NAHANT — Town Administrator Tony Barletta sat down Tuesday afternoon to give updates on the town’s efforts to sell off the various Coast Guard Housing property lots.
Barletta noted that the property has been in the hands of the town for over 20 years, which the town originally purchased in 2005 for $2.1 million. The balance of the town’s loan of $1.86 million was due and paid on Jan. 10, with proceeds from the sales in the first offering of the lots.
He said the process has largely been a collaborative effort between the various boards and committees tasked with overseeing the operations in town. Barletta included the Coast Guard Housing Design and Development Committee, the Board of Selectmen, Listing Agent Lisa Scourtas, the Realtor Volunteer service, and the Advisory and Finance Committee for their work on the project.
Originally approved by Town Meeting in May 2021, the Board of Selectmen was authorized to sell alternating lots in two offers over two years, with three deed restrictions. The three restrictions prohibited any single entity or group purchasing more than one lot, as well as any lot being combined with another, and a limit of the maximum floor ratio of said lots to 25%.
He dove into the current state the town is at in trying to sell the various lots, where he explained the lots that have already been sold during the first round of offerings: Lot #1, 294 Castle Road, sold on Oct. 22, 2024 for $451,000; lot #3, 298 Castle Road, sold on Nov. 5, 2024 for $502,000; lot #7, 2 Goddard Drive, sold on Dec. 2, 2024 for $450,000; lot #9, 6 Goddard Drive, sold for $502,250; lot #11, 1 Goddard Drive, sold for $525,000.
After the first offerings, Barletta added up an approximate total of $2,430,250, enabling the town to pay off the loan of $1.68 million. “That was a huge victory for the town,” Barletta said.
Barletta reiterated how the sales from the first round of offerings helped the town pay off the loan it got to buy the property in 2025. “Town Meeting also gave us the authority to borrow, on two separate occasions, a total of $1.3 million for demolition and to prepare the property for sale,” he explained.
He continued, “Our goal is to pay that off by the end of the fiscal year, by the end of June.”
Subtracting the total cost of the loan from the amount made during the first offering, Barletta noted they had an extra $570,250 left over, which the town could put toward the subsequent $1.3 million loan.
Barletta added that the town filed an addendum and will be relisting lot #5 and lot #4.
After the second round of offerings, the town is anticipating the sale of two lots (#8 and #6) will most likely close soon, which would finalize three more deals, according to Barletta. The town will be rebidding lots #10, #5, and #4.
He said that even though several sales of the lots have not been officially completed, they are still under sales agreements, and he was hopeful that the town would see the sale of the remaining lots in question.
