NAHANT — The town is on the verge of selecting a marketing broker to assist in the efforts to sell the former Coast Guard housing properties located on Castle Road and Goddard Drive.
The request for proposal (RFP) received interest from five agencies. A team composed of Board of Selectmen Chairman Josh Antrim, Finance Director Alison Nieto, and Town Moderator Dave Conlin reviewed the proposals with the prices redacted so as not to influence the group.
While the board does not have final approval on this particular decision, Selectman Gene Canty asked to review the five options before a selection was made.
“I want to say thank you to the five proposers. They submitted very thorough proposals,” Town Administrator Tony Barletta said. “We ask for a lot of information… we were lucky to have a few advantageous, categorized proposals.”
Barletta noted that the efficiency of this selection is important, as it will expedite the release of the next RFP, which is for the actual liquidation of the properties.
Nahant purchased the Coast Guard housing land from the federal government in 2004. The town still owes $1.8 million, which is due by January, on a loan used to purchase the property, and plans to pay off the loan by selling the property.
“We want to move as quickly as possible on this,” Antrim said. “We got to just press forward as fast as we can… even if we get a winning bid, sometimes it takes 60 days to close.”
Since Town Meeting first approved demolition of the town-owned properties in 2021, the town has vacated nine out of the 12 units.
