Courtesy / Androvise Realty
The traditional woodwork behind Luke Parent is part of what appealed to him as the buyer of 465 Main St. in Lewiston.
October 17, 2021
Buyer offers fresh perspective for landmark building in Lewiston
Courtesy / The Fletcher Group at Keller Williams Realty
The structures were built as a home and carriage house in 1875.
The new owner of a 146-year-old Lewiston building listed on the National Register of Historic Places says the spot will be ideal as the headquarters for his own company and as a revenue generator through leases to additional tenants.
Suzanne F. Charest and Raymond A. Charest sold 465 Main St. to Luke Parent for $385,000.
Kevin Fletcher of the Fletcher Group at Keller Williams Realty and Dan Coleman of Androvise Realty brokered the deal
“The amount of work that went into this place is amazing,” said Parent. “The woodwork, the architectural work — it’s a beautiful building.”
Hayloft doors
The building, known as the Joseph H. and Rebecca Day House, dates to 1875. It was built as a home with a carriage house. Features include a square, four-story tower that projects from the center of the façade, arched window openings, and a double hayloft door. Around 1974, the carriage house was connected to the main house, creating an 11,343-square-foot complex.
Joseph Day was a partner in the largest grocery and hardware business in Lewiston and also served as mayor and in other civic capacities for the city, according to the historic listing.
Among subsequent owners was William Gray, president of the Maine and New Hampshire Theater Co., which operated over 150 movie theaters.
The house is part of the city’s Maine Street-Frye Street Historic District, a residential neighborhood of 47 buildings dating back to the 19th century. The neighborhood is located about 12 blocks from the center of town.
Multi-use
The property was marketed as an office building offering a variety of uses ranging from office to residential with continued income from co-tenancy. The offering included a separate parking lot at 9 Frye St.
The property was on the market for six months and had a lot of queries and 10 to 15 showings, said Fletcher, who represented the seller. Interested parties were from the Lewiston/Auburn area and Greater Portland.
Courtesy / The Fletcher Group at Keller Williams Realty
Today the buildings are used as offices.
The sellers were owner/users who negotiated a leaseback on their space, he said.
Quick deal
Parent said he’ll use about 2,000 square feet as offices for his company, CleanCo Commercial Cleaning Inc.
He started CleanCo in 2014 to offer general cleaning and additional services such as carpet and floor cleaning, and sanitizing and disinfection.
Up to now, he’s been renting a space elsewhere in Lewiston.
“We’d been looking for the last couple of years for our own standalone building,” he said. “We were looking at everything. I stumbled upon this one day.”
He called his broker, Dan Coleman, who has worked with Parent on other investments.
“I said, ‘We need to check out this place because this has potential to work for us,’” Parent said. “It had tenants and there were also other office areas we could rent out.”
Tenants include a law office, bookkeeping company and dermatologist. About 4,000 square feet is available to lease.
Parent owns other apartment and commercial buildings in the Lewiston area and was familiar with the landlord side of the business.
Within an hour after the visit, Parent called Coleman and asked him to nail down the deal.
“It was quick,” he said.
Courtesy / The Fletcher Group at Keller Williams Realty
Features include original panels and ornamentation.
The space for his company is pretty much ready to go, after some painting, flooring and cleaning, he said.
His company has 22 employees and serves Lewiston/Auburn and the Bath area.
Parent said he enjoys the historical architecture.
“The woodwork, the interior, the mason work, the granite steps — you don’t see this type of work anymore,” he said. “It’s very attractive.”
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