Statewide Marketing Session for November 2015
Submitted by Louise Norwood
The November Statewide Marketing Session was held on Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at the new GMNBR headquarters training center at 318 South River Road in Bedford. This month’s breakfast sponsor was Paul Alfano of Alfano Law Office, PLLC. Paul has over twenty-five years experience assisting property owners reduce their real estate taxes along with a wide range of real estate expertise in sales, purchases, leases, financings and development work. Thank you, Paul, for graciously providing us with a delicious continental breakfast.
Marie Bodi of CP Management is a third party property management company. With over thirty years in the industry, they are the “go to” company for your overall property management needs. Marie mentioned that they will no longer be taking on any additional residential apartment complexes or residential condominiums but will entertain commercial condominium projects.
Leighton White of Leighton A. White Inc. of Milford specializes in site excavation and prep work. They just completed the underground utility work for Whole Foods. Leighton went on to say that they have two 19 acre view lots ideally suited for estate housing. As well, they have a signed contract for 30,000 cubic yards of fine sand in Milford proving that there is much going on in the construction industry. In addition, they are doing a great deal of work for BAE and have recently provided eight generator pads. In essence, Leighton claims that they are in the business of “dirt”.
Robert Cruess of TFM/MSC Engineers provided the attendees with a detailed overlay of the Bedford Mall-Macy’s project by Encore Development. The project will be a life style center with a blend of upscale retail, apartment living, restaurant and class A office. Robert is pleased with their newest engineering acquisition in Portsmouth as there is much development going on in the seacoast area. Lastly, Robert generously offered to hand carry any retail marketing materials to the ICSC symposium in New York City coming up in the next week or so.
Jeff Rapson of Verani/Bedford is fully invested to commercial brokerage working with a number of investors. Jeff is seeking a free standing building to house 40 charter school students. The building can either be for purchase or lease with an option. The best scenario he has found to date is on 2 Chenell Drive in Concord in the building presently housing Sylvan Learning Center. Additionally, Jeff is working with two small multi unit apartment investors that are willing to purchase properties in need of TLC in the greater Manchester area.
Don Marshall of Marshall Associates in Exeter specializes in the buying and selling of businesses of any genre. As a business broker, Don can provide an exit plan for business owners. Don is presently marketing two property management companies one of which has a portfolio of 60 properties and the other 100 properties. They are on the market at $500,000 and $600,000 respectively. As a side bar, they are not accepting any additional residential condominium complexes.
Kiersten Gerow of Exchange Authority is also a fully vetted Massachusetts real estate broker and licensed attorney. They have a background of saving client’s money as they are qualified intermediaries in the 1031 Exchange process. She appealed to the attendees to log on totaxreform.com to submit your vote to retain the laws associated with 1031 Exchanges and help preserve this most important real estate tool.
Vince Chestnut of Alpha Locksmith touched on the importance of keeping medicine chests locked in this day and age of drug overdoses. He can provide a system for both residential and pharmaceutical/medical venues. Vince has upgraded the security for a local water district to protect their million dollar investment from both domestic and world wide terrorism.
Rick Mulvee of Tower Realty laid out the guidelines for his two cash investors both of which want to stay in the New England area with the exception of the State of Maine. The first cash buyer has two million dollars at his disposal to invest in office and/or industrial properties with potential. This party has no interest in either retail or residential holdings. His second investor is more picky and is what Rick terms as an institutional investor. He will even consider environmentally challenged properties as the investor has a close associate who specializes in large remediation projects. Rick has three retail units next to Gold’s Gym as small as 3,500 s.f. up to 6,000 s.f. with some having the old city jail cells still intact. The units are priced at $10.00 psf nnn along with a generous fit-up.
Ben Baroody of Elm Grove Realty is expecting a new listing on the Concord/Bow line which is currently used by mediators and should be available by the first of the month. Ben is also working with buyers and sellers with auto related interests i.e. a body shop; used car lot and junk yard in southern New Hampshire.
Deana Theriault of Verani Realty described her 6,000 s.f. highly visible listing located on a four way lighted intersection in Milford being offered for sale at $499,900 or for lease at $10.00 psf modified gross. Presently it is a single user building but could be fit up to accommodate multiple users. Deana is also marketing a pizza business in Pembroke with a good client base. This turn key operation also would do well in expanding into the catering business. The sales price without the real estate is $75,000.
Jay Lee of Verani Realty is interested in tutoring a young person to get them established in a life long career of commercial real estate. He is willing to put the time and energy into grooming someone for the long haul as so many agents are now aging with some transitioning into retirement. Jay mentioned that he has a 1,500 s.f. condo unit for sale in Hooksett at a sales price of $130,000. In addition Jay has a 9,000 s.f. twelve room hotel for sale in Epsom across from the Hess filling station at a price of $210,000. The location enjoys a visible situation on Route 4 with 14,000 CPD.
Christine Soutter of the City of Somersworth explained that the city is focused on the downtown making improvements for developers seeking to purchase economically priced property. To that end, the former police station is up for sale at the asking price of $200,000. The property is qualified to take advantage of the 79E program which gives the advantage of freezing the assessed valuation for up to nine years. Please call Christine with the intricacies of this value added program. The City of Somersworth works closely with the City of Dover to improve the seacoast region developing the residential and commercial complexion of the overall area.
Adam Johnston of Bank of New England specializes exclusively in commercial lending with 14 million dollars at their disposal. They are especially interested in redevelopment projects.
