Moving Out: A Private Island, With Cottage, On Coventry Lake
Posted on July 21st, 2011
Islands are not the sort of thing that hit the market every day. Nor do you see many priced at $295,000. But that’s how much Jon King is asking for his private island on Coventry Lake, a rustic, 2-acre getaway with its own dock, small cottage and freshwater pond.
King, a realtor at Weichert Realtors, Four Corners Real Estate in Storrs, is selling the property — one of four investments properties he owns — to generate some much-needed cash before his youngest son heads off to college in the fall. To entice potential buyers, he is offering to donate $10,000 of the sale to a charity. As for negotiations, King says he is flexible and open to a partnership with the right person or to working with a nonprofit land-preservation and wildlife-conservation group.
The island is the only one on Coventry Lake, according to Eric Trott, Coventry’s town planner. Its clean water makes it perfect for boating, fishing and swimming in the summer and ice fishing in the winter, he said. The 375-acre lake has long drawn New Yorkers and, in the 1930s, vaudeville performers established an actors’ colony on the west side. The streets are named for Clark Gable, Carole Lombard and other stars. Tommy Dorsey performed at a casino there, said Bill Jobbagy, the town’s ad hoc historian and the author of a book about East Coventry. Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are among other big names believed to have performed or vacationed there, he said.
King, a 53-year-old Canterbury resident, had long wondered about the wooded island, which he could see from his cottage on the lake. Then one day he noticed a man pounding a “For Sale” sign into the ground.
He and his wife, Sharon, jumped into their boat to check out the island. The ground was choked with underbrush and the railings of a run-down cottage on the property were entangled with bittersweet vine. Shack might be a more accurate word to describe the structure, he said. It had big barn doors and had been boarded up for a while.
But the Kings saw the tiny island’s potential.
“We fell in love with it and made the first offer,” said Jon King. “We had a vision.”
Lugging building materials to the island by boat, King transformed the neglected 280-square-foot structure into a cozy, if rustic, hideaway. He replaced siding and installed new windows. The interior sheetrock is new, as is the roof. The original two rooms of the cottage were opened up into one room big enough for a queen-size bed. It also has a kitchenette with a two-burner cook top, a half bathroom with a composting toilet, and a propane heater.
“It’s a hotel room on an island,” King said.
Here’s the rustic part: The cottage has no hot water and needs a generator for electricity. Water has to be hand-pumped from a well.
But what it lacks in amenities is offset by the abundance of natural beauty surrounding the cottage, King said. He uncovered the small freshwater pond while clearing away the brush. Three-quarters of the acreage is maintained as a wildlife refuge and, on a recent morning, King reported seeing blue heron, cormorants and a kingfisher as he pulled up in his boat.
The Kings renamed the island Underwood Island in honor of the overgrown condition in which they found it and a rumor about its past. King had heard that a member of the family that owned the Underwood Typewriter Co. vacationed on the island with his mistress. Jobbagy could not confirm that, but the New York-based manufacturer did own a large leather mill in Tolland, he said.
King and his wife hang out on the island most weekends, but have also rented it to vacationers in the summer and ice fishermen in the winter. A few years ago, a couple held their small wedding there, he said.
King initially listed the island on privateislandsinc.com, the site of a Toronto-based brokerage specializing exclusively in island real estate worldwide. His $695,000 asking price was well below the $350-million-plus price tags at the high end of the company’s listings, but he still got no bites. King has since reduced the price, listed it with Weichert, Realtors and on Craigslist. The island also got a mention in Connecticut magazine and has been available at its current price for about a month, King said.
King describes himself as “real estate rich and cash poor.” His tone is urgent as he ticks off the island’s many attributes. The lake is 20 minutes from Hartford and convenient to shopping in neighboring Manchester, he notes. Willimantic and The University of Connecticut are just 10 minutes away. The island can only be accessed by boat, but it is just 100 yards from shore. It has a southern exposure that make it well suited for solar power, he said.
“Everybody dreams of owning an island and here’s your opportunity,” King said. “Here’s a good opportunity.”
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Tags: Coventry Lake, Lake, Private Island
Filed under Real Estate Agent |