New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Potato Island sells for $4.2 million
BRANFORD — Someone just bought themselves one heck of a getaway — for the bargain price of just $4.2 million.
Potato Island, one of the Thimble Islands off the coast of Branford’s Stony Creek section, had been on and off the market for several years before selling Sept. 8 for $4.2 million to a buyer who prefers to remain anonymous, said listing agent John Campbell of the Page Taft-Christie International Real Estate’s Madison office.
Originally listed in 2014 for $7.35 million, it had been listed for the past two years for $4.9 million, Campbell said Wednesday.
The sale is the highest-value sale of 2020 in
Branford and the second-highest in New Haven County, according to date from the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Page Taft-Christies International Real Estate said in a news release. (The highest sale in New Haven County so far this year was 270 Old Quarry Lane in Guilford, which sold for $4.9 million on Aug. 10, according to Campbell and Redfin.com.)
The Potato Island property includes the 1.1-acre island, a solarpowered 3,781-square-foot house originally built in 1912 — which has four bedrooms, 31⁄2 bathrooms and a wraparound porch — a heated pool, a custom granite whirlpool spa, boat facilities and a deep-water dock, plus 360-degree water views of Stony Creek, other islands and Long Island Sound.
It also includes a small Boston Whaler boat and a leased slip and parking space on shore, which Campbell said is a two-minute boat ride away.
Potato Island’s sellers, Richard and Katherine Kahan of New York City, bought the island in 1997 for $900,000, according to town records.
They say they’ll miss Potato Island, but are happy that a new family now will be able to enjoy it — and they’re particularly pleased that the purchasers have young children.
“We’re very happy that the island will now be in the hands of a family with children,” said Katherine Kahan. “... It was such a magical place.”
“It was strange” to leave Potato Island, said Richard Kahan, who was there with his wife until early September. “But we made this decision a few years ago, and it was the right decision. But after 23 years ... we’re going to stay in the area, which we love, and try to find something on shore.”
Much of what you now see on Potato Island was built by the Kahans. When they first arrived, “there were no flowers, there were no grasses ... and the house was in pretty rough shape,” said Richard Kahan.
“But that house has stayed up since 1912 when it was built. It survived the hurricane of 1938,” said Katherine Kahan.
For many years while summering on Potato Island, Richard Kahan was working in New York City, “but I’ve been working remotely for years,” he said.
One day a week, “I would get up really early in the morning and take the boat” to shore, then drive into the city, work for a few hours, drive back, then take the boat back to Potato Island “and be home by dinner,” he said.
“It really is just a summer place,” said Katherine Kahan — with the town turning the water on on April 1 and off on Nov. 1, “so we really made the most of the summer months.”
September and October “are really nice” out on Potato Island, said her husband. “Toward the end of October it would get pretty rough.
“One of the great things about the Thimbles is that you can have privacy,” he said. “Everybody respects everybody’s privacy out there.” Campbell agrees.
“When it comes to privacy and comfort, this property and its magnificent location exceed all expectations,” Campbell said in the release. “It’s not very often that a property of this caliber, let alone one on a private island, hits the open market.
“It’s unique,” Campbell said Wednesday.
While some potential buyers might have been concerned that it was “kind of isolated,” Campbell said, “I always described it as insulation, not isolation.”
Despite the offshore island location, “They have their trash picked up . ... They have their pooled cleaned,” he said. “It’s no different, really.”
Except, of course, for the 360degree water views and the lack of neighbors.
Over the past six months since the coronavirus pandemic arrived, people in the sort of income bracket that might be looking for a property like Potato Island “were looking for what you might call a self-contained environment,” Campbell said.
Potato Island allows them as much privacy as they want, yet they still can get to shore in a few minutes — and to the grocery store (the nearest being the Leetes Island Road Super Stop & Shop) in just a few minutes more.
Campbell joked that “these guys can get to the grocery store faster than I can — and I live on shore!”
While the buyers aren’t looking for publicity, Campbell said, “The buyers who ultimately bought it literally visited it once and fell in love with it on the spot.” Asked where the buyers were from, he said, “I know they have property in New York and they have property in Europe, also.”
While sellers the Kahans could not immediately be contacted, Campbell said, “They loved the place. They spent late April through the closing in September there, certainly Thursday through Sunday.”
Richard Kahan explained to MansionGlobal.com in 2018 that when they bought the property, “It was in terrible condition. There wasn’t a blade of grass on the island.”
During the two-plus decades they owned it, they rebuilt the entire home, as well as added trees, gardens and the pool to the property, he said.
“We love the design,” Katherine Kahan said at the time. “We love how open it is to the outside and still so cozy on the inside.”
The Kahans told Mansion Global in 2018 that they were ready to downsize, but weren’t in any rush to leave.
“It’s sort of an adventure to be out there,” Katherine Kahan said.
The sale of Potato Island came just a couple of months after the sale of another one of the Thimble Islands, Jepson Island, which sold for $715,000 in July.