A beach compound is for sale. In Maine, that usually means a sweeping estate on an island or something in a resort town.
But a property listed Monday for nearly $5 million boasts two homes on a half-acre lot in the middle of South Portland. It’s the former residence of Wayne Ross, who was president of nearby Southern Maine Community College for more than 20 years. He purchased the neighboring homes in 2000, a decade after they were built, and retired two years later. He died in 2016.
“He loved the property,” said his daughter, who is also the property’s listing agent, Anne Ross-Murray. “He’d sit out front, and when people walked by he’d ask them to come in. It was his pride and joy.”
The homes are steps away from Willard Beach, a 4-acre, city-owned beach that runs between the SMCC campus and Fisherman’s Point. It consists of two houses with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms between them — a main residence that Ross-Murray lives in and remodeled herself in 2022, and a guest cottage where her brother lives.
It’s the priciest listing in South Portland right now by far, with the next most expensive home ringing in at just under $2 million. Median sale prices in the city are currently about $638,000, a 26 percent increase from this time last year, according to Redfin.
Ross-Murray, an agent with F.O. Bailey Real Estate, said the price reflects the fact that this is a rare beachfront opportunity in a bustling Maine city. It’s such a unique listing that she and her associates couldn’t find any properties on the market to compare it to, she said. The main residence in which Ross-Murray lives offers sweeping views of the beach, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse and Casco Bay.
“You feel like you’re on a cruise ship,” she said.
Other top features include the main residence’s open-concept kitchen, its wrap-around deck, a two-car heated garage with flexible overhead space that could become an in-law apartment and the hardwood floors and woodstove offered in the smaller guest cottage.
She and her brother are selling the compound because both Wayne Ross and his wife, Betsy, have died and they are looking to downsize. Ross-Murray will be staying in the Willard Beach area in a new condo, she said.
There haven’t been any interested early callers, she said Tuesday. The property could have a couple different uses aside from residential, but her hope is that whoever ends up scoring the property continues its legacy as a family compound and enjoys it as much as Wayne Ross did.
“My father threw the Willard Beach party for years,” Ross-Murray said. “He loved it, totally.”
