Photo / William Hall
Warren's Lobster House includes a riverfront dining area and lounge, and can seat up to 350 patrons.
Updated: September 23, 2024
After 84 years, Warren’s Lobster House in Kittery is going up for auction
Photo / William Hall
Warren's Lobster House, pictured here from the Memorial Bridge between Kittery and Portsmouth, N.H., has advertised with this distinctive billboard since the 1950s.
By William Hall
A longtime landmark for lobster lovers, Warren's Lobster House in Kittery, is going to the auction block next month.
The 350-seat restaurant complex on the edge of the Piscataqua River, including several outbuildings and a vintage billboard, will be put up for sale in an online auction running from Oct. 24-31.
The property at 9-13 Water St. covers 1.35 acres and includes 15,300 square feet of commercial space, a 2,450-square-foot, two-unit house and 600 feet of river frontage. The Warren's site has an assessed value of $2.44 million, according to the Kittery tax rolls.
The location has been serving up lobster since 1940, when Warren "Pete" Wurm opened a six-stool lobster-and-clam shack that stood on wooden piers above the river.
In the mid-1950s, the restaurant sold to a pair of local families who expanded Warren's and erected the famous billboard, promoting "the seacoast's finest salad bar" that was stocked with more than 60 items.
But in recent years, Warren's has been besieged by storm-related flooding, and closed for several months after a devastating nor'easter in January.
Scott Cunningham, who bought Warren's in 1984 with a partner and now with his family owns it outright, began exploring options for the property a couple of years ago. The family initially planned to sell to a Portsmouth, N.H., developer, Green & Co. Real Estate, which intended to build condominiums on the site. The company later revised the project, but the deal fell apart.
In an August 2023 social media post, the Cunninghams explained that "should the prospective buyer decide to not move forward [the deal] is still our intention to list the property for sale because ultimately it is no longer sustainable to operate and maintain a building located on a pier over the water."
The property was recently listed for sale at $4.9 million, then $3.9 million, before ultimately being taken off the market.
The auction, which is for the real estate only, is being managed by the Portland branch of Tranzon Auction Properties.
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