Billionaire and philanthropist Ernie Boch Jr working on plans for Pleasure Island in Swansea

It looks like we now know who owns a famous property in the Fall River area, but what will happen there is still unclear.

Pleasure Island in Swansea was sold at the beginning of June just before it was set to go to auction. The buyer of the 4+-acre property has been kept a secret along with what the property sold for.

It appears that a well-known Massachusetts billionaire and philanthropist Ernie Boch Jr. is the owner.

Boch posted pictures of the property on his social media page this week, so Fall River Reporter messaged Boch and asked him if he was the buyer and if so, what his plans were for the property? His answer to us was “No plans yet … I’m working on it.”

The property has had a difficult past that appeared to end in early 2020 when Swansea Board of Selectman and realtor Christopher Carreiro announced a buyer, Al Monte, that planned to “responsibly rehabilitate and revitalize Pleasure Island’s existing infrastructure, with a multi-million-dollar investment, as a banquet facility.” Town voters however voted down a rezoning of the property which nixed the deal.

Boch is well known for the Boch car dealerships and being the current CEO of Subaru of New England. He is also known for his music and philanthropy which he combined to form Music Drives Us which pays for instruments and programs for school children in New England.