Courtesy / Bush Watson
New lights and flooring are part of an ongoing project to spruce up apartments at 145 Main St. in Biddeford.
April 1, 2019
Biddeford multi-family changes hands for second time in two years
Courtesy / Porta & Co.
145 Main St. in downtown Biddeford has 18 apartments and ground-floor retail. The property sold for $1 million, the second time it has changed hands in two years.
An 18-unit multi-family property at 145 Main St. in Biddeford has changed hands twice in two years, most recently in November, spurred by the city's up-and-coming market.
Tom Watson acquired the property, built in 1900, from Ocelot Operations LLC for $1.04 million. Vince Ciampi of Porta & Co. represented both buyer and seller in the deal, which closed Nov. 21.
Watson is co-founder of Bush Watson, a real estate investment firm in Portland and Lowell, Mass. Bush Watson properties are managed by Port Property Management in Portland and New England Heritage Properties in Lowell.
It was the second time the property was sold in a two-year period, Ciampi told Mainebiz. The seller paid $850,000 for the property two years ago.
The property wasn’t on the market this time around, but Porta & Co. has a longstanding relationship with Watson and Ciampi said he keeps an eye out for potential properties.
“This just came up as an opportunity,” he said. “I had kept in touch with the previous owner and asked if he would sell it.”
Located downtown across the street from the redeveloped Pepperell Mill campus, the property is well situated to continue its increase in value, Ciampi said.
“Everything is trending upward as far as pricing and demand,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot more transactions in the Saco/Biddeford area in the past couple of years.”
In Biddeford, he said, the upward surge is largely due to redevelopment of Pepperell Mill and new businesses throughout the downtown.
“You’re getting places that attract a young crowd,” like new eateries and pubs, he said. “That’s a catalyst for the public perception of Biddeford in general. It catches people’s eye and they say, ‘What’ available to buy down there? Can we invest in Biddeford?’ When you get investors buying properties and improving them, prices go up and that natural trend continues.”
Watson said the transaction was spearheaded by John Laliberte, an acquisitions and business development specialist for Port Property Management.
“He grew up in Saco, so he knows that market, whereas I’m pretty much Portland-based,” Watson said. “So he’s expanded our outlook.”
Investment planned for apartments
Watson said he expects to invest an additional $150,000 in interior rehabilitation. The building had three residential vacancies when he bought it, so he started rehab in those units plus the common hallways, he said.
“I think most of the tenants will stay, but as they leave we’ll renovate those apartments,” he said.
Rehab includes sprucing up the units with features like new kitchens, baths, flooring, paint and lighting; and the common hallways with new flooring, carpet, paint and lighting.
For the ground-floor retail space, Laliberte brought in an escape-room business called Ingenious Escape Games, Watson said.
Overall, Watson said he’s excited about Biddeford.
“Biddeford’s Main Street and the mills are gaining what I’d call traction,” he said. “You’re seeing businesses and retail spots opening up and staying, as opposed to opening and then closing. You can see the momentum. We live in Portland, yet my wife and two daughters go to Biddeford to get their hair done at a salon in the Pepperell Mill. I went down there one day to pick them up and ended up staying longer” to explore the scene.
“There’s an economic piece to it but there’s a belief piece, too. I believe,” he added.
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