They Just Built Their Dream Home on Cape Cod—Now the State Will Tear It Down

Last summer, Marc and Joan Hendel were among the owners of 13 homes Massachusetts planned to seize by eminent domain to make way for the new Sagamore Bridge. Now, most of those homes belong to the state.By April of this year, Massachusetts had taken 11 of the 13 properties, including the Hendels' newly built Cape Cod home. Public records reviewed by the Boston Globe show that the state had paid at least $4.8 million for six of the homes—more than their combined $3.5 million assessed value. Records for the five others had not yet surfaced.But for the Hendels, those dollar amounts obscure a yearslong ordeal. In late 2023, the couple decided it was time to move back home to New England after years in the Midwest.They set their sights on Cape Cod, which is equidistant from Joan’s family in Boston and Marc’s family in Connecticut. It was also close to the ocean, which Marc describes as “our place.”In the Round Hill neighborhood of Bourne, they found what seemed like a dream: a plot of land and a spec home they could shape into their retirement haven. But just a month after their March 2025 move-in date, that dream unraveled. A letter was hand-delivered from the state, informing them the...