Denise Momson of the Alfano Law office practices commercial tax abatement. Denise announced that they have yielded a savings of $250,000 in one year and a savings of $59,000 over a couple of years to the advantage of several property owners.
Dave Gambaccini of KW Commercial has been working in the residential end of real estate but has just recently teamed up with Ron Fredette. He is now full time commercial. As for buyers, he and Ron are working with two seasoned investors in the 1 to 1.5 million dollar range in the Nashua-Manchester area. They are both willing to take on properties that have some vacancy or perhaps an under improved multi family. Dave and Ron are also marketing 1217 Elm Street in Manchester which is full retail on the street level with the capability of placing apartments and/or dormitory living on the second floor. There are twelve parking spaces in the rear of the building with plenty of street parking. This was Dave’s first meeting and we hope to see him again at future marketing sessions.
Lynne Bagby at Asset Preservation, Inc. practices nationally and has expertise in a reverse improvement exchange/lease back program. A formula is applied to manage clients out of a partnership interest. Lynne also spoke about the legislation afoot to eliminate 1031 exchanges which would have a severe impact on real estate. The goal is to present congress with 100,000 signatures appealing to retain this tool. As an interesting side note other types of product can be exchanged i.e. aircraft; a fleet of rental cars and a fleet of say snow plowing vehicles. Lynne wanted to impress upon the timing issue of exchanges. — “To defer or postpone …” Which addresses the fact that during the month of November (this year, November 19), as exchanger’s 45th day goes into the “new year”. IF an exchanger cannot find a suitable replacement property to purchase by their 45th day, then day 46, the QI can give the Exchanger their money back. Their taxes will be due, but not until 2017, if they elect “installment sale” treatment.
Dan Barufaldi of Dover Economic Development announced that a new parking facility comprised of 347 parking spaces has just opened. He was also pleased to explain that Ground Rand is now occupying 120,000 s.f. and as for the remaining space in that building, Stonewall Kitchen now occupies 85,000 s.f. and when fully expanded they will have a full complement of 179,000 s.f. Dover has become quite the tourist spot with tourist buses providing transportation to hotels, merchants and restaurants making for a vibrant downtown community. In addition to the star player, Stonewall Kitchens, Dan provided us with the information that Dover can now accommodate another 85,000 s.f. for a light manufacturing company in an old deplete sand pit which has close access to Exit 7 on the Spaulding. Lastly, Dan provided us with the most current Manager’s Report for Dover which covers all the economic sectors.
Erik Crisman of Brookstone Builders Inc. explained that their construction company has been in the general contractor business for more than thirty years. Erik offered that their company would be happy to extend their services to cost out construction and/or renovations. He is looking forward to working with your client(s).
John Turner of Team Engineering offers inspections and gave his thanks to Jay Lee for suggesting that John conduct a more economical property assessment which has provided him with more business. John would be happy to discuss any and all engineering questions related to snow roof loads but that is only one element of his expertise. He estimates that the cost of evaluating a roof load can be anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. Lastly, John has been actively working with Michael Caouette to secure a building with a minimum of 2,500 s.f. to purchase for his new company home. His geographic desire is from the Bedford toll both No. Merrimack up through Bedford and is desirous to have good street visibility. Would be willing to partner up for a larger building.
Paul Alfano of Alfano Law office is in a unique niche market namely real estate tax abatements though he has a wide menu of services from the formulation of the documentation for limited liability companies and sole proprietorships to their ever changing dynamics in formation and governance. He is a well recognized authority on New Hampshire road law, including paper streets and discontinuances and ownership disputes. With twenty-five years in the tax abatement field, he cautioned to start thinking about petitioning for the abatement of real estate taxes. Paul prefers to operate on a contingency basis rather than charging an hourly rate. He will attend all hearings saving the tax payer that unpleasant task. Paul is located near the Concord State House and would be happy to discuss your questions and individual circumstances.
Denise Clermont of CBRB in Amherst announced that shortly after attending the last marketing session she took 475 Nashua Street under agreement which closed in six days. She is still marketing a 12,500 s.f. thirteen unit complex five minutes from Loon Mountain in Woodstock. It has a positive cash flow. Additionally she has a residential home for sale in Milford at an asking price of $176,000. It has high visibility but this single family home will need much in the way of rehab.
Louise Norwood of NAI Norwood Group, Inc. is working with a venture capital group looking for high end mill space anywhere from 3,000 s.f. up to 5,000 s.f. with a first quarter 2016 occupancy.
In addition, NAI is marketing a 2,656 s.f. medical/office end unit at 18 Constitution Drive, Bedford at a lease rate of $13.95 psf nnn. And lastly NAI has a redevelopment opportunity at 32-34 Main Street in Concord owned by the City of Concord. The city is envisioning a mixed use so to that end it would seem that a full demolition of the building is in the plan with a developer who can work in tandem towards a mixed use program. The project presently has 516 parking spaces and is located in the TIF District at an asking price of $1,600,000.
Note: The information above is as accurate as can be but please excuse any unintended errors.
Please note that we do not hold marketing sessions during the month of December and will resume on the fourth Wednesday of January 2016. We appreciate such a great turn out the day just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. May you and your families have a most joyous Christmas Season with good health and peace.
Louise Norwood
NAI Norwood Group
116 South River Road
Bedford, NH 03110
603.668.7000 x205
louise@nainorwoodgroup.com