WINDHAM – Hundreds of people attended an auction last Thursday morning at the site of the late Peter Busque’s quarry on Nash Road in Windham.
While Busque Construction pickup trucks, construction vehicles and other items were being auctioned off, so, too, were a total of 17 parcels of land throughout Windham, Raymond and Standish. The largest parcels up for auction were the 111-acre Windham quarry at the intersection of Route 302 and Nash Road, as well as the 96-acre Libby Pit located off Route 35 in Standish.
The significant amount of property that was sold last week became available following the sudden death of Busque in late September. Several of the properties had liens, for which high bidders are responsible in addition to the purchase price.
Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., a Gorham-based construction and excavating firm founded in 1977 and still operated by brothers Jon and Danny Shaw, owns about a dozen gravel pits and quarries in southern Maine. The company was high bidder on both of Busque’s sites, buying the Nash Road quarry for $1.4 million and the Libby Pit for $800,000.
Danny Shaw was joined at the auction, which was conducted by Keenan Auction Co., of South Portland, by the company’s controller Tom Biegel. Shaw Brothers outbid representatives of K&K Excavation Inc., based in Turner, for the property.
Biegel said the company will “start working with the towns (of Windham and Standish) and state to get permits to see what we need to do to get them up and running.”
Biegel said both parcels would be functioning “by next spring at the latest.”
Biegel also said the area around Portland is excellent for gravel and that Shaw Bros. is in the business of constructing roads as well as major building projects, and would use the material directly for those projects. The company, which has built a new headquarters on Mosher Road in Gorham, also sells stone and gravel to other contractors, local cities and towns and retail customers.
“We’re in construction, so it’s for road-making material,” Biegel said.
Other parcels
Once bidding was complete on the two major parcels and the various equipment Busque owned, bidding on 14 other real estate parcels took place starting at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Windham Veterans Center in North Windham.
Shaw Brothers was the successful bidder on another four parcels offered in the afternoon session. The company purchased a 55-acre parcel adjoining the Windham quarry for $15,750. It also bought a 264-acre parcel with 935 feet of frontage on Oak Hill Road in Standish for $90,090. The third parcel was a separate but adjoining 56-acre parcel on Oak Hill Road, which Shaw purchased for $48,510.
Shaw Brothers was also successful bidder on a Cape-style three-bedroom home and 5-acre lot with frontage on Route 35 for $115,500. The lot is situated along the approach road to the Libby Pit.
In other transactions, which were bought by unnamed bidders, a 51-acre parcel on Route 85 in Raymond sold for $78,750. Busque had received approval to build a 129-unit condominium subdivision several years ago on the site.
A 102-acre wooded back lot with right of way to Thomas Pond in Raymond sold for $57,750. Also in Raymond, a 28-acre site with frontage on Egypt Road sold for $26,250.
In Windham, a 1.8-acre commercially zoned parcel on Route 302 sold for $32,550. The lot is located near Route 302’s intersection with Pope Road.
In North Gorham, a 21-acre wooded parcel at the end of Nason Road sold for $37,800. In Gray, a 64-acre wooded site off Brown Road sold for $15,700, and a 40-acre site along the Maine Turnpike sold for $15,750, as well.
Prior to the auction, bidders for the two major parcels posted a $50,000 deposit, nonrefundable to the highest bidder. Keenan Auction received a 5 percent buyer’s premium on real estate transactions as well as a 10 percent premium on successful equipment bids.
While bids were accepted and deposits made at Thursday’s two auctions, all sales were considered pending until closing, which must take place within 30 days of the auction.
Notable history
According to local barn expert, Don Perkins of Raymond, the Nash Road quarry played an important part in the history of the Portland Observatory, located in downtown Portland.
Eight beams were harvested from the site formerly known as Pike Hill in the early 1800s, shipped to Munjoy Hill and erected to form the supporting structure of the octagonal observatory, which resembles a lighthouse and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
The timbers, which hail from Windham, are still standing firm after more than 200 years. They are 65 feet tall, 14 inches in diameter at their base and 10 inches in diameter at their peak. When harvested in 1807, they cost $12 a piece. According to Perkins, the timbers were hauled by oxen overland 8 miles to the Presumpscot River and then floated along the river and over a dam into Casco Bay to the tip of the Portland peninsula where they formed the skeleton of the Observatory.
More than 200 people attended an auction held under a tent in
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