140-acre parcel in Connecticut lists for $4.3M

A nearly 140-acre former children’s camp in Coventry, Connecticut, has hit the market for $4.3 million.

The owner of the property, Almada Lodge-Times Farm Camp Corp., sought buyers to take over the camp last fall, but found no takers.

“While it had been the desire of Almada Lodge-Times Farm Camp Corporation to have the former site of Channel 3 Kids Camp in Coventry remain a camp to serve youth throughout Connecticut, we unfortunately have not found an appropriate partner willing to make the investment to take on this initiative,” Jillian Wood, chair of the corporation board of directors, said in a statement.

Jason and Krystal Harrison of Coldwell Banker Premier Realtors have the listing.

The property, located at 73 and 352 Times Farms Road, is zoned as farmland and may be subdivided, the listing says. The parcel currently has a number of camp buildings and recreational facilities, including a basketball court, pool, playground and clubhouse.

The parcel is connected to electrical, gas, telephone and cable utilities, but has a septic system.

About 114 of the parcel’s 139 acres is undeveloped woodland. In addition, about 1,700 feet of river, which is suitable for a trout stream, runs through the property.

The children’s camp, which was founded more than 100 years ago, closed permanently last summer after COVID shutdowns took their toll on attendance, according to the Hartford Courant. About 1,000 kids had signed up to attend the last season of the camp before it was canceled, according to the Journal Inquirer of Manchester.

Once the camp is sold, the board plans on using at least some of the proceeds to create an endowment to support children’s programming, Wood told the Courant.

Channel 3 Kids Camp wasn’t the only pandemic-afflicted camp that shut down.

In 2021, the Y.M.C.A. of Greater New York listed three summer camps in Huguenot, New York, totaling 1,000 acres. The group had hoped to sell the camps for a total of about $5 million.

Around 1,200 kids ages 7 to 16 attended each summer, and a third of them received financial aid from the Y.M.C.A., according to the New York Times, which first reported the story.

— Ted Glanzer