BRICK – The “House on the Island” is no more.
A once-grand home on Middle Sedge Island, located between the Mantoloking Bridge and the bridge to Seaside, was demolished in June, and the only remaining evidence that there’d ever been a structure there is the capped gas, sewer and electric lines.
Also known as Hankins Island by locals – named after Charles Hankins, who built the first house there in the 1960s – the 14.46-acre body of land sits off Chadwick Beach Island in Toms River. He purchased Middle Sedge Island and the most westerly residential lot on the mainland where he could park his car.
Hankins was a boat builder from Lavallette who built all the lifeguard boats along the Jersey Shore. Two of his boats are on permanent display at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.
The inside of the house had been victim to the elements, the animals, and vandals. (Photo courtesy Shaun McCaferity)
He and his wife Anna Ohlau Hankins spent weekends on the isolated island. Those who remember the childless couple said they had dug a well and used the engine of a Volkswagen Beetle as a generator.
Eventually, Hankins sold the property and the new owners had the two-story colonial moved downbay by barge.
A new complex and elaborate nearly 5,000-square foot home was built there in 1991 by Dell Construction.
The new home included a built-in pool and a helicopter landing pad. Utilities were run out 3,000 feet to the island from the end of Strickland Street in Chadwick Beach.
The house on Hankins Island was demolished recently. (Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn)
According to public records, Anthony and Joann Dellechiaie purchased the property in 1999 for $1.6 million from Joseph and Wallis McDermott of Montville, NJ.
Records show that the Dellechiaies sold the property to Zero Barnegat Bay LLC, owned by Robert Lyon of Towaco NJ, for $100 in January 2005. Foreclosure documents were filed in 2012.
The grand home, once valued at $8.5 million, was devastated by Superstorm Sandy and in 2015 was listed for sale for $6.5 million.
R. Kremer & Son Marine Contractors were hired for the demolition. According to the head supervisor for the project Shaun McCaferity, two different sets of barges were needed and six to eight workers.
“The State wanted the property cleared because they felt it was becoming a hazard out there, especially for young kids,” McCaferity said. “They wanted the docks removed, so we took care of what the state wanted.”
This photo was used in a real estate ad in better days. (Photo courtesy Brick Historical Society)
It took the men about two weeks to remove some 1,600 cubic yards of construction debris and detritus. The built-in pool, which had popped out of the ground during Sandy, was crushed up and moved into dumpsters at a staging area at the end of Chadwick Island.
The debris was all trucked out and brought to Mazza recycling in Neptune.
The inside of the house had a lot of graffiti, broken sheetrock and shattered windows, McCaferity said.
“The furniture was still there – it was disgusting, so gross…birds were living in there,” he said. “No one had been there since before Sandy.”
Efforts to reach the current owner have been unsuccessful, so the future of the island is unclear.
In the meantime, “the owner has a clean palate,” McCaferity said. “There’s nothing out there now, it’s just graded sand.”
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