- When Navy personnel form the Brunswick Naval Air Station folded the flag for the last time in 2011, the mid-coast Maine community was left with thousands of acres to redevelop on the base and thousands of empty homes around the area that housed military families for more than 50 years.Gleason was among those who worried that the former military housing would flood the market at rock bottom prices all at once, or worse, languish. Luckily, neither has happened.
Gleason's brokerage has the listings for the first of more than 230 homes that were purchased by developer George Schott, and they are proving to be hot commodities.Of the 18 McKeen Street homes that went on the market in late spring, 17 have been snapped up."I had been looking in Portland because that's where I work, but there was nothing everything was 50,000 out of my price range," said Profenno."As soon as I saw it, I signed the papers within an hour," she said.
Buyers are also attracted to the tree-lined streets, playgrounds and ball fields that the Navy built for its personnel. While the homes have simple finishes, they all have replacement windows, a fresh coat of paint, refurbished floors and appliances.While the decommissioning of BNAS remains a tough economic loss for Brunswick, it has also created opportunities.
"I wanted to move into a place that felt like home and very neighborly," said Profenno, and after all, the Navy's departure enabled her to buy her dream home.A 5th grader tossed a message in a bottle off Cape Cod in 1997. Someone in France just found it.