Growth spurs The Morrison Center's expansion in Wells

PHOTO COURTESY THE MORRISON CENTER

The Morrison Center, a nonprofit whose mission is to help people of all ages with disabilities, has purchased an office building at 2250 Post Road in Wells for $300,000 to facilitate its expansion.

MEREDA conference highlights 'worker gap'

COURTESY / MEREDA

Cover of the latest MEREDA Index, a biannual economic indicator measuring the health of Maine's real estate sector.

BANGOR, Maine — A longtime Broad Street sporting goods store converted into luxury apartments has been sold to an out-of-state developer for $3.12 million.

The 18 luxury units at 28 Broad St. were sold by 28 Broad St. LLC to another limited liability corporation, New Hampshire-based Broad Street LLC, on Jan. 13, said Michael Cobb, a broker at Cardente Real Estate of Portland.

Friday’s closing capped 6½ months of negotiations, Cobb said Wednesday.

“It is an out-of-state investor who was interested. He liked the tenant mix and income ratios coming in from that. That’s where the number [sale price] comes from,” Cobb said. “On this type of property, in Bangor, I haven’t seen any other properties sell for this kind of price point.”

Four acres of land with significant development potential near Portland’s downtown could be available for sale by the end of the year, according to the city’s economic development director.

Greg Mitchell said city officials will likely choose a real estate broker in the coming weeks for land used by the city’s Public Works Department in Bayside, launching a process that could alter the course of one of Portland’s long-struggling neighborhoods. The only restrictions placed on the sale would be the current zoning, Mitchell said, and the city is open to selling all of the land to one buyer, or selling it by the parcel.

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Given the property’s location and zoning, which permits a wide range of uses, Mitchell expects that some sort of mixed-use development – including residential, office, retail and possibly a fitness center – could replace the current industrial-scale uses.

“I think this is an opportunity of a lifetime,” Mitchell said. “I think it would have a dramatic impact on spurring more investment in that area. Four acres is quite a piece of real estate in a downtown area. The redevelopment of that area could have a dramatic impact on setting a direction in an area.”

Moving Public Works out of Bayside has been a goal of the city since the 1990s. After toying with potentially moving the department out to Riverside Street, among other options, the city in 2013 began securing a 13-acre site at 212 and 250 Canco Road, an industrial area in the geographic center of the city.

Over the last year, the city focused more attention on the Bayside neighborhood, which is home to a multitude of social service groups, including the homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Last summer, the city directed more police attention to the area to deal with unruly behavior and made more of an effort to pick up litter, sweep the streets and rebuild sidewalks. It also has begun to rethink the way the city provides emergency food and shelter.

Given that the “midtown” project, including more than 400 apartments, has stalled and is possibly being revised again, residents in Bayside hope that the city’s effort to sell and redevelop the public works properties will go more smoothly, said Bayside Neighborhood Association President Steve Hirshon. He noted that after five years of planning for the midtown development, no shovel has hit the ground.

Hirshon suggested that residents are cautiously optimistic about the future.

“We understand there’s a lot of potential for development in the neighborhood, and obviously that’s exciting, but there’s the issue of: How do you maintain a neighborhood that managed to survive the fire of 1866?” Hirshon said, referring to the fire that destroyed a third of the city’s downtown area. “I think we’d like to maintain a semblance of what we have, and at the same time, welcome whatever new comes along.”

The estimated cost for relocating the Public Works Department is $15.5 million, with about $8.4 million already appropriated. On Monday, the City Council allocated $1 million from the recent sale of 3½ acres of land on Somerset Street to Federated Cos. for the midtown project toward upgrading facilities at Canco Road, leaving about $7 million in remaining costs.

Mitchell said most of the public works operations, except for its fleet services at 44 Hanover St., have been moved to Canco Road. Administrative offices at 55 Portland St. will remain for now, but that building may be put on the market at a later date.

Moving fleet services would require a new building at Canco Road, so that would not occur until funding is secured, either through a bond or using revenue from the sale of the land, or a combination.

The city expects to open bids from potential real estate brokers Tuesday, Mitchell said. “I would expect we would make decisions quickly in hiring a broker,” he said.

The city is looking to immediately list four properties and may list an additional three properties, all of which are scattered throughout the area generally bordered by Portland, Alder and Kennebec streets and Forest Avenue, according to a request for proposals for commercial real state brokers. The properties to be listed are 56 Parris St.; 82 Hanover St.-158 Kennebec St.; 65 Hanover St.-52 Alder St.; and 44 Hanover St.

