Feds still planning to remove Pink House on Plum Island, report says

The federal agency that owns the ”Pink House,” a historical landmark on Plum Island built in 1925, said it is still planning to remove the home, a day after Gov. Maura Healey said demolition would be put on hold, according to reports.

In a statement Wednesday, Healey said she put the planned demolition of the beloved North Shore structure named for the color of its exterior “on hold pending conversations between the Governor‘s Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other stakeholders to determine the path forward.”

The house, which has been abandoned for years, was bought by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with 11 acres of nearby salt marsh in 2011, according to the State House News Service. The federal agency bought the nearby land and the home to protect the area from development.

Since 2016, the agency has tried several solutions to save the home, including an auction, according to the SHNS. With no bidders and after the Pink House’s conditions got so bad it became unsafe to go near, it was scheduled to be demolished this week.

Last week, an anonymous donor pledged $1 million to save the Pink Home, but the federal agency said that money still does not change the environmental and safety issues the structure presents.

Matt Hillman, the refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said he did wait to stop the demolition as the governor asked, the SHNS reported Thursday. But he remains concerned about the poor conditions and safety hazards of the building.

In a statement to the SHNS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the poor structure and constant maintenance of the Pink House in an “increasingly active flood zone” doesn’t fit its mission to conserve wildlife and their homes.

“Therefore, the decision we made to remove the structure is in the best interest of our conservation mission,” the service told SHNS.

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