Big dreams: Painter decides to buy aging Maryland lighthouse

BALTIMORE (AP) — To name it a fixer-upper can be beneficiant. There is not any working water, no warmth, no electrical energy.

As soon as one will get previous the romance of shopping for a historic Chesapeake Bay lighthouse, there’s lead paint, asbestos and poisonous benzene. Vandals broke down the door and seabirds died inside. Oh, it sits in about 18-feet of water inside a U.S. Navy testing web site referred to as a “hazard zone.”

Who desires the Hooper Island Lighthouse anyway?

When the federal authorities auctioned the 120-year-old lighthouse in September, as a final resort, a bidding battle broke out. The worth jumped from $15,000 to $38,000. Then $189,000.

“I used to be anticipating no person to need it,” stated Greg Krawczyk, vp of the Chesapeake chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

5 nameless bidders wished the rusty “spark plug,” so-called for its cylinder base and 70-foot tower, three miles off the coast of Dorchester County. Ultimately, somebody paid $192,000.

“Odd Chesapeake Bay lighthouse sells for absurd sum at public sale,” an internet site mocked.

The customer remained a thriller till the clerk of court docket for Dorchester County recorded the deed on Dec. 27. It lists a reputation: Richard Cucé, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

One might need guessed a nonprofit basis, however Cucé? He runs an industrial portray firm outdoors Allentown. He is aware of rusty metallic, however is not even a boater. What does a divorced father of 4 who performs in a band and teaches yoga need with a broken-down lighthouse 200 miles away?

First, some historical past.

The U.S. authorities constructed tons of of lighthouses as navigational aids. New Jersey’s Sandy Hook Lighthouse has solid its gentle since 1764. By the early 1900s, the Nice Lakes alone had greater than 200 of the buildings. Within the Chesapeake Bay, lighthouses marked the delivery channels and guided captains from the shoals alongside the Jap Shore. Some 74 lighthouses rose up across the bay — greater than 30 stand right this moment — however advances in navigation, significantly GPS, left many out of date.

“There’s nonetheless a historical past there that instantly pertains to the US maritime commerce,” Krawczyk stated. “For those who simply let the lighthouses go, that is a side that folks is not going to bear in mind 20, 30 years from now.”

Congress established procedures to determine lighthouses now not wanted and switch them to native governments or nonprofit teams for historic preservation. Officers have transferred greater than 80; the well-known Thomas Level Shoal Lighthouse went to a partnership led by the Metropolis of Annapolis. When officers cannot discover a authorities or nonprofit to take them over, they promote lighthouses to the best bidder.

Some 70 lighthouses have been auctioned for greater than $10 million altogether. Three 1800s lighthouses off the Florida Keys bought in Might for $415,000, $575,000 and $860,000. The repairs are estimated to price hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

“In every one, folks wound up determining it was much more cash than they anticipated,” Krawczyk stated.

The glamour fades to actuality — and it fades quick. Annapolis legal professional Ron Katz and a number of other mates pitched in to purchase the historic Baltimore Harbor Mild, close to the mouth of the Magothy River, for $260,000.

Since 1908, the “Baltimore Mild,” because it’s recognized, has marked the delivery channel into the Patapsco River and metropolis harbor. Katz climbed the rusty ladder to search out the roof leaking; no home windows, simply plexiglass, and the door damaged.

“Take into consideration this. You are two miles offshore, so every thing that it’s essential to repair the factor, you bought to carry it out,” he stated. “You do not simply run to Residence Depot.”

Within the 16 years since they purchased the lighthouse, Katz and his mates changed the home windows, doorways and roof. They put in photo voltaic panels and stashed jugs of contemporary water and a conveyable bathroom inside. They painted and painted once more.

“You recognize what the worst factor is? While you’re on the market and you’ve got the one hammer and also you drop it overboard.”

Katz cannot guess — truly, he does not need to know — the sum of money he is spent. The lighthouse has been the scene of a fiftieth birthday celebration, a honeymoon, even a zombie film. It is a half-hour boat experience from Annapolis. There is not any cellphone sign on the north facet. Who can dream up a greater getaway?

“Individuals ask me on a regular basis, ‘What are you going to do with it?’ I will go on the market and have a cocktail and luxuriate in sundown.”

Even for a believer like Katz, the Hooper Island Lighthouse was daunting. Battered by sea winds and saltwater, these landmarks demand fixed care. The Hooper Island lighthouse rises from the center of the bay — three miles from land.

“It is so far offshore,” Katz stated. “My first thought was, man, they do not know what they’re moving into.”

A 52-year-old contractor, Cucé (Cu-Chay) began the economic portray and sandblasting enterprise Blastco in the course of the mid-Nineteen Nineties in Jap Pennsylvania. In twenty years, he is blasted and painted every thing from practice automobiles to curler coasters. Why not a lighthouse?

“I get enthusiastic about making one thing rust-proof perpetually,” he stated.

He was monitoring the federal auctions final February when the trio of Florida Keys lighthouses went to sale. Authorities provided potential consumers a ship tour. Cucé flew down and stepped aboard, eyeing his rivals warily. Amid the inexperienced seawater and coral reefs, every lighthouse rose up on stilt legs like a rusty flamingo.

He tried desperately for American Shoal Mild, the ultimate one and probably the most distant. The bidding pushed previous his restrict of $850,000. He let it go, reluctantly.

“My dad was yelling at me, ‘What are you doing?’ Everyone thought I used to be loopy.”

Cucé felt defeated, however later grateful. American Shoal was thus far out to sea it had frightened him. Months afterward, in August, authorities introduced one other public sale: Hooper Island Mild.

Listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations, the lighthouse stays distinctive for its watch room and lantern atop a four-story white tower. Keepers lit the tower on June 1, 1902, and it is remained an support to navigation for greater than a century. The solar-powered gentle shines right this moment.

A 2019 Coast Guard inspection discovered the entrance door gone. Birds roosted inside. Rust speckled the tower and ate the cast-iron basis. Inspectors thought-about it “in truthful situation, however approaching poor.” A purchaser must signal an settlement with the Navy, promising to keep away from the world throughout weapons testing.

“It is not prefer it’s the perfect lighthouse,” Krawczyk stated.

Solely, it was to Cucé. He informed himself that he wouldn’t bid greater than $200,000. He might need anyway — in reality, in all probability. Who can put a price range on a dream? However he gained with the nameless bid of $192,000.

The federal government desires the cash in 45 days. He bought a rental home, shares and spent a few of his retirement financial savings to afford it.

“An undesirable and inhospitable lighthouse lastly sells,” learn one web site.

Cucé noticed his buy ridiculed on-line. What did he simply do?

“If any person tells him it will not work, he’ll go and do it. That is been the hearth for lots of issues in his life,” stated Dominic, his oldest son.

Now, he is nonetheless dreaming, of a nonprofit basis and a advertising and marketing slogan. “Restore the lighthouse, restore the bay.” Cucé began a Fb web page with a glamor shot of the outdated gentle. “Feeling Rusty, may delete later.” He desires to ask environmental teams to watch water high quality and marine life from its deck. It sits close to the sting of oxygen-depleted water referred to as the “useless zone.”

He desires to rent watermen from the three Hoopers Islands to assist with the work. His ideas race with the probabilities. He despatched pitches for a documentary on the renovation. How a couple of YouTube sequence? A Hollywood movie? Later, sundown cruises, a marriage vacation spot, a yoga retreat. Simply style it — Hooper Island Mild beer.

First issues first. Cucé needed to get a ship.