19 December 2014
NHCIBOR
New Hampshire Commercial Investment Board of Realtors
Minutes of Seacoast Marketing Session
Joe Horvath and Gemma French with Optima Bank were the breakfast sponsors. They are the most recently formed bank in New Hampshire and were launched 8 years ago. Optima Bank is a full commercial lender doing real estate transactions, business buys, and construction financing. Optima also lends for residences and keeps those loans in their in-house portfolio. With this, non-conforming loans have a good shot of working. They can help with cash management and CDs at better rates than often found in the general marketplace. Optima Bank has 5 branches and is based at Harbour Place in Portsmouth. The branches are at Pease, Route One in North Hampton, Route 33 in Stratham, and in Bedford, New Hampshire. Gemma French just started with them three weeks ago and is excited to join Optima. Gemma had been with the Greater Manchester, New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce recently.
Cash Buyers
Tony Fallon with Tony Fallon Architecture shared dual groundbreakings of Carriage Hill Assisted Care in Madbury and Vishay factory improvements in Dover.
Bob Marchewka with One Commercial has an investor looking to place 10 million dollars in primarily office uses although he would consider hotels. It would be OK to put together a portfolio of 2 or 3 properties.
Doug Frizzell with UBS started attending with no grey hair and now is sporting some. Ten years ago he conceived the idea of breakfast sponsorship for the meetings and has a theme of protection of your money with 3 or 4 ways to achieve this one way positive direction for your earnings. It is a good thing to think about during the current all-time market highs.
Bill Jean with Fulcrum Associates in Amherst, New Hampshire provides CM services from tenant improvements or ground up. He has a cash buyer looking for medical uses in and around Southern New Hampshire.
Ken Berry with Berry Engineering offers surveying and engineering in the Seacoast area from their 52 year base in Barrington, New Hampshire.
Nick Aube with Avery Insurance was on his way to us last month but a flat tire sidelined him.
Tom House with THA Architects noted that the Seabrook Crossing retail project he drew up is filling up but there are some spots still available.
Dallas Lagerquist with NBT Bank shared that they have branches in Manchester, Londonderry, and Keene. They can help with commercial, small business, consumer, and private lending.
Mary Ellen Humphrey with Durham Economic Development noted the upcoming RFP from both the Town of Durham and UNH for the former ATO fraternity site redevelopment in downtown that will be coming in January.
Susan Miltner with Seacoast Business Machines adorned David Choate with Christmas lights.
Robert Cruess with TF Moran announced that they have purchased MSC Engineering of Portsmouth. Corey Colwell will stay on as manager.
Corey Colwell with MSC Engineering shared that MSC has been helping in the Seacoast for 30 years and that they have performed a lot of work at Pease. They have done civil engineering and survey and will be delighted to now offer landscape architecture, wetland flagging, traffic study, and structural engineering.
Mary Driscoll with The Law Office of Mary Driscoll and Fleet Street Settlement is a lawyer in Portsmouth with a crack & quick team providing closing services for lenders. Nobody can deliver legal services faster, cheaper, better than Mary and crew.
Andy Ward with Colliers has a builder/investor looking for a 2 to 2.5 million dollar opportunity to which he could add value. He prefers it not to be vacant but it does not have to cash flow.
Larry Zellers with Portsmouth Computer Copy joined us for the first time as they expand their services from Portland to Portsmouth. They offer copiers, computers, and printers sales and service.
Don Marshall with Marshall Associates has a tree service business for sale that does commercial, municipal, and residential work.
Susan Scanlon with Commercial Properties covers Maine and New Hampshire. Susan has an investor looking for Class A medical offices up to 20 million dollars. They are flexible with the cap rate. Susan introduced their new broker, Kelli Brewer.
Kelli Brewer with Commercial Properties has two national credit tenants looking for 5000 sf pad sites throughout New Hampshire and into Southern Maine and Northern Massachusetts.
Vince Chestnut with Alpha Locksmith brings professional services to your door.
Tony Donovan with KW Commercial has cash buyers of a variety of appetites all the time. Their preferences are downtown Portland, Cumberland County, and maybe York County. One of them is looking to place 18 million dollars in a shopping center. Another is OK with some lower cap rates for multi-family units with an 8 cap or so being good.
