{"id":14953,"date":"2017-07-09T17:44:58","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T21:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=14953"},"modified":"2020-09-29T10:02:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T14:02:43","slug":"a-balcony-to-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/a-balcony-to-forever\/","title":{"rendered":"A Balcony to Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

July\/August 2017 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

A cottage on hidden Hills Beach north of Biddeford Pool<\/strong> is a wake-up call
\nfor a new owner in search of a memorable view.<\/span><\/h3>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BiddefordAt sunrise, \u201cIt looks like God coming out of the water,\u201d says listing agent Ray Cronkite of the ocean view from 123 Hills Beach Road.<\/span><\/p>\n

To reach this four-bedroom, two-bath 1920s cottage perched on a private beach, drive to the University of New England in Biddeford along Route 9, cut through the campus, and take Hills Beach Road the toward the surf until you find this quiet enclave facing east on the sandy peninsula protecting the north side of Biddeford Pool.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you crave the ocean, this is the kind of destination where you stop your car, get out, take a deep breath of salt air sweetened by sea roses. Talk about wow factor. With views this long, it\u2019s enough to make a former smoker crave a cigarette.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the sea, the yellow-shingled cottage is symmetrical and sweetly framed with its two gables. For security, there are two bulwarks against the waves. \u201cThe original seawall below is rectangular granite blocks,\u201d Cronkite says. The stones are very old and pieced. \u201cThe wall on top is rip rap.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

No fewer than five islands dance into view from here, including Wood Island, with its hypnotic white lighthouse. Barely a few surf casts away is \u201cBasket Island, where novelist Anita Shreve is building a house.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At mid-tide, a lovely sandy causeway connects the mainland to Basket Island,but at high tide, the causeway disappears. Not long ago, \u201ca young couple leased a brand new Chevy Suburban and drove out to Basket Island,\u201d but the rising tides followed, marooning them. When they tried to return, \u201cthe tires just dug in halfway across.\u201d The lady in the SUV \u201cwas in tears.\u201d In the end, they had to abandon their vehicle to nature. \u201cAt high tide, you could just see the top of their car.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If it seems as if Cronkite is an acute local observer, he is. \u201cI live next door.\u201d Full disclosure, \u201cI sold this house in 2008 to a urologist for $835,000. He loves this area so much he\u2019s upsizing to a larger place nearby.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mainers know Cronkite as the former owner of The Maine Aquarium in Saco. He grew up right here and has always had a yen for real estate. <\/span><\/p>\n

He points out the giant sweep of blue that engulfs \u201cTwo Lights in Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough Beach, and Old Orchard Beach.\u201d He steps closer to the rail and points again. \u201cDo you see those two squares on the distant peninsula?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to make the large squares out, though they\u2019re wavery and smoky in the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that\u2019s Maine Medical Center on the West End in Portland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, \u201cyou can see the shoreline of five towns. During the summertime every Thursday, you\u2019re going to see fireworks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Come winter, things quiet down. \u201cHills Beach is primarily retirement or vacation homes. It\u2019s all but unheard to stay here all year round and raise children. But in the winter, the doctors from the university make good tenants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to miss this stunning, narrow, beachy peninsula that reaches to the inlet to Biddeford Pool, but Cronkite seems okay with that. Bufflehead\u2019s bistro is steps away from 123 Hills Beach Road. The Sea Star Market is close by, too. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wracking your brains and wondering if you\u2019ve ever been out here before, that\u2019s understandable. Say you\u2019re from Boston or Portland\u2013there\u2019s always a reason not to go to Hills Beach. That\u2019s why it\u2019s remained one of the last unselfconscious stretches of sand along the coast of Southern Maine. It\u2019s the beach not taken. <\/span><\/p>\n

Put another way, this $669,000 listing has a \u2018trillion-dollar view.\u2019 The lot is .15 acres, with 70 feet of beach and ocean frontage. While this may be a bargain basement opportunity, don\u2019t look for a basement. Total square footage above ground is 1,576, and some might classify it as a teardown. The breezy sea porch on the first floor runs the length of the wood-frame structure, the islands and water sparkling into view from two classic white rocking chairs. You can see yachts entering Biddeford Pool, cruise ships headed for Portland Harbor.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the interior could use updating and cosmetics are required just about everywhere, inner strengths reassure. In particular, each of the two oceanfront bedrooms upstairs has a door to the second-floor deck. A larger bedroom has \u201cfive new Andersen windows.\u201d Not big on stairs? There\u2019s a single bedroom on the first floor, immediately to the left as you enter from the front door.<\/span><\/p>\n

This cottage has \u2018eyes.\u2019 It\u2019s a balcony to forever. Not only does it have fantastic potential, it\u2019s positioned perfectly for a dramatic transformation. From what we\u2019ve seen, it\u2019s this summer\u2019s dark horse. Taxes are $10,413. <\/span>n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cottage on hidden Hills Beach north of Biddeford Pool is a wake-up call for a new owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[892,232,224],"tags":[131],"class_list":["post-14953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate","category-shelter-design","category-talking-walls","tag-julyaugust-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14953"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19314,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14953\/revisions\/19314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}