Bids on waterfront ex-Coast Guard housing site on Fishers Island close
This Fishers Island property, once a U.S. Coast Guard housing site, is on the auction block. Credit: GSA
After a weeks-long bidding war between two parties, the online auction of a former U.S. Coast Guard housing site on Fishers Island has closed at $2.1 million, according to the GSA Auctions website.
Since May, five bidders had made offers on the 0.8-acre Southold property, now called The Cove, according to Paul Hughes, a public affairs officer for the U.S. General Services Administration. The action picked up in August, when several parties began repeatedly outbidding each other — a move that drove the price from a starting bid of $1 million to just over twice that by auction's close on Wednesday.
"The sales price for the lot itself really does not reflect the quality or the value of the building, it’s really the location and the fact that it has waterfront dockage that becomes part of the whole sale,” said Timothy R. Dring, a volunteer maritime historian who supports the USCG with requests for information.
The auction, which opened May 8, had reached its "soft close" phase by September, Hughes said. A "soft close" is the online version of the auctioneer's refrain, "Going once, going twice." If a bid comes in within 24 hours before close, the clock resets. This prevents any party from making a last-minute offer before other bidders have the chance to compete.
The $2.1 million bid by bidder number three came in Tuesday at 11:09 a.m. The move was in keeping with recent bidding activity: Over the past few weeks, bidders two and three were fighting for the chance to purchase the property.
The Greenwood Road parcel was once used as living quarters for the Search and Rescue Detachment (SARDET) for the Coast Guard. It was then known as SARDET Fishers Island.
Located next to the Fishers Island Ferry Dock, the property includes a two-story, 2,700-square-foot Cape with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Beyond a driveway and perimeter fencing, the property has approximately 132 feet of waterfront on Silver Eel Cove on the western side of the island.
A Coast Guard or other military building is typically built for function rather than design and "gets pretty hard usage," Dring said.
“More importantly, is the location, that it’s a waterfront location with its own very substantial concrete dock, and it’s in a protected area, where it’s not likely to be affected very much by storm surge," Dring said. "That makes it all the more valuable."
There are a 50-by-20-foot wooden deck and 42-by-10-foot floating dock on the property, according to auction documentation.
The house was previously used as living quarters for several seasonal crew members who would stay for the summer, Dring said. Eventually, the USCG stopped using the site.
"The USCG determined that the property was no longer necessary for their mission," Hughes wrote in an email.
Bidders were required to register in advance and submit a $100,000 deposit. Bids began at $1 million and increased in increments of $10,000.
Half a mile away, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house on Winthrop Drive is on the market for $2.2 million. About two miles away from the Greenwood Road residence, a 3,235-square-foot house with five bedrooms and three bathrooms is listed for $5.3 million.
The U.S General Services Administration, which facilitated the auction, has 30 days from the auction's close to conduct due diligence on the highest bidder. Additional bids will not be accepted during this period, the GSA confirmed.
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Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
