News Release
NPS/French
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Contact: Stacey Ferguson, 508-957-0736
WELLFLEET, Mass.—The National Park Service (NPS) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFPs) to lease eight historic properties within Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS). The eight historic dune shacks, located within the Peaked Hill Bars National Register of Historic District in Provincetown and Truro, are offered under a lease term of 10 years. Proposals for the dune shacks must be submitted by July 3, 2023, at 5 pm EST.
The opportunity to submit a proposal to lease any of these eight properties is competitive and is open to all interested persons and businesses. Information on the properties, leasing terms and conditions, and information on submitting proposals can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/caco/getinvolved/request-for-proposals.htm
Appointment-only site tours will be held on June 15. To request an appointment for a site tour, or to ask questions about the leasing process or properties, please email e-mail us.
The dune shack properties will be leased “as-is with all faults.” The lessee is expected to occupy and maintain the dune shack as a traditional dune shack. The lessee will be responsible for the cost and implementation of all repairs, replacements needed to occupy the buildings including items such as roof replacement, carpentry repairs and addressing any/all fire and life safety code issues. The lessee will be required to perform routine maintenance.
The dune shacks are small, weathered, and often built on pilings to adjust for the ever-moving sand dunes surrounding these properties. The houses are remote, with no paved roads leading to them. Access is required by foot or by 4x4 vehicle along the park’s Oversand corridor. There is limited running water, plumbing, and electrical fixtures in most of the shacks.
Lease proposals will be evaluated on overall merit. Evaluation criteria include compatibility of the proposed use of the property with respect to preservation, protection, and visitor enjoyment of Cape Cod National Seashore; the compatibility of the proposal with historic qualities of the property; the bidder’s financial capability of carrying out the terms of the lease; and the ability and commitment of the Offeror to conduct activities in the park area in an environmentallyenhancing manner through, among other programs and actions, energy conservation, waste reduction, and recycling.
Federal regulation requires that the lessee pays, at minimum, fair market value rent which has been determined through a local market analysis and is identified in the RFP for each property. Any repair or rehabilitation work must be done in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. Those standards can be found here:https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1739/secretary-standards-treatment-historic-properties.htm
The Dune Shacks of Peaked Hill Bars Historic District occupies approximately 1,960 acres within CCNS outside of Provincetown and Truro. The historic district includes both historic buildings (dune shacks) and the dune landscape. The dune shacks have a variety of origins and purposes, including use by Coast Guardsmen who worked at the nearby Peaked Hill Coast Guard station in the 1920s through the 50s; locals who wished to escape the bustle of Provincetown tourism and regulations to the solitude of the backshore environment; and artists and writers who found inspiration from the remote landscape. The National Park Service has retained ownership of the dune shacks, and most have continued to be managed under lifetime estates until recent years.
Last updated: May 1, 2023