Stratford Point Lighthouse Could Be Your New Home or Workplace!
General Services Administration Listed Lighthouse
The General Services Administration (GSA) issued a notice of availability for the Stratford Point Lighthouse late last month. The federal government said the historic lighthouse is available at no cost to “eligible entities as a part of a federal disposal program authorized by the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000,” according to a U.S. General Services Administration statement.
The eligible entities to take over the lighthouse include federal agencies, state and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational agencies or community development organizations, according to GSA.
The lighthouse is a 35-foot-tall cast iron structure that faces southeast toward the Long Island Sound. It was originally constructed in 1822, and the current lighthouse was constructed in 1881.
This was the first ever prefabricated cast-iron lighthouse in the state. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 said that a historic lighthouse that is no longer needed by the U.S. Coast Guard is made available for park, recreational, educational, cultural or historic preservation purposes.
The lighthouse is located at 1275 Prospect Street, and is licensed to the town of Stratford, according to the GSA. The lighthouse and three buildings are on a 0.58-acre parcel and are four miles from Interstate 95 and one mile from Bridgeport-Sikorsky airport. It’s located on the southernmost part of Stratford and faces the Long Island Sound and the exit of the Housatonic River, according to GSA.
The lighthouse is an active aid to navigation by the U.S. Coast Guard. The USCG will reserve access to the property for maintaining the active aid to navigation. It can be accessed by land.
The Town of Stratford is presently holding public tours of the lighthouse this spring, but all sessions are sold out. However, there are plans for more tours in the fall.
If you don’t win the bid for the Stratford Point Lighthouse, the Penfield Reef Lighthouse, in Fairfield appears as if it it could be soon on the market again after it was put on the market most recently in 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2023.
Penfield was constructed in 1874, is located on the south side of the Black Rock Harbor in Bridgeport entrance on Long Island Sound. It’s located just over a mile from Fairfield Beach. It’s accessible by boat only, also according to the GSA. The lighthouse was heavily damaged by storm Sandy in 2012. The damage required $1.2 million in repairs to fix major leaks, install a new roof and added stainless steel doors and replaced existing windows with hurricane resistant ones. Like the Stratford lighthouse, the Penfield Reef Lighthouse is recognized as on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a tricky consideration: the successful bidder has to negotiate a lease with the state of Connecticut for “bottomlands” under the lighthouse.
