EASTHAM — Despite a bitter disagreement between the sellers and a prospective buyer, the Collins Cove Cottage Colony, a cluster of summer rentals on the shore of Town Cove owned by the same family since the 1920s, now seems likely to be sold for development into condominiums.
At least that’s what the parties’ attorneys say, although Gary Vecchione, the prospective buyer, said on Dec. 23 that he still has concerns about the septic system plans that were approved by the town’s board of health on Dec. 19.
Lawyer Bruce Bierhans, who represents Thomas and Glenn Collins and Lynn (Collins) Francis, said on Dec. 20 that he and Anthony Panebianco, who represents Vecchione, are nearing a resolution that “will benefit everybody.”
A few weeks ago, it looked as if an agreement would not be possible. After an offer had been accepted, the purchase-and-sale agreement didn’t materialize. Vecchione sued the Collins family in Barnstable Superior Court on Aug. 27, asking that the Collinses be ordered to sell him the property for the amount he had offered.
Bierhans notified the court on Dec. 9 that he planned to submit arguments supporting a motion to dismiss Vecchione’s complaint. Bierhans will submit those arguments by Dec. 31, he said, the same deadline Panebianco has to file his opposition.
Health Board Approves
Based on the offer, if the deal is to go forward, the Collins family is responsible for getting an approved septic plan. Vecchione is responsible for installing it.
The board of health took up the proposed septic plan on Dec. 19, and the hearing proceeded more agreeably than anticipated. Vecchione had submitted a list of 112 questions and comments on the plan proposed by the Collinses’ engineer. But when it was his turn to speak, Vecchione quietly stepped to the microphone and asked just two questions, which the engineer easily answered.
Glenn Collins and Lynn Francis, who were present, made no comment.
Panebianco said the next day that some of Vecchione’s questions had been answered before the hearing, thus “the 100 questions were whittled down to two.”
The plan shows a single system designed to serve all seven cottages and calls for a network of septic tanks with pumps, a filtration system, and a leaching area. Most of the system can be driven on, according to project engineer Laura Schofield. With little discussion, the board of health approved the plan.
The seven cottages now have cesspools. “It’s a great thing for the town to have this system going in,” said Bierhans following the hearing.
Vecchione said on Dec. 23 that he had limited his questions at the hearing “because of the ongoing negotiations,” but that he still wasn’t satisfied. “If I don’t get the answers and the results I want from the engineer, I’ll get them under the appeals process,” he said.
Panebianco, however, remained confident things would go forward, saying, “We expect to get a deal done in the next couple of days.”
An Offer and a Pause
The Collins family had put the property on the market in April 2023 with an asking price of $4,999,000. That August, they dropped the price to $4.5 million, and in March 2024, they reduced it to $3,995,000.
Vecchione, as a trustee for Coopertown Realty Trust, submitted an offer of $3.25 million with a $10,000 deposit on July 23. Attorneys on both sides confirmed there are investors behind the condo proposal but declined to name them.
Benchmarks in the offer included a deposit of $140,000 to accompany a purchase-and-sale agreement, to be executed in mid-August. The projected closing date was December 2024.
The date for the purchase and sale passed, however, with the Collins family and Vecchione unable to agree on terms. Vecchione sent a cashier’s check for the $140,000 deposit called for in the deal, but the sellers returned it.
Vecchione has a social media page called Collins Cove Cottage Condos where he has been promoting the benefits of ownership. His posts have outlined plans to convert the cottages to year-round dwellings and sell six of them. One is already reported to be spoken for. Vecchione has posted that he anticipates the two- and three-bedroom cottages will be priced at about $750,000 and the main four-bedroom house at $950,000. The property is 2.7 acres.
Vecchione confirmed that he stopped posting about the project about a week ago as part of his negotiations with the sellers.
