Photo: Kendall Buhl/WBZ NewsRadio
NEWBURY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A last-minute offer to save the Pink House on Newbury's Plum Island is giving activists hope that the end may not be near.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service owns the historic property and announced plans to demolish the home in 2015 after it fell into disrepair.
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The federal agency cannot sell the property, but can trade it for land of equal or greater value. The non-profit Save the Pink House has urged Fish and Wildlife to trade the property, but after a summer 2024 auction failed to secure a single bid, Fish and Wildlife said it would go ahead with the demolition.
Then, the phone rang.
Save the Pink House President Rochelle Joseph told WBZ NewsRadio Friday they got a call from "a local that we know who said, 'I would like to donate up to $1,000,000 to Fish and Wildlife if they will stop the demolition and work on the solution, efficiently, to save the Pink House.' We almost fell off our chairs."
Joseph said the anonymous donation could be used for the house's restoration and upkeep, or to incentivize an owner of marshland anywhere in the U.S. to make the land swap required for Fish and Wildlife to give up the property.
Joseph has forwarded the offer to Fish and Wildlife and other federal entities and is waiting to hear back.
"There is a short timeframe to do it, but is entirely possible, so we’re waiting to hear the news that they will agree to do that, and we can’t imagine why they would not," Joseph said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told WBZ NewsRadio it is evaluating the offer and will have a response by early next week.
WBZ's Kendall Buhl reports.
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