The West Tisbury property that was at the center of a furor last spring when it was bought by the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival has been sold again, this time to a daughter of the previous owner.
Katherine Walsh and her husband Bruce Fernie bought 694 Old County Road on Jan. 20 for $1.5 million. The 12.5-acre property includes two parcels, one with a house, the other vacant farmland. Ms. Walsh is the daughter of the late Cynthia Walsh who formerly owned the property. The seller is the film festival, doing business as Sea the World Productions Inc., a nonprofit corporation whose president is Steven Bernier.
The film festival bought the property last year for $1.4 million and announced preliminary plans to create a campus on the site for film viewing, creative workshops related to film production and expanded education programs for children.
But the idea sparked an uproar among neighbors and other residents who were concerned about traffic and other changes to the bucolic rural neighborhood. The West Tisbury selectmen, town historical commission and others urged the film festival to reconsider the plan. In the end the property purchase went through, but film festival leaders said they would abandon their plans and resell the property.
In an email to the Gazette Monday, Ms. Walsh, who lives in Italy with her husband and family, praised the film festival and others for making the transaction possible.
“It is very important to us that the Island community understand that the sensitivity of The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival made our purchase possible,” she wrote. “After the neighbor’s concerns were made known, the MVFF immediately contacted us to see if we were interested in owning the property and were incredibly gracious in allowing us the time to manage the purchase.” She also wrote:
“A big thank you goes to Steven Bernier, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank for helping us to successfully keep the Cleveland House in the family, hopefully for many generations to come.” (The house is the Capt. Henry Cleveland House, not to be confused with the Cleaveland House owned by Cynthia Riggs on the West Tisbury Road.)
Thomas Bena, executive director of the film festival, confirmed the sale Monday. “This is a good outcome and we are glad to know that the property is being kept in the Walsh family,” he said, adding: “We wish them the best.”
Mr. Bena said this week that the resale was for essentially the same price, with a small amount added to cover expenses.
He said the film festival, which is headquartered in rented space in Chilmark, will continue to look for a permanent home but focus in the short term on its rapidly growing educational programs, including for families and children.
“The popularity of our programs has exploded — and we’re ready to go to work,” said Mr. Bena, who has been touring the country recently to show his documentary One Big Home.
The 17th annual film festival, the hallmark event of the nonprofit, is planned for March at the Chilmark Community Center.
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