Big parcel covering three towns on auction block
A 455-acre piece of forest land in North Stonington, Preston and Griswold near Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos will be up for auction next month, with the first property preview held Saturday.
The preview Saturday will be from noon to 2 p.m. at 91 Miller Road in North Stonington. A second preview is scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. June 10, with the auction set at the Mystic Marriott at 1 p.m. June 23.
Max Spann Real Estate & Auction Co., a high-end auction house, calls the acreage "an outdoorsman's paradise" and says it could become a private campground or retreat. It is owned by Dyer Investment Co. LLC of Dyersburg, Tenn., which purchased the acreage two decades ago.
North Stonington First Selectman Nicholas Mullane, who lives on Miller Road, said the property has been bought and sold two or three times since he moved to the neighborhood. It might be a good spot for a wealthy person who wanted to get "lost in the woods," he said.
"If somebody wanted a large place for a couple of homes, it would be beautiful," Mullane said.
Permitted uses include single- and multi-family development, but it previously has been used as open-space forest land with some small-scale logging activity. The 301 acres of the tract that falls in North Stonington has an appraised value of $1.6 million, but the parcel is taxed on a much lower assessment because it has been designated as forest land.
The property is in a rural residential district on the Connecticut Wine Trail with "rocky outcroppings loaded with ferns and foliage," according to a property description. It is next to Maple Lane Farms in Preston and also is close to Anderson Pond in North Stonington, Pachaug Pond in Griswold and Pachaug State Forest.
For information, call (888) 299-1438 or visit maxspann.com.
l.howard@theday.com
Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow
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