Sotheby’s International Realty has listed a monthly rental of a coastal Chilmark estate at $1 million a month, which some Islander realtors say is the first to hit the notable high mark.
The 11-bedroom, 13-bathroom home — assessed by the town at nearly $40 million –- is located on nearly five acres on Point Inner Way overlooking Nashaquitsa Pond.
This “stunning compound,” as the listing refers to the property, includes two kitchens, a home theater, an indoor basketball court, a pickleball court, and a custom-made Italian boat, among other amenities.
Adam Zoia is listed as the owner of the property.
Tom Wallace, founder and principal broker at Wallace & Co. Sotheby’s International Realty, tells The Times that the listing is the most expensive high-end property and amenity package that he is aware of on the Island.
But he doesn’t think this will be setting a precedent for more million-dollar rentals on the Island. He said the house would be vacant, and the owners figured they could rent it out. He added that there are similar prized properties on the Island, but the amenities coming with the Point Inner Way property make it that much more appealing.
Earlier this week, the listing was also chronicled in the Robb Report — a global luxury magazine — as “the most expensive rental to ever hit the Island.”
While an impressive estate, the construction of the Point Inner Way property spurred the town of Chilmark to clamp down on massive developments.
During what The Times reported in 2013 was one of the largest annual town meeting turnouts in recent memory, voters approved a change to the town’s zoning bylaws to set limits on house sizes.
Among the changes, regulations set a threshold of 3,500 square feet of total living area for new construction on three-acre lots. Beyond these limits, a special permit is required, and the maximum size limit on three acres is 6,000 square feet.
When it was built in 2012, the main house on Point Inner Way was constructed at over 8,000 square feet.
The listing by Sotheby’s calls the rental opportunity an immersive, high-end escape. “The lush green surroundings, invigorating coastal breezes, and overall sense of serenity make it an attractive destination for those in search of an escape,” the listing states. “This rental opportunity guarantees an immersive, high-end escape where guests can unwind in a serene atmosphere, surrounded by the beauty of nature and the thoughtful luxury woven into every aspect of the property.”
This is a marketing ploy by the realtor who has done this before without exorbitant prices on properties that never materialize. They did this with a $200 million listing that eventually sold for less than half that amount. It has done what they wanted and got there Brokerage worldwide attention at no cost to them.
I’m sorry but this is just disgusting.
Yep no such thing as bad publicity works both ways. Guess we’ll never know the true rental rate but the ST state rental tax will get a boost
We live in America. The realtor and the homeowner
can get what the market will bear. If we haven’t noticed,
there is a small minority of the population that makes
an extreme amount of money. Most of them can hire
teams of lawyers and accountants to wiggle through
the lax loopholes and pay little or no taxes.
But if you are only making $12 million a year,
this is about equal to your income.
But Chilmark stands to make $ 60,000 a month in
short term rental tax, that will go to affordable
housing, whatever that means. But it’s 60 k
coming from the rich and going to the poor.
I know some people don’t like that idea, but I do .
No rental tax if you rent for the entire month, or thirty consecutive days. I guess those darn conservatives put another loop hole in for their rich friends… oh wait it was the libs who came up with this idiotic tax like most other taxes.
This is how we know we’ve gone round the bend as a species.
That is the reason why the island has lost its soul!
it is not lost yet although it certainly appears as if it has.
Its soul is in fragments like the shattered glass on the rocks off our beaches waiting to be transformed into sea glass and found again.
I happen to come upon it from time to time, often meeting a stranger while out and about.
It feels like embers of coals needing to be tended, this soul that you are referring to. It needs tending.
My ancestors taught me some tools of tending.
Yankee ingenuity including the voices of all who are impacted (especially the ones most marginalized); ignore the planners that aim to take us away from our soul and let them do what they need to do- markets always shift; patience and kindness when interacting (i have to practice this myself as my middle finger is on autopilot and I’m certain its everyone else’s fault lol).
I recall my great-grandmother telling me (regarding Darlings closing because that was devastating for us all) that we have to go with the flow. Change is inevitable but it does not have to kill us, find a way to make change the catalyst for good; ignore the jackasses, especially the poor losers with so much money they have no brain, heart, or common sense. We should feel sorry for them for we have so very much more than they ever will”
Islanders are resilient, steadfast, stubborn, and resistant to change. They know that shifting sands sink foundations. They plan for the future while learning from their past. They build incredible gardens in the same spaces that others pave paradise with parking lots.
They volunteer to plant around the cement builders and decorate progress with murals of art, poetry, music, and theater. They continue to plunge into frigid waters to harvest the best scallops, set course early in the morning for the sea, repair our roads, and respond to emergency calls.
We are a mixed bunch who need to find a common denominator that will unify the things that make us so different from each other so that we can live together better.
maybe I’m just a windbag with lots of useless words.
maybe I have incredible family members who live this example each day even those I have nothing in common with anymore.
maybe we can still peacefully fight to preserve our values while shifting to secure those undervalued that we historically have left behind.
maybe the key is to stop fighting each other.
from my eyes?
It is not over yet as the fat lady is not singing.
I don’t intend to sing until the overflow has been patched up.
Overflow? deaths to addiction and suicide and medical malfunctions.
for some, living on the island is a third-world country experience.
That reality in the shadows of renting a one million dollar-a-month house?
is unacceptable.
Don, I gotta agree…..
Why all the jealousy? The owner is obviously successful, he built a grand house, and he wants to rent it. He broke no rules, got all his permits, so why do people complain? I wish I had a house I could rent for one million.
I would do almost anything to obtain a living space that is affordable in chilmark…
and NO it has nothing to do with the value of the zipcode…
everything to do with needing to feel like I found my home and my tribe.
yeah I know….a privileged typed attitude. funny, I feel many many things…privilege is not one of them.
and yeah I know, there are many far for deserving or who have experienced far more trauma in this life…but a girl can dream of home still, right?
They can take my money, destroy my family, and rob me of all the things I tried to achieve in life but they can’t take away my dream, as delusional as they are in 2024….. here is to a fantasy of housing becoming reality…and the possibility that my name gets pulled out of the hat….
I pray they build by Flanders Field…and I pray some spots are open for people not trying to purchase a false reality that is espoused about islanders…..
Work harder, and then when you feel as though you can’t work any harder, get up and work some more. That’s what it takes to live here and it’s always been that way. The island owes you nothing.
Yeah, it’s America, and we all have our constitutional right to become billionaires, no one is saying we don’t–this isn’t North Korea. That said, perhaps Martha’s Vineyard should have aspirational values that reach higher than how much money we can earn and rent our homes for (and we should be able to say this freely, like here, without being accused of jealousy). If it is true the rental price is a marketing ploy, apparently it is cheap gimmick, but a cheap gimmick that achieved the desired result. I even mailed the VG article (came out first) to a friend in Venezuela to get his take, he lives under a dictatorship. He recommended torches and pitchforks, but I wouldn’t go that far…after all, it’s America, right? What’s my point? No idea.
I have felt for many years that MVRHS, under state law and its own regional agreement, receives too little financial support from Chilmark. Assuming this figure of a million is real, then the entire town of Chilmark pays less for having access to MVRHS, for all the children of all of its residents, than the monthly summer rent for one property.
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