The properties are split between two business zones, which in some cases allow for 105-foot-tall buildings. Two parcels – a nearly 1.3-acre site at 82 Hanover St. and a nearly 1-acre site at 44 Hanover St. – could potentially be combined, according to the RFP, which also contemplates extending Somerset Street to Hanover Street and realigning Kennebec Street to Forest Avenue. Other properties, namely 55 Portland St., 178 Kennebec St., and 181 Forest Ave., may also be put up for sale.

Mitchell said he suspects that existing brick buildings could be renovated and incorporated into any new development plan, while open lots and a metal shed at 44 Hanover St., which houses fleet services, could be remade from scratch.

Mitchell declined to say how much he believed the city could get for the property, other than to say it could be a “significant” amount.

He said the real estate market is strong, the property is close to downtown, and there is already development going on in Bayside, including the new Chipotle and Bangor Savings Bank locations on Marginal Way, the expansion of Bayside Bowl on Alder Street and the conversion of the Schlotterbeck & Foss building on Portland Street into market-rate housing consisting of a mix of 56 studio and one-bedroom apartments.

“I feel there is a very high level of interest,” Mitchell said. “We’re continuing to see development in Bayside and we’re in the center of that.”

PORTLAND — A gung-ho cleaning service, Green Clean Maine, has been skyrocketing since its founding in 2007.

That's why founder and CEO Joe Walsh decided to buy larger quarters to house the business.

Walsh purchased the 4,768-square-foot, three-level office building at 583 Warren Ave. in Portland, just west of the Maine Turnpike/I-95 overpass, from Casey & Paige LLC for $425,000. The deal closed Sept. 16.

Amenities include 25 onsite parking spaces plus a two-bay garage and deck. Walsh was represented by Matthew Cardente and Mark Sandler of Cardente Real Estate. Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Real Estate represented the seller.

"Joe and I had been searching for properties over the past year," said Sandler. "This property fit perfectly into our mix of an owner/user investment property. Joe has the option to use a portion of the property to grow other aspects of his business or lease it out for extra income."

Reached by phone after attending the Goldman Sachs "10,000 Small Businesses" program in Boston, Walsh said the new space is about six times larger than the current leased space.

"We're moving out of an 800-square-foot space. It's tiny," he said. "I can't even believe we've been there that long."

The new building and grounds will allow for continued growth. That includes space for equipment for the field staff, supplies like low-moisture mop systems, high-performance commercial backpack vacuums, all-natural handmade cleaning formulas, cleaning trays, microfiber cloths, cotton cloths for glass, terrycloth mops for floors and microfiber dusters to get up high and down low.

There's now also more space for the growing administrative and customer service office staff and a laundry plant with washers and dryers. The crew launders 1,500 to 2,000 cleaning cloths per day, a production line where the company produces cleaning supplies and will eventually package them for consumer sales. Outside is a fleet of environmentally friendly electric hybrid or fuel-efficient vehicles.

The building is about 40 years old and in good shape, requiring minimal renovations such as paint and carpeting.

"It was already laid out in a way that, when I walked in I knew it would be great for us," said Walsh.

The move was planned for Oct 22-23.

Non-toxic cleaners can't keep up with demand

Walsh's entrée into cleaning services was a surprising turn from his previous career as an advertising salesman for the Sunrise Guide, a Westbrook-based publication about healthy and sustainable resources. He was approaching environmentally friendly residential cleaning services about advertising.

"Everyone I talked with who was doing it in a nontoxic way said they couldn't advertise because they already couldn't keep up with demand," he recalled.

The popularity of the service and the promise of good money meshed with his personal predilection for a clean and tidy home. He received a $5,000 grant from the Libra Future Fund and got his first client, a friend with a condo, in October 2007. He hired his first employee in January 2008. Now he has 30 employees and, he said, the company is the largest residential cleaning service in Maine, with about 400 subscribers, from Saco to Freeport, who register for an average of 3.5 to 4 years, with the average client signing up for bi-weekly service.

Recently, he was a finalist in the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development's "Top Gun" program, developing a vision for the company's future. Plans include additional services such as helping homeowners with other aspects of their lives, such as dog-walking, carpet-washing and concierge services.

Walsh plans to expand the commercial cleaning side. And he plans to increase production of natural cleaning supplies, which use baking soda, vinegar, essential oils and other plant-based ingredients. Customers often ask to buy his supplies, so he's developed product labels and is finalizing packaging for sales.

"This building will make room to add divisions and service lines as we grow," he said.

Also, the property is over two acres, so there's enough land and buffer to add at least another 5,000 square feet of space.

"That's part of the property's appeal as well," he said.

So why does he like to clean?

"I'm a little bit of a perfectionist," he said. "It's the satisfaction you get from making something just right, starting off with something dirty or chaotic and making it clean and neat. But what I didn't like was the chemical part. I was interested in creating an environmental benefit and making money at the same time."

Editor's note: Green Clean Maine cleans the Mainebiz offices.