as single-family properties: no one developer may buy multiple lots, the lots can’t be combined with others and each lot’s floor-area ratio is capped at 0.25.
Nahant only has around 1,400 single-family lots, town officials say, and the community’s median year-to-date single-family sale price through Aug. 31 sits at $1.02 million according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. In all of 2023, only 34 single-family and three condominium units sold in town at median sale prices of $930,076 and $358,000, respectively.
The homes are a roughly nine-minute drive from downtown Lynn’s commuter rail station or a 45-minute to 1-hour drive from downtown Boston. It’s not immediately clear if any of the parcels might be affected by the state’s planned updates to coastal flooding regulations.
Town officials plan to upgrade the streets serving the lots with new sidewalks and traffic-calming measures once the properties’ utility connections have been completed.
The first six lots have already been listed for bidding, with due dates spread out between Sept. 17 and Oct. 22, with minimum bids between $425,000 and $500,000 depending on the lot as the town has to pay nearly $2 million in debt related to the properties early next year.
Bidders will need to secure financing within 14 days and close within 30 days. Bid documents say the town will give preference to buyers who won’t need financing approvals or contingencies. More information is available on the town website.
