resulted in the sale of two well-known Berlin properties last week.
The large piece of land known as the Davis-Taylor farm and the adjacent Beach Club Golf Course were both featured in a trustees’ sale hosted by Atlantic Auctions at the Atlantic Hotel Oct. 30. The farmland brought $1.25 million while the golf course brought $1.3 million. Both properties were purchased by investors from across the Bay Bridge.
“I have no plans yet,” said Adham Abouassali, the Frederick resident who purchased the farmland. “I was interested in it because it’s incorporated with the town.”
Abouassali was the winning bidder on the 245-acre piece of farmland, which is made up of four smaller parcels north of Route 50. In all, the land was advertised to contain 191 tillable acres, 160 acres zoned industrial and a remaining 85 acres zoned residential.
Though the auctioneer at the Atlantic Hotel Friday tried to start bidding for the property at $2 million, the first bid for the land was $500,000. Shortly thereafter Abouassali was congratulated on his $1.25 million purchase.
Abouassali, who says this is the first piece of property he’s bought in the area, does not have plans yet for his new acquisition.
“I just like land,” he said, adding that he’d only heard about the auction because he was on the Atlantic Auctions mailing list. He wasn’t even sure if he’d gotten a good deal on the property until he checked with a local real estate agent. “I understand it’s fair but not low.”
Abouassali also bid on the second property featured in the auction, the former Beach Club Golf Course off Route 113, but wasn’t willing to spend $1.3 million on it.
“Golf courses I’m not that familiar with,” he said. “I know it’s a lot of work.”
Instead, an investor from the Washington D.C. was the winning bidder. Though he declined to give his name, he said he’d seen an ad for the auction in the Washington Post and was interested in the 384-acre property on Deer Park Road because of its proximity to Ocean City. He said he did not have plans for the former 27-hole golf course yet.
