Great views, unclear future

A former Big Dig contractor and other investors paid nearly $12 million for the Boston Yacht Haven at the end of Commercial Wharf in the North End with plans to possibly turn part of the facility into condominiums.

Yovette Markey Mumford, a former subcontractor, was a lead investor in a group last week that paid $11.7 million for the waterfront property, according to public real estate records, Boston officials, and downtown real estate agents. The seller was Modern Continental Marine Corp., an affiliate of a Big Dig construction firm that built the property five years ago.

But Mumford remains something of a mystery to downtown developers and residents. After emerging as the winner from a field of about a dozen bidders, she closed the deal last Friday and hosted an on-site soiree at dusk, serving champagne for marina employees, members of the Commercial Wharf East condominium association, and Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association, attendees said.

The first floor of the property, which rests on its own pilings, houses a marina that is slated for public use and is where some privacy-conscious clientele dock their luxury yachts and wood-hewn sailboats.

Li said yesterday that a Mumford representative told her the buyers are exploring whether to convert the second and third floors to private use as four condominiums.

''Single family did not come up," Li said. ''Four condos did come up, and maybe she's [interested in] one of the condos."

In an e-mail, Mumford said she has ''no plans to live at 86 Commercial Wharf." She didn't respond to requests for a telephone interview.

Boston Yacht Haven is a unique property in a city in the midst of an explosion in condominium development. Its 75 boat slips, for rent to the public, were constructed to accommodate large boats such as White Cloud, a 250-foot yacht, which spans three slips and has a helicopter parked on top. A bed and breakfast on the top two floors of the property rents for $250 a night to boaters, captains, and support staff.

''It's like you're in the middle of the Boston Harbor -- the best views from any place I've been on the harbor," said Carmela Laurella, a real estate agent who sells condos and offices on Commercial Wharf. ''It's one of the most glamorous properties on the Boston waterfront."

Laurella's firm, Otis & Ahearn Real Estate, considered the property and determined it has space for four luxury condominiums, which would sell for $3 million to $4 million apiece.

''This was a very good buy for the person who purchased it," she said.

Mark Vaughan, attorney for MGM Commercial Wharf, the investor group that purchased the property, said there was a ''handful" of investors. One document names Garron Markey, Mumford's son, as MGM Commercial's manager; MGM's Winchester address matches a publicly listed address for Yovette Markey Mumford.

In 2003, Mumford pleaded guilty to four counts of Big Dig-related fraud, including failure to pay state income taxes withheld from employees' paychecks and submission of false expenses for reimbursement, the state attorney general's office said. Vaughan said Mumford told him that she did not plead guilty but entered into a settlement of the charges.

''Whatever may or may not have happened two years ago on a totally unrelated subject has absolutely no relevance to my client's interest in the waterfront property," he said.

Mumford was involved in about $1 million in work for the Big Dig, as president of Burlington's American Electronics Corp., the state said. The former sister-in-law of Congressman Edward Markey, she is currently a top executive with Safety Medical Supply International Inc., a Newton medical supplies company.

News of the deal this week had people on the waterfront talking about whether she would succeed in obtaining approvals necessary for housing. Under state environmental law, the property and building are slated for ''water-dependent" use, meaning the marina and lodging for boaters, city officials said.

''They face an uphill battle" to win approval through a complex regulatory process, Li said.

The agent handling the property sale, Joanna Dresser of the luxury brokerage firm, LandVest Inc., said Mumford had mentioned that ''perhaps she wanted to live there."

''Anything is always a possibility," but ''we just acquired the property," said Vaughan, with Riemer & Braunstein LLP in Boston. He said his client recognizes the need for public approvals to change to the building's use and will ''continue to operate the property in its present configuration" as a marina and yacht club.

Richard McGuinness, deputy director of waterfront planning for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said residential construction would require what is known as a complete municipal harbor plan. He said no proposal for the property has been submitted.

''It is licensed as a marina and yacht club. Period," he said.

Carol Beggy of the Globe staff contributed material to this report. Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.