The owners of Avalon’s ‘Monstrosity’ couldn’t find a buyer who’d save the home. So they’re selling to a developer.

The Monstrosity’s days are numbered.

The family who’s owned the house in Avalon since it was built in 1891 had been looking for a buyer who would agree to keep it, instead of following the Jersey Shore trend of knocking down older homes and building McMansions in their place.

The owners put out calls on social media this summer hoping for a miracle for the house on the corner of Ninth Street and First Avenue — a well-known property in the borough that the family lovingly named the Monstrosity to commemorate a complaint from the 1950s about rowdy youths there.

» READ MORE: Family hopes to sell Avalon house to someone who will preserve it

For about a month, Bob Penrose Jr., the oldest of eight siblings who own the property and president of Avalon’s historical society, spent almost every morning on the phone. He spoke about the property to a couple dozen people, a handful of whom turned out to be real estate agents who wanted to be the one to list the property for sale.

Penrose didn’t find anyone who could or would agree to preserve the home. Instead of putting the property on the market, the family decided to go with an offer from a local developer, whom Penrose declined to name. The Monstrosity is now under contract for $5.2 million, and the sale is scheduled to be finalized on Dec. 20.

Penrose believes the developer will knock down the 2,000-square-foot Monstrosity, which isn’t as big as new houses being built and doesn’t have air-conditioning or a pool.

“That’s life,” he said. “You win some, you lose some.”

» READ MORE: Why these tiny Jersey Shore homes' owners are refusing to sell

The contract allows the current owners to remove anything they’d like. So Penrose, a builder who spent many years working on historical homes across Avalon, bought a 20-foot-long storage trailer and is now working with surgical precision to save everything he can from the Monstrosity. That includes removing interior doors, attic windows, millwork, and the home’s original railings and soapstone mantles. He’s not sure what to do with the coal stove that he remembers being “a monster” as a kid.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything with all this stuff, but if I don’t [save what I can], I’ll regret it,” he said.

Penrose lives 15 minutes from the Monstrosity in Clermont but also has a house in North Carolina. He said he might build something new down there with materials from the Monstrosity. “And I’ll have my own Monstrosity South,” he said.

“It may be a pipe dream,” he said. “But at least I’ll have that option. If it goes down under a big claw, I won’t.”

Penrose was glad for the opportunity to try to find a “sympathetic buyer” and thought something might work out with folks he spoke with, including an architect from Bucks County and a developer in Ocean City.

But the house sits on a double lot, and “a lot of people didn’t want to purchase the whole property,” Penrose said.

He estimates that a couple dozen houses from the Monstrosity’s era are still standing in Avalon. Although he’d rather see the property preserved, he said he wouldn’t blame the developer if he knocks it down.

“That’s his job,” he said.