Its porches and windows frame Edgartown harbor and the surrounding landscape, drawing visitors from around the Island and the world. It is a favorite spot to sit back and watch the sailboats in the harbor, the changing skies throughout the different seasons and the fireworks on the Fourth of July.

The polished hardwood floors, outdoor showers, stone countertops and crisp white paneled walls would be unrecognizable to Captains Bradley, Luce, Collins, Morse, Osborne, Rowley and Huxford, the whaling captains for whom the cottages at the Harbor View Hotel are named. Nor would the hotel employees who rented rooms in the cottages in the 1960s recognize them now.

There's nothing like a deadline to keep a project rolling full
steam ahead. In this case, the deadline is a mother in law's
visit. The project to be finished in time for one of the
Vineyard's busiest weekends is phase one of a three year, $77
million plan to restore and enhance the former Harbor View Hotel on
North Water street in Edgartown.

A Nantucket-based investment group closed on a deal last week to buy the Harbor View Hotel and Kelley House properties in Edgartown; total sale price was $45.1 million. The sale provided a tidy windfall for the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, netting the agency just over $900,000 in fees. The sale closed Dec. 20 with four separate transactions. Scout Real Estate Capital LLC purchased the turn-of-the-century Harbor View Hotel for $32.5 million and the Kelley House pub and inn complex for $12.6 million.

The Harbor View Hotel, a shingle-style turn-of-the-century hotel that graces the entrance to the Edgartown harbor at Starbuck's Neck, is set for sale to a Nantucket-based investment group, along with the Kelley House, an 18th century tavern that is now a pub and inn complex spanning Water and Dock streets.

The properties represent a significant piece of downtown real estate in Edgartown, as well as two of the best known resorts on the Vineyard.