EASTHAM — Brewster businessman Gary Vecchione bought the 2.7-acre Collins cottages property on the shore of Town Cove in late February for $3.25 million. Now he’s put the place back on the market. This time the asking price is $6 million.
Vecchione’s original idea was to convert the houses at 150 State Highway — which the Collins family had rented out as simple, seasonal vacation places for over 100 years — into year-round condominiums. Vecchione announced his plans to sell them individually on social media in December, even before the purchase closed.
Once the dust settled on a lawsuit Vecchione brought against the Collinses and the sale was finalized, he secured a permit for an innovative/alternative septic system for the complex to replace the old cesspools. The project has also received a special permit from the zoning board of appeals to convert the commercial cottage colony to residential use and a site plan special permit from the planning board.
The zoning board made its special permit conditional, however, on a covenant between the select board and Vecchione that would prohibit the use of the units as short-term rentals.
According to that covenant, the units must be owner-occupied or rented for a period of not less than 12 consecutive months. While it allows some units to be used for housing seasonal employees, those must not be rented for more than six consecutive months.
The zoning board’s approval also came with conditions. It requires the installation of the septic system, which is now on hold because of a dispute over a fence between Vecchione and the conservation commission.
Vecchione initially listed six of the seven buildings individually for sale in March, with asking prices ranging from $599,000 to $1.2 million. Vecchione planned to retain ownership of cottage #5.
Recently, Vecchione placed a large portion of the property along with six cottages on the market for $4,995,000. That price didn’t include the boathouse, the oyster shack, and some of the boat slips. Vecchione also excluded the cottage he planned to buy for himself.
Both the larger listing and the individual offerings of the cottages generated some interest, according to listing brokers Sarah Keith and Arthur Radtke, whose Cape Cod Bliss is part of eXp Realty, “a leading global, cloud-based real estate brokerage,” according to its website.
The new $6 million listing, which at the Independent’s July 29 deadline was set to be advertised on July 30, includes the property in its entirety, Keith said.
“Gary has spent a lot of time considering the whole package and what the whole property could offer,” Keith said on July 28. “He has done a lot of engineering plans and a lot of investment in getting the property surveyed and engineered and enhanced.” His effort also included the change from seasonal rentals to year-round condos, she said.
Vecchione told the Independent that his decision to list the entire property was prompted by two buyers with serious interest. He decided to give up purchasing cottage #5 to “do what’s best to help the sale along.”
Before any sale can be finalized, Vecchione must install the septic system that will serve the complex. The conservation commission has issued a stop-work order on the septic system installation and all work in resource and buffer areas on the property until Vecchione removes a fence he installed without the required permit.
The commission has been fining Vecchione $100 per day since May 29 for his continued refusal to remove the fence.
The commission had given Vecchione two weeks to take down the fence following a tense exchange at its May 14 meeting.
Vecchione argued that the town’s building commissioner was its “flood plain administrator” and therefore had authority over installation of the fence. He said he had attempted to contact Justin Post, then the building commissioner, by email asking whether the fence complied. Post, he said, had not replied.
Post recently left Eastham to take the building commissioner’s position in Wellfleet.
Conservation commission chair Karen Strauss told Vecchione the authority for administering the wetlands regulations lies with her commission, not the building commissioner, so there was no need to delay further.
The commission, Strauss said, had met with Vecchione three times to discuss the fence and to await an after-the-fact filing of a notice of intent, which had yet to be made. The time had come to issue an enforcement order. Commissioners gave Vecchione two weeks to remove the fence, making the deadline May 28.
Vecchione accused the commission of usurping his right to talk to the building commissioner before making a decision. “You want to make an enforcement order?” he said, “We’ll challenge it.”
During the July 28 phone call, Vecchione said he had spoken with a clerk magistrate about getting the fines stopped while he works on compliance. “It’s a fight I don’t want to have right now,” he said. “I have other important things to put my attention into.”
Once the sale goes through, Vecchione said, he’ll be on to the next project. “I’ve got my eye on something in Wellfleet.”
