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A lovingly preserved, turnkey vintage cottage on the sugar sand shores of Benzie County’s Crystal Lake is ready for its next owner.
Jon Zickert, an associate broker with Real Estate One in Beulah, on March 6 listed the three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom, 2,900-square-foot vacation home on the northeast shore of Crystal Lake in Benzonia Township for $2.3 million.
The sellers, who bought the cottage in October 2021 for $1.86 million, are an out-of-state couple who requested not to be named for privacy reasons.
Hazelton was perhaps best known for commercial projects, including the renovation of Traverse City’s historic Park Place Hotel (1964) and designing the former Traverse City Chamber of Commerce building (1965), the National Bank and Trust Building (1969), and the terminal at Cherry Capital Airport (1969), which reportedly contained Traverse City’s first escalator.
Zickert described the home as a “rare” property that feels isolated from neighbors even in winter, thanks to mature evergreens on both sides of the lot.
“I think the number one thing is that there’s no road between the cottage and the waterfront, so from a family entertaining (perspective) … there’s no worry,” he said.
In many ways, the cottage feels like a 1960s time capsule, as it retains original design features like the floor-to-ceiling windows, quarry tile floors, Onoway stone exterior and living room hearth, copper-fronted den fireplace, redwood paneling, pine-beamed ceilings and mint-condition vintage bathroom tiles in the two full baths.
Zickert said the sellers made only minor artwork and decor changes during their tenure because they loved the house so much.
“They just maintained it, and wanted to keep the charm that they fell in love with when they bought it,” he said, noting that they’re reluctantly parting with the cottage now that their kids are older.
The sellers kept much of the previous owners’ furniture, like a dining room table with an etched-glass outline of Crystal Lake. He said they would like to carry on the tradition of negotiating some of the furnishings with the sale, if the buyer is amenable.
Zickert said his favorite feature of the home is its living room, which he described as “cozy” when a fire is lit, with excellent views.
“I love when you first walk in through the front door, that basically your first view when you walk in just to your left in the living room are all the windows in that great room that overlook the lake,” he said. “The first thing you see on a sunny day is the blue-green waters of Crystal Lake, (and it) feels like you’re in the Caribbean.”
His second-favorite area is the sunroom, which has windows on all sides and lets whoever is cooking in the kitchen see out onto the yard and lake. The sunroom also has a grill built into the brick wall.
Other convenient features of the home are its three-car attached garage with plenty of storage and a door on the lake side for boats to be launched more easily, as well as a grandfathered boat house that could not be built so close to the lake today because of zoning restrictions.
The house also includes a massive wraparound deck overlooking the water, while a little brook runs through the property down to the lake and features a picturesque crossing bridge.
“It’s never not flowing, even in winter, and it just kind of adds a little element to your backyard that not many places have,” Zickert said.
The property also has a fenced yard, in-ground sprinkler system and dock that’s included in the listing.
Zickert noted the sellers aren’t in a huge rush to close on a deal, but they listed the property now for the cottage-shoppers who may want to buy a place before summer.
He said his office does an annual real estate report summarizing activity on Crystal Lake, and 2024 saw “quite a bit of activity,” with 19 home sales around the lake ranging from about $950,000 to $1.9 million.
“Folks are loving life on Crystal Lake,” he said.
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