The new owner of a working lobster wharf next to the landmark Cook’s Lobster & Ale House on Bailey Island in Harpswell says he has no immediate plans to redevelop the property.
Arthur Girard bought the quarter-acre property at 66 Garrison Cove Road at auction Tuesday for $510,000, outbidding the owners of the adjacent restaurant.
The pier was built around 1950 and includes a bait shed and small office that is leased by Eastern Traders, a lobster dealer that serves about two dozen local fishermen.
“Right now, it has about a year and a half to go on the lease, at that point we will take a hard look at it,” Girard said in an interview Wednesday.
Buying the property was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and he expects eventually to sell it to the owners of Cook’s Lobster, he said. When the auction was announced earlier this month, Michael Carey, from Tranzon Auction Properties in Portland said the wharf would probably stay a lobster buying station because it would be too challenging to redevelop it for another use.
Cook’s Lobster House was bought out of bankruptcy in 2015 by Jen and Nick Charboneau who renovated and upgraded the restaurant. Girard and Nick Charboneau were the only two bidders at the wharf auction, according to published reports.
The wharf includes 9,000 square feet of deck area, multiple floats and ramps, about 400 feet of shore footage and a mooring on Garrison Cove.
This isn’t the first unique property Girard has purchased. The local real estate developer was the top bidder for Boon Island Light Station, New England’s tallest lighthouse, in 2014 and lost a bid for the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse in a coin-toss in 2010. Two years ago, Girard donated Ram Island, near Saco, to the University of New England for marine science research, and a shelter for the Animal Rescue League in Westbrook bears his name after he donated $1 million to its construction.
Girard is in commercial real estate, but says auction purchases are a hobby.
“I like buying some of these oddball things,” Girard said. “It is kind of a fun project.”
Peter McGuire can be contacted at 791-6325 or pmcguire@pressherald.com
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