Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

HOPKINTON,R.I. -- Jeffrey C. Tefft says it might be "a stupid time" to buy land, but on June 30, he and his wife, Judy L. Tefft, did just that.

They bought more than 190 acres of farmland off Kenney Hill Road, in Hopkinton, for $2.5 million from Coventry developer John F. Assalone, who has abandoned plans to build houses on the property.

It is land that Tefft grew up on, land that his father farmed, but never owned.

It is land that Tefft farms himself today, even though he also owns a home heating oil company, J.C. Tefft Fuel. Tefft said he lives about a mile away from the property.

"There's no money in farming," Tefft said. But "it's a nice piece of land, and I liked it. I basically grew up on it."

Assalone bought the land, then part of a larger parcel, a total of 402 acres, in August 1999 for $1.2 million from the daughter of the previous owner, Lester Burdick, after Burdick's death.

The state had been interested in buying the parcel, which borders the Arcadia Management Area, to conserve the land.

Assalone began negotiations with the town and the state to develop part of the land and sell some of it to the state.

Assalone did sell a section of the property to the state, 180.85 acres, in April 2002, for $900,000, according to Lisa Primiano, deputy chief of the state Department of Environmental Management's division of planning and development.

And in 2001, Assalone won preliminary approval from the town for Kenney Hill Farms, a 76-lot residential subdivision.

But there were traffic and open-pace issues the town wanted resolved, including the improvement and expansion of Kenney Hill Road and Grassy Pond Road, the main roads serving the subdivision.

The houses were never built, and then the housing market soured.

On June 30, Assalone said he provided $2.25 million in financing to sell the land to the Teffts. There were no terms listed for the mortgage, and neither Assalone nor the Teffts have disclosed the terms of their agreement.

Tefft said he didn't care to have his intentions for the land announced in a newspaper, but more light may be shed on the situation Sept. 2, when the town's Planning Board is scheduled to meet with the Teffts' lawyer, Vincent J. Naccarato, to discuss the property, according to municipal planner Jim Lamphere.

Tefft did say that in a perfect world, "I'd like to live there myself and have no neighbors, but it's a ton of money...."

Assalone said he thought the land would be conserved under the Teffts' ownership, and when asked whether he would consider an offer to sell development rights to the property, Tefft said he'd be interested in hearing from "anybody who'd like to give me money."

Primiano said the town recently passed a $2-million bond for land preservation, and the state would be interested in helping the town preserve the land for farming.

"We have been very interested in seeing the property preserved," she said. "Hopefully, it will get protected."

 Tags  economy farmland Hopkinton RI real estate

Comments

dan said:

"A stupid time to buy land" are you kidding me???He knows exactly what he is doing......2.5 million today and 6.5 million in 10 years. yeah it's a stupid time to buy land. Maybe he should farm the land and donate the food to families that are not as fortunate as him.

Link | August 28, 2009 11:39 AM
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Gerry said:

Mr. Teft sounds like a man after my own heart: "I'd like to live there myself and have no neighbors....", especially here in RI. But he hit the nail right on the head, he's on the wrong side of the state line and the tax burden would kill ya!

Link | August 28, 2009 11:50 AM
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Bet said:

It's never a bad time to buy land. Like they say in that territory, "they ain't makin' any more of it".

and Dan, don't be so nasty. Everyone has a right to earn a living. They are one of the old southern RI families and they go for generations in the same place. They don't move around and their properties become valuable. Nothing wrong with that.

Link | August 28, 2009 2:46 PM
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Anon said:

If this person bought the land with the intentions to eventually sell the development rights to keep it open space, I applaud him.

Link | August 28, 2009 3:47 PM
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LEC said:

If you have the money this is a great time to buy land or any real estate. Houses are going for dirt cheap.

Link | August 28, 2009 5:39 PM
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QUANUCK said:

Here is a guy who has earned a good living, has local roots, has an emotional connection to land he and his pamily owned... and is doing a wonderful thing to invest his own money to help preserve it... and gets blasted by what must be "progressives" for it. They call consrvatives lunatics and astroturf, but in reality, the progressives/communists/ liberals are the mean hearted when it comes to those who work for their wealth.. they just want the hand-outs from it.

Research:
"45 communist goals Congressional Record"
plp.org
cpusa.org
yclusa.org

Link | August 29, 2009 11:45 AM
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