186 Shore Road
186 Shore Road used to be occupied by a nifty little cape, and I would often get inquiries from my clients asking what they might be able to buy it for. I would explain that, while the small house was within their price range, the land it sat on was way beyond their budget.
But not beyond the budget of local builder Mark O’Brien, who tore down the cape and started this one, only to change his mind about living in town. Last heard, Mark sold his own waterfront property for a huge sum and has taken his family to New Zealand, which makes me jealous as hell. His former partners at Greenwich Land Co. , excellent builders in their own right, took over and finished the project and have listed it today for $8 million. That’s pretty daring, I think.
We have seen $8 million reached on Shore Road recently but that was for direct waterfront with spectacular views east down Long Island Sound. I haven’t seen the views from this one (open house is later this morning) but I wouldn’t think there’s anything but water glimpses – not the same thing. And while it’s true that, after sunset when Tod’s is closed, Shore Road is transformed into a quiet dead-end street, it is quite different during the day. And this house is right on that road.
So will someone pay $8 million for the convenience of being able to walk to the beach, even if there’s a steady stream of traffic outside ten hours a day? I guess we’ll find out.
UPDATE: It was 200 Shore road that sold a year ago, $7.750 million on an $8 million ask, 23 days. But while it’s only a few yards down the road, it’s also directly on the water, and that makes a huge difference, or I would think it would. Here’s the view from 200′s veranda – prettier than a view of Ned Cole bringing busloads of New Haven kids to the beach.
O’brien paid 2.61M for the lot. Looks like the new house is around 5,500 sf x 400/sf = 2.2M const. cost. So, all in 4.8M plus carrying costs………would guess this thing will go to contract to the first idiot who bids in the high 4′s.
Let’s hope that Mark used a different plumber than the one he used on his Binney Lane beauties.
Well, it’s 0.68 of an acre in an R-12 zone, so there’s room for 9,500 sq. ft. Looks from the outside as though they used up all of that. Still $850 a foot, about, and that’s a lot.
Anon is right – high 4s tops.
After attending the open house, would like to hear how CF would price this home in today’s market if he was the listing agent.
Pricing opinion CF?
Chris – why would you let the seller waste your time going by going to this open house when the asking price is clearly unrealistic and the odds of producing a buyer are almost 0%? Don’t you have better things to do with your time?
Is it just me but I am not a fan of the siding; the placement of the garage and layout seem a bit akward
Garden State Brickface has some nice patterns available to smarten up the stonework.
7 Binney lane just chopped 500k off their asking price. Still looking for 500k more than they paid in 2007.
Do those houses age any better than his Modular ones?
I think it’s more important who built the house, xyzzy, than how he built it. I know that the owners of Binney aded some stuff (like a pool and a nifty driveway made in the Australian style) after they bought it but in this market, I tend to award zero credit for those things. So I think they have a ways to go, but then again, if someone really wants Binney Lane, and it is a nice street, maybe they’ll pay up.
7 Binney Lane has an interesting history — completely flooded from the basement to the first floor not once but twice. Owners were away both times on vacation and returned 10 feet plus of standing water from a burst pipe on the 2nd floor. That is, house has been unlivable for a good portion of the time these folks have owned it. Major, major repairs necessary each time. Evidently, some water pipes are too close to outside wall and perhaps not properly insulated — perhaps a modular design flaw? Guessing the present owners want out before the mercury hits 32 again.