A newly built, 13,500-square-foot compound on Nantucket's Cliff Road has hit the market for $45 million, complete with a camouflaged speakeasy, an underground tunnel to a guest cottage, and nine bedrooms spread across 23 rooms. If it sells at asking price, it would break the Massachusetts record for a private home sale.
A Record Built to Chase a Record
The listing, reported by Boston.com, places the property just minutes from downtown Nantucket and close to Steps Beach, the Nantucket Cliffs, and Nantucket Harbor, with views stretching across Nantucket Sound. The current statewide benchmark was set in August, when a 32-acre waterfront compound in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, assembled by Digitas founder Michael Bronner, sold for $43 million, according to Homes.com. That sale traded about 13% below its original $49 million asking price, a reminder that even the splashiest trophy listings don't always land where they start.
Nantucket had held the state crown before that sale came along. Homes.com identifies the previous statewide record as a Nantucket residence sold in October 2025 for $37.8 million. Listing agent Bobby Sabelhaus said 33 Cliff Road would reclaim that title for Nantucket if it closes at its $45 million ask, per Boston.com's reporting.
From Teardown to Trophy Property
The lot's rise has been fast even by island standards. Property records reported by Buying Power show the sellers are James Alban IV and Garland Alban, tied to the family behind Maryland's Alban Tractor Company, who bought the 0.62-acre parcel in September 2024 for $13.9 million through an entity called 33 Cliff Road LLC.
Architects Botticelli & Pohl designed the replacement mansion, and Hehir Group Custom Builders constructed it, according to Boston.com. The family built the home over roughly two years, listing agent Greg McKechnie told the outlet, and the home was offered furnished with new appliances and fixtures, according to Boston.com. SLC Interiors curated the property, per the Business Journal's account.
Built to Keep, Not to Sell
The twist is that the owners never intended to sell. Listing agents told Boston.com the family built 33 Cliff Road as their dream home, and McKechnie said the builder-owners ultimately decided to remain in their other Nantucket residence instead — a change of heart that put the freshly finished compound on the market. McKechnie described the construction as well-built and solid, and said the family, which has a large household and enjoys entertaining, designed the home around both big gathering spaces and quieter private nooks.
Those gathering spaces include a gym, a billiard room, and a movie theater, along with a widow's walk large enough to hold several guests for fireworks displays or sunset cocktails. The home's most talked-about feature is a hidden speakeasy accessed through a camouflaged door between the living room and dining room, fitted with built-in banquette seating, a wraparound bar counter with stools, and softly lit shelving. Sabelhaus told Boston.com the hidden room is genuinely difficult to spot. An underground tunnel also links the main house's gym area to a guest cottage, McKechnie said.
What a $45 Million Buyer Would Owe
Even at full asking price, a buyer's costs wouldn't stop at $45 million. Nantucket imposes a statutory 2% Land Bank transfer fee on real estate sales, which would add $900,000 at closing, according to real estate analysis from The Kalman Co. The fee supports open-space preservation through the Nantucket Islands Land Bank, which was established in 1983 and now stewards more than 3,500 protected acres on the island.
The property's tax bill is $36,261, another figure to weigh against its $45 million asking price.
A Hot Market, With No Guarantees
September 2026 was Nantucket's biggest sales month of the year, with 51 transactions totaling $240.6 million.
Still, 33 Cliff Road's path to a record sale isn't assured. The Business Journal notes the estate is currently the highest-priced residential listing in Massachusetts, narrowly ahead of the $44.5 million Grand Penthouse at the St. Regis Residences in Boston's Seaport, a unit spanning more than 10,000 square feet across two levels. But the Martha's Vineyard sale that currently holds the state record closed well under its own asking price, a pattern that suggests reaching $45 million for the Cliff Road compound is far from a sure thing.
