$38 Million Sale Of Monomoy Home Breaks Island Record

The most expensive home ever listed on Nantucket has just sold for $38.1 million, breaking the island record for a single residential home sale.

Owned by longtime island summer residents, Cindy and Evan Jones of Washington DC, the Monomoy compound at 20, 21, and 22 Berekely Avenue was originally listed last year for $56 million and the asking price was ultimately reduced to $48 million.

The buyer was listed as Nantucket Mountain LLC. 

Over the course of the listing period, 20 prospects toured the eight-bedroom plus home which sits on 3.56 acres directly on the harbor in Monomoy. The home features a total of 11 bathrooms and two guest cottages and includes over 15,000 square feet of living area.

While the purchase price of the home was record-breaking, the Joneses purchased the land in 2006 for a then-unprecedented $16 million and without any zoning assurance that it could be fully developed. According to Evan Jones, “the risk we took in purchasing the land was significant and had we been unable to actualize our plans for the property, it would have been a costly mistake.”

The Joneses purchased the property from longtime Nantucket fixture Butsy Lovelace, a well-known sailor and former commodore of the Nantucket Yacht Club. The redevelopment of the site included moving and restoring 200-year-old cottages from the water side of the property as well as relocating 30 100-year-old trees to the perimeter of the land. In 2008, the Joneses then erected the main house which provides sweeping views toward town with direct water access.

According to Cindy Jones, “we invested so much time, effort and resources into this house that we were particularly sensitive to who was buying it.”

While Jones would not share the name of the buyer, she added “the purchasers are an old New England family who we feel will be respectful stewards of the property and appreciated its history which included ownership by a whaling captain a century and a half ago.”

The property was first sold in 1906 for $1 with the caveat that the buyer invested $110 in re-grading the approach to the land. Based on the estimated purchase price, the investment made in 1906 yielded an average annual return of approximately 3,400%.

According to listing broker Marybeth Gilmartin-Baugher, founding partner of The Nantucket Advisory Group at Compass, “The listing generated both local and national attention including features in the Boston Globe.” Gilmartin and her business partner Shelly Tretter Lynch launched a national marketing campaign resulting in the promotion of the property in the Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, as well as local media.

According to Gilmartin, “We had nearly 20 qualified prospects tour the home from professional athletes to captains of industry.”

The buyers of the home were represented by J Pepper Frazier Company on Nantucket.

According to Dalton Frazier, “I couldn’t be more happy for all parties involved - a real win-win situation. The buyer of the property is over the moon and plans to keep this iconic property in the family for generations to come. Growing up in Monomoy, I truly appreciate the beauty and grace of this piece of heaven on earth and was able to express that to the buyer."

When the listing first appeared last year, there was a flurry of consecutive record-breaking sales including 4 Middle Valley Road and 48 Shimmo Pond Road for $37,640,000, 21 Lincoln Avenue for $36,000,000, 63 and 63.5 Hulbert Avenue for $33,000,000 and 42 Easton Street for $32,500,000.

The sale of the land will generate approximately $760,000 to the Land Bank. Both Cindy and Evan Jones indicated that their move was motivated by the evolution of their family from young children to young adults who are now spending the bulk of their time out west where they use a family home in Wyoming.

“While we will be downsizing our presence on Nantucket this property has enormous meaning to us as a family and we hope the new buyers enjoy it as much as we have over the past 17 years.”