Taylor Community acquiring 4 acres of Wolfeboro waterfront

WOLFEBORO — The Taylor Community wasted no time in pursuing an opportunity created when the NH Boat Museum announced its plan to locate a new facility in Moultonborough, rather than on the property it had purchased several years ago on Back Bay.

The Taylor Community’s board of trustees voted on Monday to approve a purchase-and-sale agreement for the museum’s parcel of land on Back Bay, a little over four acres and located across Bay Street from one of the properties that Taylor already owned. David Pearlman, trustee chair, said Tuesday it was a unanimous decision that finalized an intensive three weeks of negotiation and due diligence between the two organizations.

“It’s a cool story in that it’s two nonprofits getting together and accomplishing a mission and ending up in a very positive position for both sides,” Pearlman said.

The purchase price, which won’t be recorded into the public registry until the deal is finalized, isn’t currently being disclosed.

This marks the second significant real estate acquisition in Wolfeboro in as many years for Taylor, which purchased the 118-acre Sugar Hill Retirement Community from Huggins Hospital in February of last year.

In another way, though, it’s a first for Taylor, noted Pearlman, as the 115-year-old retirement community had never owned lakefront real estate. The purchase comes with 522 feet of waterfront on Lake Winnipesaukee’s Back Bay.

The NH Boat Museum, which currently operates out of a facility on Center Street, had first acquired the property several years ago with intentions of constructing a new museum. The Boat Museum didn’t immediately return a call for comment, but a press release issued in April explained that recent spikes in construction costs, as well as supply chain delays, prompted a reassessment of those plans. Instead, the museum’s board turned its attention to a vacant building at 130 Whittier Hwy in Moultonborough, where it can house its exhibits and provide educational programming.

The NH Boat Museum will maintain its presence in Wolfeboro, according to the press release. The Center Street facility will continue to serve as its location for boat-building courses, model yacht activities, a vintage boat and car auction. Wolfeboro Bay will still be home to the museum’s community sailing program and the biennial Vintage Race Boat Regatta.

Pearlman said the acquisition provides some welcome room to grow for Taylor’s footprint in the Back Bay area. Taylor has just completed construction on a recreational facility there, and has already begun the foundation for a building that will bring nursing and memory care. With those improvements already underway, development of the four-acre waterfront property will wait some time, he said.

“We’re not going to develop this for a little bit, because we have a lot going on right now,” Pearlman said. In the short term, he said a park and water access will be created there for use by both the residents of Back Bay and Sugar Hill. Ultimately, he said the plan is to develop the property for independent living, which could take shape as either multilevel, apartment-style residences, or 10 to 12 duplex cottages.

“It’s funny, you’re in business 115 years, and you finally get to the water,” Pearlman noted. He envisioned a boat launch that would allow Taylor residents to take canoes and kayaks onto the pacific waters of Back Bay, as well as a dock that could be used for boat rides out around Lake Winnipesaukee.

Just a few years ago, Taylor Community’s activities were largely contained to Laconia, with a small independent living development in Wolfeboro. Now, with the purchase of Sugar Hill, and with the opportunities to significantly develop its Back Bay assets, Taylor will soon have major continuous care retirement campuses on either side of Winnipesaukee, Pearlman said.

“It further emphatically shows how committed we are to Wolfeboro,” Pearlman said. “In terms of the services that we want to provide and the operation that we want to run, this is a very significant deal.”