Man's $899K bet on Nantucket cliff cottage: Still standing 5 years later

…from a roughly 40-foot drop to the beach below. When the cottage was built, the ocean was hundreds of yards away. He knew the risks before buying Fotopoulos did not hide the reason he was willing to take the gamble. “ It was cheap and I said ‘hey, I’ll buy it’ ,” he told the Nantucket Current after the 2021 purchase. He said he believed the foundation was structurally sound and that the geotubes protecting the bluff could help keep the property safe. “If I get five years out…

…with the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund, a group of property owners that has supported the use of geotubes along the coastline. Real estate broker Jamie Howarth said the buyers understood what they were getting into. “ They knew the risks going in ,” Howarth told the Nantucket Current in 2021. “I was clear with him and we were clear with him that there was serious risk.” The cottage has also been used as a rental The cottage at 93 Baxter Road once had far more…

…The dispute has implications beyond the single cottage. Critics of the coastal armoring project have argued that older homes such as 93 Baxter Road play a role in providing the legal basis for hard coastal protection. “ The presence of that pre-1978 house is what provides the legal justification, in part, for the permitting of hard armoring ,” Nantucket Coastal Conservancy’s D. Anne Atherton said around the time of the 2021 sale. The Fotopouloses have no connection to the preservation group. Five years later, the cottage is still there When Fotopoulos…