Ken Lambert with Metro Walls and Exterior Design helps with EFIS, thin brick, and metal panels. They just opened a Westbrook, Maine office.
Rob Spalding with Berkshire Hathaway Verani provides national investment opportunities to nationwide investors. A particular search that Rob is in the midst of is for a redevelopment or ground up senior housing building or site.
Julie Lapham with ENH Power provides New England based electrical power sales as a direct supplier from the grid to buyers. They were listed Number 1 in Inc Magazine and are one of the fastest growing companies with best customer satisfaction.
Mindi Messmer with Barton & Loguidice has 25 years of experience in helping with your environmental environment from large to small.
Susan Miltner with Seacoast Business Machines has been in business for 20 years and is the largest in New Hampshire covering the entire state. Thanks for the business and Merry Christmas.
Mark Sullivan with Seacoast Asset Management is an independent, fee based, advisor who is accepting new clients.
Mark Danie with People’s United Bank is the 2nd best bank in the seacoast behind the obvious first place ranking of the breakfast sponsor.
Keith Keeler with Shamrock Consulting Group LLC provides voice, data, internet, fiber optics, and phone solutions to attract business to properties.
Ray Dugdale with Optima Bank thanks NHCIBOR for being a big help to his business. Mark Sullivan piped up that Optima is a great bank. Ray said that although their in house lending is under 4 million dollars, they like to team up and participate with some of their friendly competitors on larger deals.
Jennifer Marsh with Rochester Economic Development touted the star of the Seacoast, Rochester.
Barbara Lizotte with Tobey & Merrill Insurance missed last month not for a flat tire, but did miss due to the arrival of a grandson!
Ute Luxem with Profile Bank has services for you that are priced at priceless. Ute will work with you to make deals happen.
Jim Schwartz with Jewett Construction noted that they are family owned and have been helping since 1972 from their Raymond base of operation.
Dan Barufaldi with DBIDA said the Waterfront development is back on stream. They have an RFP with consultants working on a market analysis that is due by the end of February. they are looking at a TIF and the City will be funding the infrastructure in this round. They are looking for a hotel developer. Dan also noted that the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is planning to add 715 employees to their 5,200 employee base over 2015.
Gerry O’Connell with KW Commercial encouraged NHCIBOR membership with all the beneficial benefits. Gerry also shared Dave Garvey’s hunt for 100 to 150 multi-family units in the 6 to 8 cap range.
Nina Cutts with The Institution for Savings has long term fixed rates with 504 money coming in recently at 4.75% for 20 years of owner occupied properties.
Jerry Bazata with Newburyport 5 Cents Savings Bank is proud of their sponsorship of Mary Poppins and the Nutcracker at The Music Hall. The Yoken’s sign will be up sometime this Spring and is safe and sound in hibernation.
Marie Bodi with CP Management can help with all uses except for hotels and happily handles headaches.
Gemma French with Optima Bank is Vice President of Marketing and is based in Portsmouth.
Joe Horvath with Optima Bank noted their lightning quick turnarounds and exceptional service. They had a 2 million dollar deal done in 6 days.
David Choate with Colliers has an investor looking for a single tenant net lease not necessarily in New England that will probably be off market or new to market. They will look at anything and are realistic with the cap rate. The longer the term of the lease, the more they are interested.
Announcements
The statewide NHCIBOR marketing meeting occurs on the 4th Wednesday of the month from 9:00 to 10:15 at 166 South River Road in Bedford.
Listings
Tony Fallon with Tony Fallon Architecture has a friend from Waterville Valley adaptive that is teaming up with him on architecture. So for larger projects Tony is fishing for work also for Banwell Architects from Hanover.
Bob Marchewka with One Commercial has some office space in Portsmouth or single offices going for about $200 per month. They are at 30 Mirona Rd. and The Hill. One is going for $500 per month and another for $750 dollars per month. Bob also has 5000 ft.² downtown that can be divided into 3700 ft.² and 1300 ft.². There is 6000 ft.² in a build to suit next to the future new home of Sports Medicine Atlantic Orthopedics on Lafayette Road too.
