Nahant’s Coast Guard housing lots set for sale

NAHANT — Town Administrator Tony Barletta announced that the town will move forward in the process of selling the lots that were once Coast Guard housing properties on Castle Road and Goddard Drive without contracting a real-estate broker.

He said the main reason for the decision had to do with an issue that occurred during the procurement process. A review team composed of Board of Selectmen Chairman Josh Antrim, Finance Director Alison Nieto, and Town Moderator Dave Conlin inadvertently received the proposals without the prices redacted.

“Both the non-price proposals and the price proposals were sent to the review team,” Barletta said. “We don’t believe that the price proposals influenced the scoring of the non-price proposals in any way.”

He said that while he could have awarded one of the five applicants with a contract despite the hiccup, there would be a chance for one of the applicants who were not selected to protest the bid.

Nahant purchased the Coast Guard housing land from the federal government in 2004. The town still owes $1.8 million, which is due by January, on a loan used to purchase the property, and plans to pay off the loan by selling the property. Barletta said that a bid protest could delay the sale process significantly enough that he and his staff could miss the loan deadline. While he asserted that the services of a broker would have been very helpful, he believes the town can sell the first group of lots on its own.

“There’s no open house, there’s no home inspection, it’s just empty lots,” Barletta said. “So it’s a little bit more doable on our own.”

He added that bringing on a broker for the second group of lots remains a possibility.

This first group of lots sold will include at least four out of the total nine lots. Barletta expressed excitement, as he expects the properties will be up for sale in the next month.

“I encourage prospective buyers and interested parties to begin preparing themselves to be in a position to submit a competitive qualifying bid,” Barletta said. “The town will be putting out more and more information as we get closer to the process.”

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