For 30 days no one offered to buy this lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay.
Then came the first commandment. And a second. And soon there was a bidding war for a lighthouse that cannot be used for residential or rental purposes, is located in a Navy-controlled “danger zone,” and will cost a significant amount of money to maintain according to certain conservation standards.
The five potential buyers increased the Hooper Island Lighthouse’s starting price of $15,000 to its high bid on September 22 of $192,000. The auction ended the next day after 24 hours without a single competing bid.
The new owner of the Hooper Island Lighthouse, whose identity will remain undisclosed until final documentation is signed within 45 days of the date of sale, must maintain the lighthouse as an active navigational aid for the US Coast Guard and maintain it in accordance with historical standards and a memorandum sign an agreement with the Navy that specifies when it can be accessed, said Will Powell, a spokesman for the US General Services Administration (GSA).
“We’ve had a lot of calls and a lot of interest from people about this property, and we’ve just started explaining to them … that’s what you address with it,” Powell said. “It is a unique opportunity. And there are people out there who love lighthouses.”
Since 2000, the year the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act went into effect, the GSA has transferred approximately 148 lighthouses. That’s 82 free referrals to public entities such as nonprofits and 66 through public sales that have raised more than $8 million. Any proceeds in excess of the cost of sale will be returned to federal agencies and the Treasury Department, Powell said.
Three lighthouses in the Florida Keys were auctioned earlier this year and “had very eager bidders,” with final prices ranging from $415,000 to $860,000, Powell said.
A lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay is up for auction. So far no one has bid on it.
But this particular lighthouse, affectionately known as “the spark plug” by locals, is best described as what it cannot offer to a new owner.
The lighthouse is located in the middle of the bay, three to four miles west of Middle Hooper Island in Dorchester County, Maryland, and has no nearby dock for a boat to moor, meaning visitors would have to navigate waves and weather, to tie the boat to the outer ladder of the lighthouse and climb up.
The property cannot be converted into a unique Airbnb or vacation home. Even if it were possible, it would be a massive undertaking as there is no water, sewerage, electricity or gas. What was once a kitchen area now stands empty.
According to a 2019 inspection report, an overnight stay is also made difficult by the hazardous materials inside the structure, including lead-based paint, asbestos, benzene and a host of other hazardous substances.
Whenever the new owner decides to work on the lighthouse – which also has issues with erosion and paint peeling due to age and exposure to wind and salt – he has to work with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) of communicate the Navy. The lighthouse is located in the northeast corner of a “surface danger zone,” meaning it is within the test area where the NAWCAD can launch non-explosive ordnance such as practice bombs, inert rockets, and rockets from aircraft.
Owning and maintaining this lighthouse was too difficult even for the US Lighthouse Society, a national organization with more than 3,000 members and previous owners of the lighthouse. The federal government, which has been trying to unload the lighthouse since 2017, auctioned it off on behalf of the organization and decided to open bids to the public after exhausting other options.
Greg Krawczyk, vice president of the US Lighthouse Society’s Chesapeake chapter, was happy to hear that someone had finally bought the lighthouse.
“It has a better chance now, maybe of being saved and restored,” Krawczyk said, adding that a high price is a good sign. “Someone had money; that is what you need.”
Source : www.washingtonpost.com
