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.”
Former building owner Roy Hubbard said he and his partners were tempted to hang onto the building but the sale made sense.
“We certainly got a healthy per-unit price, which we are very happy about,” Hubbard said Wednesday. “I have mixed feelings about selling, but at the end of the day, I am not a landlord. I am a developer. My job is to bring something back to life. Then I find something else to bring back to life.”
The 27-year-old, who splits time between Connecticut and Maine, invested about $2 million and two years in renovations on the former Dakin Sporting Goods building. Hubbard bought the building for about $650,000. He opened three ground-floor apartments to public viewing in March 2016 during the Downtown Bangor Artwalk.
The building is currently fully occupied, and there is a tenant waiting list, according to Cardente Real Estate.
The site had been largely vacant since the late 1990s, when it briefly housed a coffee shop, cafe and TCBY yogurt shop. It also served as temporary headquarters for political campaigns.
Tanya Emery, the city’s director of community and economic development, said the sale price seemed about right.
“We knew it was for sale and it seems like a solid price for an exceptionally renovated building with strong occupancy numbers,” Emery said Wednesday.
Bangor is changing to accommodate people gravitating toward urban centers and a growing entertainment corridor, but still needs affordable rentals, officials said.
Hubbard is interested in continuing to rehabilitate buildings in Bangor, if he finds the right deal. Bangor’s market is growing, he said.
“It is scarce to find unused square footage downtown. When I got started, downtown the vacancy rates were incredible. It’s just not the case now,” Hubbard said. “I would be more inclined to do lower-rent apartments. I think with the higher-rent per-square-foot apartments, it’s hard to find space for that which could work. I think there is still a demand for that, but you need to get more people in there. It is easier for more developers to go lower-scale, to something more moderate.”
“I like Bangor,” Hubbard added. “It’s too expensive in Portland. Bangor is the only place I am really comfortable investing in. It is quieter and a lot more personal to me.”
Bangor Daily News writers Nick McCrea and Darren Fishell contributed to this report.