01945 Winter 2022

16 | 01945
Bushell's bold plan for Swampscott
By Charlie McKenna
Brian Andrew Bushell first attracted
local attention with a bold 2016 plan to
purchase Marian Court in Swampscott
to create a monastery and brewery then
abandoned those plans in the face of
local opposition.
Bushell sought to purchase the property
from The Sisters of Mercy, who had
owned it since 1954 and operated it as
Marian Court College before running
into financial difficulties in 2015. At
one point, the Marblehead man had
an agreement in place to purchase the
property for $4 million, but didn’t close
on the deal after town officials expressed
opposition to his plans.
Officials, including then-Director of
Community Development Peter Kane,
told Bushell it was their belief that zoning
bylaws did not allow for a brewery in
the residential district where the former
college is located. Bushell said his offer
to purchase the property hinged on his
ability to operate a small monastic brewery
and cider house on the site.
“I would like to clarify that the only
way we’re going to proceed with the purchase
of the property is with a brewery,”
Bushell told the Board of Selectmen in
December 2016. “That’s not any doubt in
our mind … It’s our understanding that
we do this by right. It’s our understanding
that any religious organization has
the right to support itself.”
Shortly thereafter, in January 2017,
Bushell withdrew plans to purchase
Marian Court. By August, he had purchased
the property at 124 Pleasant St.
that later became the home of St. Nicholas
and Marblehead Brewing Co. Bushell
purchased that property for $833,000.
Bushell told The Daily Item in 2017
that the Pleasant Street property is not
as large and well-integrated as Marian
Court, which would have allowed the
monks more space for uses such as holding
retreats.
“This is a much smaller property, but
it fits our needs,” he said. “We’ll probably
buy a second property in Marblehead
when the community expands, but
this allows us to start now. If we had
proceeded with the purchase of Marian
Court, we would have had to fight the
town in court, (which) could have taken
years. We have no doubt we would have
won, but it would have delayed things.”
The Marian Court property, which
once acted as President Calvin
Coolidge’s Summer White House, was
sold in 2017 for $2.75 million to CC
White Court LLC, an entity of Centercorp
Retail Properties.
The property, now known as White
Court, has since been converted into
condominiums, with 20 luxury units
divided among the three buildings on the
six-acre property.
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