The Nantucket Land Bank on Friday announced two major acquisitions of waterfront properties, including a 4.23-acre parcel along Madaket Harbor for $8 million, and a one-acre property on Nantucket Harbor in front of the Our Island Home nursing facility for $4.8 million. The two property acquisitions are the first by the Land Bank in 2022, following a year in which the island’s 2 percent transfer fee on real estate transactions netted the organization more than $50 million in revenue. “We’ve made two wise buys for posterity,” said Nantucket Land Bank Chair Neil Paterson. “These properties check all the boxes for us. We’re very excited to get them.”
The Madaket Harbor property is located at 189 Eel Point Road and abuts existing conservation properties owned by both the Land Bank and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. The property features areas of salt marsh, maritime shrubland, low dunes, and a walking path to the beach along Madaket Harbor. “Eel Point is a well-known haven for nesting shorebirds as well as an excellent hunting ground for raptors, so this property is sure to become a popular sunset and birdwatching destination,” the Land Bank stated in its announcement of the acquisition. As part of the deal with the seller of the parcel, Fernando Osorio, the Land Bank will lease the property back to Osorio for a period of five years during which the organization will conduct permitting to allow public use of the land. “It’s a property that makes sense,” Paterson said. “It joins other public lands, there’s waterfront, and it will provide more parking for beach access at a very popular beach. He (Osorio) was willing to take less because he knew the public would have access to a place that was near and dear to him.”
The other property acquired by the Land Bank on Friday is located at 19 East Creek Road, and it connects to a nearly contiguous stretch of waterfront land already controlled by the Land Bank. It includes a 3,800 square foot home, along with a licensed dock that the Land Bank intends to rebuild for public use. “The Land Bank intends to explore the idea of creating an accessible viewing platform where the dwelling currently sits, in order to make this view available to people of all ages and abilities,” the Land Bank stated. “Waterfront acquisitions like these expand the Land Bank’s ability to implement coastal resiliency measures on our shorelines, with the goal of protecting important downtown infrastructure and properties.” The Nantucket Harbor property was sold by Anchialine Properties LLC, a company controlled by Kevin McAuliffe, of Palo Alto, CA, and Gregory Reyes, of Manhattan, MT. “We’re going to try to put in a viewing platform that has access from Our Island Home so our elders can actually get down there,” Paterson said.