Doug Frizzell with UBS has four ways to protect your money. Doug is working with a 16-year-old who wants to retire at 65 so they’re investing in five or six different mutual funds. This way they have a guaranteed principal with market linked CDs.
Bill Jean with Fulcrum Associates offers construction management services for a variety of building types. Student housing in Durham is a current project. They’re also working on some multi-families in Salisbury, Massachusetts and are having a ground breaking soon on a new bank in Bedford, New Hampshire. It’s the second bank that they’ve worked on since 2010.
Ken Berry with Berry Engineering works with Fulcrum Associates on a skating rink. Ken also talked about some new rules coming from the Department of Environmental Services in 2016.
Nick Aube with Avery Insurance just stopped playing golf on the day before Thanksgiving with Marie Bodi. Nick is going to miss seeing Marie. Tony suggested they go bowling.
Tom House with THA Architects recently worked on some multi-families of 108 and 110 units.
Dallas Lagerquist with NBT Bank does small business lending with quick turnarounds. They’re hiring a new person for their Portsmouth office. NBT is offering 2% for a few years in owner occupied situations.
Ralph Pope with Coldwell Banker spent the day after Thanksgiving in New Orleans and David Choate’s sparkling necklace reminds him of New Orleans. Ralph has 1400 ft.² at 851 Lafayette Rd. in Hampton on the second floor above the cremation society for 1000 dollars per month. Clearly the cream of the crop of today’s offerings. Ralph also has a tanning salon at Barclay Square in Somersworth. This can be purchased at $459,000 for both the condo and the business. Ralph also has a barbershop in Somersworth with an apartment above.
Mary Ellen Humphrey with Durham Economic Development thinks we may have seen some of the accolades for Durham recently. Durham was rated number two in the country for places that are good for the young at heart.
Corey Colwell with MSC Engineering is looking for five or 6 acres in Portsmouth for assisted living. Cory is also looking for a freestanding pad site in Dover.
Robert Cruess with TF Moran passed around the New England Real Estate Journal which featured a front page splash with one of their projects. Robert was recently at the ICSC for seven days in New York. There were 5000 people at the Javits Center for this very positive meeting. Robert found that some of the national retailers are pulling back from northern New England to areas where they can get better returns.
Mary Driscoll with The Law Office of Mary Driscoll and Fleet Street Settlement sees a lot of the people around the room at closings. Mary asked for a show of hands of people that have worked for her and there were many hands up. Mary wants to see the rest of us at her closings.
Andy Ward with Colliers has an office built out on two floors covering 2700 ft.² at 235 West Rd. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. There is also a small 700 ft.² warehouse. Parking is convenient and the asking rate is $7.50 per square foot. Come get this nice office at industrial grade rates.
Larry Zellers with Portsmouth Computer Copy is an old hand in the industry but is new in this area. Larry can help with the office automation in Toshiba and Kyocera copiers. On the computer side, they are an HP platinum dealer and can get toner at a very good price. Also, they are a Dell dealer and can manage networks. Portsmouth Computer Copy can also handle all kinds of printing projects including hats and coffee mugs.
Don Marshall with Marshall Associates has another new listing. This one is for a geothermal vendor that is number one in New Hampshire. You can buy this for $1.5 million and it has a $300,000 per year cash flow.
Susan Scanlon with Commercial Properties talked up the Boyd Block where Starbucks and Stonewall Kitchens are located in Portland. There is a new landlord who put a lot of money into renovations providing Class A office space in the old Port with offerings going from 900 to 10,000 ft.². This is great space right in the middle of the Old Port.
Kelli Brewer with Commercial Properties is their new tenant representative for the Portland, Maine market.
Ken Lambert with Exterior Designs and Metro Walls is providing exterior services in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Southern Maine. Ken has worked on five Burger King façades in the last six months and so is happy to let you have it your way.
Julie Lapham with ENH Power is put together some multi-property buys of electricity for even greater savings. This can be a combination of business and residential customers. For example, Port City Roasters on Islington Street combined their electric bill with some condos they own along with the owner’s father’s home as well as the owner’s phone all into one block.
