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Land Bank, Town Partner to Convert Beach Homes into Attainable Housing

One Community Update
January 29, 2026

Source: The Inquirer and Mirror

The Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust and Land Bank have worked out quite the win-win for islanders.

The two entities are partnering to provide middle-income homeownership opportunities on the island’s west end by moving existing residential structures from 41 Jefferson Ave., a Land Bank property and public beach, to 158 Madaket Road, a vacant lot that is about to be purchased by the Trust for $2 million.

Three of the five dwellings on the beachfront Jefferson Avenue property will be moved to 158 Madaket Road, totaling eight bedrooms.

Two will be moved to a Land Bank property at 159 Hummock Pond Road and become employee housing.

The hope is to move the buildings this spring, likely in April or May, Land Bank executive director Rachael Freeman said.

The moving costs for all five dwellings will be covered by the Land Bank, but considering the project is still in the procurement process “we won’t really know the true costs until after we receive competitive bids,” she said Tuesday.

The entire process of dividing the units, moving them and then restoring them was estimated by Freeman last year to cost between $6 million and $10 million.

The Land Bank had been looking to open up the .94-acre Jefferson Avenue lot since it purchased it in November 2024 for $26 million with the intention of making a new public beach on Nantucket’s north shore just outside downtown.

While the new beach was open to the public this past season with the structures still in place, removing the dwellings will make the property more accessible to the public.

But that’s just one of many up-sides to the arrangement, Freeman said.

“There are homeownership opportunities being made readily available to islanders, the buildings themselves are being preserved and re-used on the island, the Land Bank will be able to see fulfillment of the plan for the 41 Jefferson property by fully opening this new acre-sized beach to the public with ready access,” she said. “The Affordable Housing Trust and Land Bank continue to build on our partnership and shared interest in supporting and strengthening our community through this joint collaboration.”

Town housing director Kristie Ferrantella told the Affordable Housing Trust last week that the units will help serve the island’s “missing middle,” those that make too much to qualify for affordable housing units but make too little to afford market-rate homes.

On Nantucket that is defined as earning between 150 and 240 percent of the area-median-income (between $229,650 and $367,440 for a family of four).

The dwellings will also be year-round deed restricted.

“The Housing Department and the Affordable Housing Trust are excited that this collaboration with the NLB is coming to fruition. It is creating much needed homeownership opportunities, and it is an example of the production that results from collaborative efforts. This is an ongoing project that has been in the works for several months,” Ferrantella said in a statement Tuesday.

“This partnership is a strong complement to the initiatives already underway to expand year-round homeownership opportunities on Nantucket. It shows how housing and environmental goals can be advanced together: keeping existing structures in use, stewarding conservation land responsibly and creating deed-restricted homeownership units for year-round residents,” she said.

Housing staff has been in talks with Franz Peter Arzt, owner of the Madaket Road property, over the last several weeks, negotiating a bargain sale in which he would take slightly less than the market price of the property and write off the remainder as a charitable donation.

The property was listed for $2,375,000. It is assessed at just under $1.5 million.

The Trust authorized the purchase and sale agreement last Thursday and closing is scheduled for March 9 pending authorization from the Select Board.

Arzt “expressed a strong interest in seeing this property being used to support Nantucket’s affordable and attainable housing goals,” Ferrantella said last week.

The lot comes with an already-approved septic system design that allows for the eight bedrooms that will be moved on-site.

The $2 million being spent by the Trust will come from funds previously approved by Town Meeting voters, specifically a 2024 vote that allowed the town to borrow $45 million for the purposes of property acquisition and attainable housing development. About $39 million of that still remains, Ferrantella added.

The Land Bank and Trust are also partnering on the purchase of a conservation restriction on the property.

“Housing stability is also a sustainability issue – when people who work here can live here, it strengthens our community and reduces pressure on limited resources. We’re proud of this collaboration and we look forward to building on it with future projects,” Ferrantella said.