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State has difficulty finding buyer for mansion with $700,000 pricetag
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FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP - While the recession may have cooled the housing market across the country, it has done little to reduce interest in what some have described as one of Cumberland County's hottest pieces of real estate.
Eagle Manor, a historic, 10-bedroom riverfront mansion nestled in the marshes off Back Neck Road, is up for grabs. In addition to the 5,200-square-foot main house, built by the Sheppard family in 1736, the 11.7-acre property boasts a guesthouse, boathouse and other outbuildings surrounded by 600 acres of preserved land.
It is currently owned by the state Department of Environmental Protection, which acquired the property two years ago for inclusion into the 3,400-acre Dix Wildlife Management Area. After subdividing the house out from the land it wants to keep, the state put Eagle Manor on the block. The minimum bid is $700,000.
The only problem, it seems, is this: Those who want it the most do not have the money to buy or maintain it.
The South Jersey Bayshore Coalition, a group of 21 environmental organizations dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the Delaware Bay, submitted a proposal last year identifying the site as the perfect place to build a comprehensive education and conservation center.
To make it happen, however, the coalition said it would need to bring in corporate or philanthropic dollars to support acquisition and upkeep.
Matt Blake, the Delaware Bay program manager for the American Littoral Society in Bridgeton, said soliciting that kind of money in the current economic climate has been difficult.
"There's an opportunity here, at the Eagle Manor site, where you can create a facility that could become a huge tourist destination," he said. "Unfortunately, the economy tanked on us, and the interests out there quickly dissipated."
Although the property was scheduled for online bidding June 19, the auction failed after no bids met the required $700,000 minimum.
Robert Tighue, the Treasury Department official managing the auction, said there were several serious prospects but that legal issues involving deed restrictions on the house were not clarified in time.
The state is looking to set up another auction at a later date, he said.
Those affiliated with area nonprofits, however, continue to covet Eagle Manor as an ideal location for what the 21-member group dubbed the "Delaware Bay Conservation Center."
In the proposal, authors Francis Rapa, of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, and Larry Niles, of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, envision a multidisciplinary center that would encompass a variety of interests, from estuarine research to American Indian studies.
"Eagle Manor is a microcosm of the Delaware Bayshore," Rapa and Niles wrote. "There is probably no better example of Delaware Bayshore ecology and cultural resources than the area of the Eagle Manor property."
Cindy Zirkle, president of the Cohansey Area River Preservation group, said last week that she, too, understood the site's great potential as a public facility.
"It is an absolutely gorgeous property," Zirkle said. "Probably one of the most historically significant properties in Cumberland County."
But Zirkle said the economic reality of running a place such as Eagle Manor made the prospect of turning it into a conservation center simply unfeasible.
"In this day and age, to find someone with deep enough pockets to maintain it and lease it, it would be really tough," she said. "The economy just doesn't support that. The maintenance is killer."
Apparently even for the state of New Jersey.
"We don't have the resources to maintain it," said Karen Hershey, a DEP spokeswoman. "It is certainly a beautiful, unique site. There's no question about that. We recognize that. But our Wildlife Management Areas are created to protect habitat and other natural areas and to provide certain kinds of recreation that are consistent with our conservation goals. We have to keep in mind the objectives of the Wildlife Management Area."
According to those familiar with the auction, the serious bidders for the Eagle Manor property included a couple from Connecticut and a man from New York City.
Some of the restrictions on the site include a historic easement, which would prevent any changes from being made to the facade of the main house. The lucky buyer also would have to drill a well on the property to supply potable water.
Even if Eagle Manor never becomes the major center that the South Jersey Bayshore Coalition hope it would be, Blake said he was confident it was just a matter of time before it is built somewhere else.
"There's nothing like that in the bayshore," Blake said. "One of the counties is going to get it, and it's going to be huge for them."
E-mail John Martins:
Posted in Cumberland on Monday, July 6, 2009 3:05 am Updated: 9:03 am.
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