Mindi Messmer with Barton & Loguidice let us know that, as of December 22, 2015, all commercial underground tanks will need to be double walled.
Susan Miltner with Seacoast Business Machines offers sales and service for copiers and printers under the Xerox and Sharp banners.
Mark Danie with People’s United Bank has stocking stuffer loans of 200,000 to 100,000 dollars.
Keith Keeler with Shamrock Consulting Group LLC is an independent service provider of fiber optics and other communication services. They recently helped a mid-market vendor with 20 locations reduce their costs by $300,000 per year. Over three years that was a savings of a million dollars.
Ray Dugdale with Optima Bank has been known for real estate lending for many years. He is strong in small business lending and SBA loans along with C & I lending.
Jenn Marsh with Rochester Economic Development will soon be able to release the names of businesses going into the large new retail development on Route 11. Jenn tipped her hand that one of them is Marshall’s.
Barbara Lizotte with Tobey & Merrill Insurance wished everybody a prosperous 2015.
Ute Luxem with Profile Bank has Bill Cormier trying to sell their 2 acres in Rochester right next to the bank. The price is $250,000 and is negotiable.
Jim Schwartz with Jewett Construction offers design build services. They need to hire project managers, superintendents, and estimators. Please give Jim a call if you know of any fits.
Dan Barufaldi with DBIDA noted that Dover has $100 million in development underway or about to go under way. The skyline of Dover’s changing with the new police station/parking garage combination along with the other projects. Dover also has an unemployment rate of 2.9%. Come join the party in the bubbling city.
Tony Donovan with KW Commercial serves from Portsmouth in Portland. Tony has a niche specialty in railways. If you have a property that has train tracks, or could have train tracks, give Tony a call. Tony was on his way to Springfield, Massachusetts where they are spending $81 million dollars to renovate the beautiful downtown train station. There is 55,000 ft.² of available space as part of this project. There are also 7.8 acres that abut the railroad station and it’s a three-quarter mile walk to the MGM Casino.
Nina Cutts with Institution for Savings noted that her organization was voted the number one medium sized employer since they operate as a team and take care of their customers.
Marie Bodi with CP Management respects the quality of the copiers from Susan Miltner’s office as well as the beautiful shining necklace they provided for David Choate.
Gemma French with Optima Bank can assist with business banking as well as personal banking and mobile banking for which they have an app. Optima offers free ATMs worldwide with no ATM fees regardless of the ATM. They also offer mobile check deposit.
Joe Horvath with Optima Bank is the last banker of the round and gave Mary Driscoll kudos for being quick and fair.
David Choate with Colliers has 1400 ft.² at 230 Lafayette Rd. in the Lafayette Professional Park. This is an inexpensive offering going at $1200 per month plus utilities.
Haves and Wants
Tony Fallon with Tony Fallon Architecture attends these meetings and takes these Minutes with the hopes of receiving referrals. Editor’s Note: Tony recently met Larry Yeardon, the President and CEO of Strawbery Banke. They are looking for space to be donated or at a low rate to house the portable buildings that serve their new seasonal ice rink.
Bob Marchewka with One Commercial has One Hampton Road in Exeter. There he has 2700 ft.² available for sub-lease. The owner is willing to cut good deals for this three years situation and may give four or five months of free rent.
Bill Jean with Fulcrum Associates offers the best value early on in a project from their database of costs.
Ken Berry with Berry Engineering related a success story: David Choate helped sell property on Portsmouth Avenue in Stratham; Ray Dugdale with Optima Bank was involved; and Kevin Roy of Kevin Roy Builders was very happy.
Wes Tator with NH Real Estate shared the story that there was recently an historic agreement between the United States and China limiting carbon use and omissions. Wes also noted that employment in solar outweighs employment in the coal industry now.
Tom House with THA Architects can help with mixed use and tenant improvement setups.
Dallas Lagerquist with NBT Bank noted they have some new leadership.
Ralph Pope with Coldwell Banker talked about 200 Drakeside Rd. in Hampton. This business has residential condos surrounding it but it is on town water and sewer as well offering natural gas at the street. This is an old building with new offices on the first floor and an apartment above. There is a loading dock and a drive in door in this Butler building. It is for sale for $549,900 and could be split up.
