Stonington -- The town has officially purchased the land for the proposed Mystic River Boathouse Park for $1,672,914.

First Selectman Rob Simmons signed the contract with property owner Frederic Baumgarten on Friday.

Last year, voters approved a $2.2 million bond to purchase the 1.5 acres of riverfront land on Route 27 just north of Mystic Seaport and turn it into a public park. In addition, the town has reached agreement with the Friends of Stonington Crew, in which the organization will raise money and construct a dock and boathouse on the property for use by the Stonington High School crew team and the public.

Simmons said the original $1.8 million purchase price was reduced by $127,086 to account for the cost to clean up contamination on the site. The Trust for Public Land negotiated the contract for the town.

Simmons said the next step is for the newly formed Mystic River Boathouse Park Implementation Committee to hold an organizational meeting on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Stonington High School commons.

Before work can begin to demolish buildings on the site and transform the land into a park, the committee and town will have to address issues such as whether to hire a project manager, secure and perform some initial cleanup of the property and then obtain Planning and Zoning Commission approval for the new use.