Nantucket Island Resorts Building Five Homes Across From Lola 41

Nantucket Island Resorts is moving ahead with plans to build five single-family homes in downtown Nantucket in the vacant lot across from the Lola 41 restaurant on South Beach Street.

The plans were originally approved by the Planning Board back in 2015 when Nantucket Island Resorts (NIR) received a special permit to develop the five lots, but it had remained vacant over the past eight years. Last month NIR submitted plans for the five single-family homes to the Historic District Commission, which reviewed the overall site plan and designs for two of the homes during its meeting on Oct. 10th. 

The five lots are bordered by the White Elephant residences and the homes will front on White Elephant Way.

"Our current intention is to sell single-family homes," said Jennifer Rotigliano, the senior vice president for marketing with New England Development, the parent company of Nantucket Island Resorts.

The plans for the five homes were designed and presented to the HDC by Matt MacEachern, of Emeritus Nantucket. MacEachern emphasized that each home has been designed to look distinct from the others.

"Every house is its own distinct design and draws from historic context," MacEachern told the members of the HDC last week. The site is located in a flood plain, he added, so the first finished floors of the homes will be elevated. 

The plans were held for minor revisions, but the HDC members were generally positive in their initial review.

Micky Rowland, chair of the Historic Structures Advisory Board, urged the inclusion of a sidewalk in front of the homes, stating that it would be unusual for such dwellings not to have one in the downtown historic district. He also asked MacEachern to consider.