Corey Colwell with MSC Engineering, a division of TF Moran, did a couple of projects with Tony Fallon and thought Tony did a great job on both. Tony extended the high marks back to Corey, particularly for the Ogunquit Playhouse Lodge which took one full year to get through the Planning Board.
Robert Cruess with TF Moran is working on a piece of the 100 million dollars of development in Dover in the form of an elderly housing project going up near the Route 108 Hannaford supermarket.
Mary Driscoll with The Law Office of Mary Driscoll and Fleet Street Settlement is licensed in both New Hampshire and Maine.
Andy Ward with Colliers highlighted 1000 sf of office that has large brick walls and exposed beams in a two room executive suite going for $1,085 per month at the Kearsarge House in downtown Portsmouth. Andy also has 472 High Street in Somersworth (the former Remax building) with 5,000 sf going for 10 dollars psf NNN or can be bought for $595,000.
Larry Zellers with Portsmouth Computer Copy can work way up into Maine along with Northern Massachusetts. Call Larry to get you out of a lease and into a new machine leaving you more dough for your kitchen.
Don Marshall with Marshall Associates asks if you want to bring your dog to work by buying a kennel business that is for sale. Don sold this business to the current owner 60 years ago and they are ready for Florida in the winter.
Susan Scanlon with Commercial Properties thanked David Choate for a referral across the border in Maine. In answer to David’s question about the cost of renovating the Boyd Block in Portland, the answer is that the new owner spent 265 dollars psf on this which is very much on the high side. The follow up question of who would do that was given the answer of foreign investors. This is becoming common in larger cities.
Kelli Brewer with Commercial Properties looks forward to assisting one and all.
Vince Chestnut with Alpha Locksmith is the master of master keys which are great in mixed use deals.
Julie Lapham with ENH Power is proud of their philanthropic “power to help” program that raises awareness and money for non-profits.
Mindi Messmer with Barton & Loguidice advised all to get their flood insurance policies up to date before the new FEMA maps become effective in the autumn of 2015. Tony chimed in saying that those who don’t can wind up paying as high as $60,000 per year for flood insurance on a single family home. FEMA will provide a grandfathering for some period of time, but won’t commit to forever, for existing homes that had existing flood insurance policies prior to the map changes.
Mark Danie with People’s United Bank gave a Christmas jingle bell ringing endorsement for Mary Driscoll.
Ray Dugdale with Optima Bank chimed in with chimes for Mary Driscoll allowing that she does all his stuff.
Ute Luxem with Profile Bank and Durham Economic Development lauded Bill Jean for Fulcrum keeping the traffic flowing in front of the project they are working on in Durham.
Tony Donovan with KW Commercial has a user looking for 30,000 sf of Class A space at Pease or in Portsmouth. He is going to talk with Russ Doyle. Tony also endorsed the idea of frequent attendance of this meeting and welcomes all of the affiliates. Nina Cutts gave Tony a referral 7 years ago that is still bearing fruit.
Nina Cutts with Institution for Savings has a construction loan program where you can lock in permanent financing. Nina has done several things with Doug Frizzell and thinks he has good ideas.
Gemma French with Optima Bank says everything is possible.
Joe Horvath with Optima Bank couldn’t top Gemma’s gem.
David Choate with Colliers asks all to remember the 150 Route One Bypass, Portsmouth offering which is the current Sports Medicine building. The owners are looking for a sale/leaseback to help finance the construction of their new office. This 10,832 sf is going for 2 million dollars and serves up a 10 cap with white aprons. Their new site, next to the new Army Reserve building on Lafayette Road, is going to be a pair of 20,000 sf buildings with one for speculative leasing out, and one for them to occupy.
Note from Tony Fallon Architecture: These Minutes are what I understand people to have said at this meeting. Please contact people referenced to verify and clarify.
Next Meeting is 8:00 – 9:45 am Friday 16 January 2015 at
One New Hampshire Avenue, Third Floor Conference Room
Pease Tradeport
The sponsor will be NBT Bank