It began with a suburban-style subdivision plan, polished
like a shiny apple: Maximum density, 54 luxury homes, two beach clubs
with swimming pools.
It ended last week with a record real estate sale and a
subdivision plan of a markedly different color: Six new luxury homes
added to five existing homes and a vast sweep of farmland saved
forever.
But between the beginning and the end of the Herring Creek
Farm story there is another story.
Ending months of speculation and more than a decade of bitter warring over development plans - both in and out of court - the 215-acre, ecologically rare Herring Creek Farm in Edgartown was sold this week for a record $64 Million.
The new owners of the storied Great Plains farm include The Nature Conservancy, the FARM Institute and three private buyers.
Some 81 acres of land that was formerly part of the storied Pohogonot Farm in Edgartown was sold to a private buyer late last week for a total sale price of $15.5 million. The sale marks the largest single residential real estate transaction in dollar value in the history of the Island, topping the $12 million sale of 80 acres on the North Shore in West Tisbury last year.
The property was purchased by three realty trusts; the principal owner behind the trusts wishes to remain private.
Million-dollar sales, mostly in Edgartown and Chilmark, are dominating the Island’s real estate market, as figures from the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank make abundantly clear.
Hard numbers illustrating the trend underscore urgent concerns about the lack of affordable housing, the subject of a standing-room-only forum last weekend.
A rising tide lifts all boats, and the evolution of million-dollar price tags from shocking rarities to barely remarked commonplaces has ratcheted up the cost of even the most basic shelter.
The Sharp house on Starbuck’s Neck in Edgartown was sold this week to a Connecticut family for $11,225,000.
The price is a Martha’s Vineyard benchmark of sorts, although a north shore property that included 80 acres of waterfront property sold last year for $12 million.
The summer home on Starbuck’s Neck is a single dwelling on three acres — but among the most prime three acres on the Vineyard, with a lawn down to Edgartown outer harbor facing Edgartown Lighthouse.
The dollar volume of real estate sales on Martha’s Vineyard was far higher in 1999 than in any previous year, reaching almost $350 million. The previous record, in 1998, was about $308 million.
Although it has been clear in recent years that a real estate boom is sweeping the Island, the figures are stark proof. The current boom began in 1996, when the total real estate sales for the year reached $186 million, climbing to $243 million the following year. The last two years have been simply astonishing.
