Wednesday, October 8, 2008

More Redevelopment of Leominster Commercial Real Estate

There was an article published recently in the Leominster Champion about the redevelopment of a few older properties around Leominster. Investors and business owners are realizing the potential for some of the older buildings around town and bringing new life to the commercial real estate market in Leominster. Here is the link to the article if you missed it...

Building New Lives - From September 5, 2008 Edition

The article featured the old Foggia Club on Lancaster St which was purchased earlier this year by Tom Bartlett. Tom will be relocating his plumbing and piping business from it's current location on Pleasant St. TJB Plumbing & Piping will be operating out of about 3,000 SF in the lower level of the building and will also occupy an approximately 2,300 SF metal building attached to the rear of the property.

The main level of the building has 3,000 SF of commercial/office space and is available for rent. Tom will be providing handicap accessible restrooms as well as a handicap ramp in exchange for a long-term lease with a qualified business. The property is zoned commercial and the location is ideal for many types of businesses such as professional office or medical offices.

Two doors down from TJB Plumbing is the old fire station with an auto-parts store on the main level and approximately 2,500 SF of commercial/office space available on the upper level. This building features exposed brick, lots of light coming in through newly installed windows, and a lot of history. Nick Pirro and his partner who bought the building from the city are looking for the right company to occupy the second level and have plans in place for a handicap lift and additional parking in the rear of the property where a small wooden structure currently sits that served as garage space for the cities fire department many years ago.

Some other properties featured in the article are Whitney Place, Jim Whitney's redevelopment project on Spruce St which is looking fantastic compared to what the building looked like before he bought it, and Bill Berg's property on First Street. I have to admit that I know next to nothing about the Landmark Storage building on First Street. According to the article Bill has over 100,000 SF of space that could be used as office space and with a great view of the downtown and the surrounding area...

I really wish I had known more about this property as I could have been including it in site visits with area businesses. I'm not sure what Bill's marketing plan entails but if anybody knows him you might suggest that he contact me and I could certainly help him with that...

The article also talked about Steve Boucher's project, Gateway Business Center, which I wrote about in a previous post and 345 Central St which has gone through several redevelopments over the past few years. Most recently a self-storage facility has been constructed on the upper level of the building and store front windows have been installed where dock doors used to be. This property has not had much success attracting tenants but from what I know of the landlord when he does land one it will be a big one and the wait will have been worth it...

Are you interested in learning more about these properties or any others in the area? Please shoot me an email. Coincidentally, I was contacted recently by somebody looking for office space in Leominster after they read one of my previous posts about office space in Leominster so apparently people do read what I write...