By Gretchen A. Peck

Luann Perkins, who leads the Luann Perkins Team at William Raveis Real Estate in Niantic, is hosting a public open house at 580 Ocean Avenue, New London this Sunday, August 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The antique four-bedroom house is offered to the market for $499,900.

Welcome Home spoke this week with the owner, Zack Dean, about the investments he’s made in renovating the house.

Dean grew up in New London. His grandfather was a local district attorney who built the house his family now lives in. Over time, he and his wife renovated the house, drawing from his wife Erika’s experience working for a general contracting firm that specializes in disaster recoveries, he explained.

Dean was looking for a renovation project house to “flip,” when one day a friend came to him and offered him an antique piano. The piano had been his mother’s, his friend explained, and noted that he was in the process of preparing his childhood home for sale, the house where his mother raised six kids and had resided for decades. Though Dean wasn’t in the market for a piano, he was intrigued by the story of the house, and he went to take a closer look.

“I walked in and immediately knew, this was it,” he recalled.

Dean told his friend about his vision for renovating the house. They estimated the costs and negotiated a fair price. Once he owned the property, he immediately got to work on a full gut renovation.

The house is a designated New London Landmark. A Landmarks sign is on the front of the house, with the name Robert H. Comstock, who built the house in 1853. Some of the craftsmanship of the original house remains, including the staircase banister.

“We kept one original fixed window that’s at the top of the stairs, with antique hand-blown glass. It has so much movement, with a lot of wave and bubble to it,” he noted. “The cabinet fronts in the breakfast room have glass from an original built-in hutch that was there. We removed the panels and recut it.”

“There was an old three-story chimney that went through the heart of the house but no longer pierced the roof. I took that apart myself, brick by brick, and preserved some of those bricks. If you look at the photos of the breakfast bar area, the floor there is brick from that chimney,” he added.

He also restored all of the radiators, refinishing them with high-temperature paint.

Otherwise, the house is essentially brand new. It has new plumbing, new electrical systems and new Harvey-brand windows.

A foyer, living room, dining area, kitchen, butler’s pantry, a bathroom and laundry are on the first floor.

The kitchen was designed by Greenville Kitchens. It’s outfitted with Fabuwood cabinets, finished in “ocean blue,” quartz countertops, under-cabinet lighting and LG appliances.

All four bedrooms and two baths are on the second level.

The bedrooms are relatively modest in comparison to new construction today, he acknowledged. The sizes are a reflection of the period architecture; however, he said that a buyer could reconfigure the floor plan to have fewer but larger bedrooms if they’d like. Or a buyer might prefer to leverage one of the bedrooms, as is, for a home office.

Dean stressed that he didn’t approach this renovation like a typical home flipper. He wasn’t guided by the ambition to buy the house for the lowest price point, invest in minimal improvements and sell it at a premium. He wanted to make an investment in preserving a charming antique home, contribute to the neighborhood and create a home that New London can be proud of for another century.

The house is situated on a 0.26-acre lot. One side of the yard is fenced and borders Toby May Park and Playground. There’s a shed on the property, which could be used for storage of lawn and garden equipment and tools, or it could be possibly reimagined as a workshop, “she shed,” tiki bar or yoga studio.

Dean also carved out of some of the backyard for a vegetable garden. Though there’s not currently a garage on the property, he said there may be opportunity to add one, with proper permits, of course.

580 Ocean Avenue is within walking and biking distance to Ocean Beach Park. It is close to local schools, restaurants, the library, the Garde theater, museums and art galleries, the ferry terminals and train station, and L+M Hospital. It’s also within a few minutes’ drive to General Dynamics/Electric Boat, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Conn College and Mitchell College.

Property: 580 Ocean Ave., New London

Bedrooms: 4

Baths: 3

Square Footage: 1,658

Acreage: 0.26

Asking Price: $499,900

Listing Agent: Luann Perkins, the Luann Perkins Team at William Raveis Real Estate, Niantic brokerage; Mobile: (860) 625-1354; laperk2@aol.com