Frank Sciame, the CEO of the eponymous construction company, has picked up a historic accessory for his Connecticut estate – a lighthouse. Sciame’s estate is famed as the former home of iconic movie star Katharine Hepburn.
The 127-year-old Connecticut lighthouse — which is actually featured on some license plates – sold for just $290,000 at auction, according to the New York Post. Sciame purchased Hepburn’s 3.4 acre estate in 2004, shortly after her 2003 death for $6 million.
Sciame bought the estate in 2004, shortly after Hepburn’s 2003 death, for $6 million. Since then he has tried to sell the property various times and in various forms. First it was listed for $28 million in 2011, following a multi-million dollar renovation. He also subdivided the property into three lots. After a house was added to the East lot in 2012, the property was re-listed for $30 million. Sciame then tried selling only the main house and dock for $18 million in 2013, before lowering the asking price to $14.8 million a year later.
Sciame, who is the former chairman of the South Street Seaport Museum and former chair of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, told the Post that he plans to turn the Old Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, which registered on the National Register for Historic Places, into a guesthouse.
“The lighthouse withstood the hurricane of ’38, Sandy and Irene. In stormy weather, we could have fun with our grandchildren without fearing that it would come down,” Sciame said. [NYP] —Christopher Cameron