Hersey House will be Sold for $1.25 Million to Lincoln Street Neighbor

The Hingham Board of Selectmen have decided to sell the historic Hersey House to Lincoln Street neighbor John McDowell.

 “Three minutes to complete 13 years of work,” Chairman Bruce Rabuffo said at the Selectmen meeting on March 22.

 According to Rabuffo,  since 1998, there has been a lot of discussion on the disposition of the historic, three acre property in downtown Hingham.

 The three selectmen accepted a $1.25 million bid from McDowell rather than sell  the 18^th century house  located on 229 North St. to the  Concord-based developer, NOW Communities LLC.  An agreement will now be drawn up by town personnel to finalize the sale.

Both McDowell and NOW Communities had placed two proposals each for the historic house. The Selectmen rated each proposal by a set of six components, including the price, use, the effect on the neighborhood, the historic preservation restrictions,  contingencies and  how much of the property would be sold. According to the Board of Selectmen, each of the criteria was evaluated with ratings of "very advantageous," " advantageous,"  "not advantageous" or "unacceptable."

  “McDowells proposal No. 1 received the highest number of votes,” said Rabuffo.

McDowell’s most expensive proposal – to renovate the Hersey House into one or two parcels – was the favorite. McDowell also plans restore a barn on the property.

According to Assistant Town Administrator Betty Foley, the proposals that were not accepted included a  $850,000 bid from McDowell for only a portion of the property, for a one residential unit.  NOW Communities also submitted two proposals for the full parcel: one for $1.05 million  and one for $600,000.  NOW Communities’ proposals planned to reconstruct the house into 12-16 units,  and both proposals would have required the town to rezone the property.

 McDowell’s purchase comes two years after the town revoked the sale of the Hersey property to developer Thomas Hastings.

According to Rabuffo, in 2004 the town entered into an agreement with Hastings to put affordable housing units into the property. 

 “The design process that went with that caused changes in his initial proposal to occur,” Rabuffo said.

 The Hersey House was donated to Hingham in 1948 by Ira Hersey Sr.   In the past it had been used for school  and town services and was once used as Hingham’s  senior center.