Kennebunk moves forward with sale of historic 1820 fixer-upper home

KENNEBUNK, Maine — The town is on the verge of selling the vacant house it owns at 15 Portland Road .

During a two-minute special meeting on Monday, the Kennebunk Select Board voted 6-0-1 to authorize Town Manager Heather Balser to negotiate a purchase-and-sale agreement for the house with an interested buyer, Croan M. McCormick.

The vote also gives Balser the authority to take necessary steps to complete the sale, including executing all necessary documents.

The expected amount of the sale is $420,000, which is $5,000 more than the price at which it was listed on the real estate market.

Balser said money earned from the sale would go into the town’s general fund. She called the impending sale a “positive step for all involved.”

“The new owner has the ability to make much-needed improvements and return the property to its former character,” Balser said. “Additionally, the property is a prominent residence that will contribute to our historic district. The sale will also return the property to town tax rolls.”

The town purchased the 1820 home and surrounding 5 acres for $765,000 back in the fall of 2019. Earlier that year, voters approved spending up to $825,000 for the purchase and improvement of the property.

According to a market condition assessment conducted in 2023, the cost to renovate the house and bring it up to a habitable condition is estimated to be between $360,000 and $500,000.

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A 2023 survey revealed the structure, vacant since 2015, contains asbestos and lead. The survey also found that the rooms are deteriorated, and the electrical panels are faulty and dangerous.

Efforts to sell the house got underway in 2020 after voters authorized the town to explore selling it and other parts of the 5 acres to help generate revenue to help cover economic shortfalls created by the pandemic.

The home sits on less than an acre. Once it is sold, the town will still have more than 4 acres of open space that can be considered for the construction of new municipal buildings in the future, Select Board Chair Miriam Whitehouse said during an interview after the meeting on Monday.

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Whitehouse said the town will have an easement providing access from Portland Road to the property beyond the home.

Kathy Ostrander Roberts of Aland Realty Group served as the realtor for the property, according to Whitehouse.

Whitehouse said the town acquired the house as part of the overall land purchase nearly five years ago but never had the intention of renovating it for any kind of municipal use. The structure is in the town’s Historic Preservation Overlay District, so it cannot be demolished or significantly altered.

“Somebody will fix it up, and we’ll recoup part of what we paid for it,” she said. “That’s always a good thing.”

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk moves forward with sale of historic 1820 fixer-upper home