A former Stonington restaurant is for sale for just over $1M

A waterfront property on Stonington’s Main Street that has been home to two acclaimed restaurants in recent years is on the market for just under $1.2 million.

The building at 27 Main St. most recently housed Acadia House Provisions, which closed in January 2022 after nearly three years. Ryan McCaskey, a longtime summer resident of Stonington, opened the restaurant in 2019 as a spinoff of his Maine-inspired restaurant Acadia in Chicago, which received a two-star rating in the prestigious Michelin Guide.

The idle restaurant building overlooks Stonington’s bustling harbor which is home to Maine’s busiest lobster fishing fleet. It includes an upstairs two-bedroom apartment, a large dining deck with a commanding view of the harbor, and an interior dining room, according to the property listing.

It is “a handsome structure with custom details throughout, including oak flooring, custom lighting and upholstered seating,” the listing says.

The property, only 0.05-acres in size, sits wedged among several other small lots that abut each other cheek-by-jowl along Main Street and is directly across the street from the Stonington town office. The town’s assessed value of the property — an estimate that is used to determine its property tax bill — is $324,000.

The building at 27 Main St. currently is owned by Vail, Colorado-based Nereus Investments, which acquired the property in 2003, according to registry records.

McCaskey came under fire in 2020 in Chicago by former employees who accused him of harassment and fostering a toxic work environment. The dispute ended up in court in Chicago and contributed to McCaskey’s decision to shut down his restaurant there in the fall of 2021.

It was unclear on Thursday if McCaskey’s legal issues in Chicago, which included a countersuit he filed against his primary accuser, had been resolved.

Eater reported in December 2020 that McCaskey moved full-time to Maine after the allegations against him became publicized. McCaskey’s parents, who live in the Chicago area, have owned a summer home in Stonington since 1994, according to records on file at the Hancock County Registry of Deeds.

Prior to Acadia House Provisions, the space housed Aragosta, which relocated to Goose Cove Road in neighboring Deer Isle. Aragosta’s owner and head chef, Devin Finigan, was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2020.

The current home of Aragosta is also where McCaskey had one of his earliest jobs as a chef.

A news reporter in coastal Maine for more than 20 years, Bill Trotter writes about how the Atlantic Ocean and the state's iconic coastline help to shape the lives of coastal Maine residents and visitors.... More by Bill Trotter