Want to buy a bird sanctuary? N.J. Audubon is selling its 25-acre Cape May Courthouse property

Ever thought of owning your own bird sanctuary? Now, you can buy one for $1.1 million near the Jersey Shore.

New Jersey Audubon is selling its Center for Research and Education, set on 25 acres of wildlife habitat along tidal marshland on Route 47 (Delsea Drive) in Cape May Courthouse, Middle Township. The nonprofit will continue to operate the Cape May Bird Observatory-Northwood Center in Cape May Point, where it hosts various popular birding, nature, and gardening programs.

Weichert Commercial Brokerage is marketing the Cape May Courthouse property as a modern two-story office building with five acres of upland that includes a birding and nature trail. The property includes 20 acres of marshland and boasts “beautiful sunrises,” says a Weichert brochure, which makes no mention of the site as a birding education and research center the past 30 years.

The building has been closed to the public, though some staff members still use it. The property is off Sluice Creek, which empties into the Delaware Bay a few miles to the east.

Tax records show Middle Township has assessed the property at $1.7 million as a bird sanctuary with rural conservation zoning. It is currently tax exempt. Under New Jersey law, nonprofits are usually given tax exemptions if property they own is used for charitable purposes.

Permitted uses other than the current offices include single-family homes on at least three-acre lots, horticulture, agriculture, campgrounds, or kennels, according to the township’s zoning office. The tax exemption would likely change if the property’s ownership and use changes.

Alex Ireland, president and CEO of New Jersey Audubon, said the property was put up for sale over the summer. He said the decision to sell came from a reevaluation of the organization’s property portfolio after the pandemic left continued demand for hybrid work, creating less need for office space.

Ireland said the organization will share workspace with the Nature Conservancy at its Southern New Jersey headquarters at the Eldora Nature Preserve, about eight miles north on Delsea Drive.

“We’re just sort of like other organizations in the post-COVID world thinking about how best to use our office space and where to invest our resources,” Ireland said. “We’re exploring the market, and our presence in that part of Cape May is not changing.”

Birders have frequented the Cape May Courthouse research location over the decades, with its gardens, gazebo, and broad, wooded observation deck in the building’s rear. The deck offers a glimpse of marsh just beyond the tree line. But Ireland said the center had been “lightly utilized” in recent years.

“We would like to reinvest those resources in our other facilities,” Ireland said. “We have nature centers and education centers statewide that experience much higher traffic.”

He said that New Jersey Audubon is looking for “a special buyer” that fits in with the zoning constraints and wetlands, which he said cannot be disturbed. The nonprofit has had some inquiries about the property, but no buyer yet.

New Jersey Audubon is headquartered in Bernardsville, Somerset County, and celebrated its 125th anniversary as an organization last year when it took in $12.7 million in income, according to its annual report. Ireland also took the helm that year. He has a doctorate in earth and environmental sciences from Lehigh University, and previously worked at ExxonMobil as a senior environmental scientist.

In the past, the organization has described the Center for Research and Education as its South Jersey home base with offices for research, education, and conservation staffs. The center also housed the Audubon shop that sold binoculars, spotting scopes, bird feeders and houses, books, and videos.

“The center’s grounds host native vegetation, a dragonfly pond, a bird feeding station, a short handicap accessible trail and a variety of bird life all year,” New Jersey Audubon wrote in a description of the center on its website.

American goldfinches, red-winged blackbirds, and a variety of sparrows once came to fill on feeders hung on the property during winter. Tree swallows nested in the habitat garden in spring. Butterflies and dragonflies flitted about in the summer, as muskrats and southern leopard frogs used a small pond. Observers could witness peak raptor migration in fall.

This story has been updated to make clear that New Jersey Audubon is not selling its Cape May Bird Observatory-Northwood Center in Cape May Point.