A small room in the front of the house will have a king-size bed, efficiency kitchen, microwave and coffee pot.
The outside cottage is called “Station,” paying homage to Grateful Dead.
“We named it that because it looks like Terrapin Station,” Cadigan said. It will have an open floor plan and a full kitchen.
But the rooms themselves won’t be the only attraction this place will have to offer. On the grounds will be patio areas with three separate grill stations. Even the lawn will have activities set up for people to enjoy.
“Some days we’ll have croquet set up. There will be chairs for sunbathing. We may run a yoga program,” Cadigan said.
It has sort of come full-circle for Cadigan, who noted that as a young girl, she saw an old victorian home on Cape Cod and wanted her parents to buy it and turn it into a hotel.
Once the couple had discovered the property and developed a plan of action, they first had to win town approval. But, the process everyone from real estate agents to regular townsfolk had warned them about when relatively smoothly, Cadigan said.
Cadigan learned part of the process when she and her husband were preparing a studio on their nearby property for rental.
“I was already harassing the Building Department about building codes,” she said.
“At this point I was a somewhat familiar face.”
At first, she approached Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer Ellen Casciaro about the concept for a hotel and was told nobody would go for it. But Casciaro had noted more people were turning homes into short-term vacation rentals and suggested that route. Cadigan said Casciaro had asked if the plan was to tear the home down and build a new structure.
When Cadigan said the plan was to preserve the old home, “all of a sudden the entire tone of the conversation changed.”
The couple was faced with the choice between a bed-and-breakfast or vacation rentals. Since they weren’t planning on living on the premises, bed-and-breakfast was out.
The property is in a residential zone, but vacation rentals are allowed through a special use permit, which the Planning Board granted in October. The only real holdups were finalizing the purchase with the bank and acquiring flood insurance, Cadigan said.
“Literally, they just pushed us through,” Cadigan said of the town process. “People told us it would take us years.”
