COURTESY / CBRE | THE BOULOS CO.
In 2018, Dead River Co. sold 80 Exchange St. in Bangor to J.B. Brown & Sons of Portland.
June 22, 2020
Last of Dead River’s major investment properties sells for $9.95M
Courtesy / Porta & Co.
Dead River Co. sold 175 Running Hill Road in South Portland for $9.95 million. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is the anchor tenant.
The final of three major investment properties held by Dead River Co. sold for $9.95 million.
175 Running Hill LLC bought 175 Running Hill Road in South Portland from Dead River Running Hill LLC. The deal closed June 5.
Josh Soley of Maine Realty Advisors represented the buyer in the deal and Charles Day of Porta & Co. represented the seller. It was the first major transaction between the two brokerage companies, which both formed in 2018.
“This is the highest-quality office building in South Portland, characterized by its extremely modern facade and huge glass windows,” Soley said.
The Class A office property comprises a three-story, 62,615-square-foot building on 13 acres of landscaped grounds, with 250-plus parking spaces, according to Porta & Co.’s listing brochure.
It’s six miles from downtown Portland. Nearby companies include Anthem BlueCross BlueShield, ON Semiconductor, IDEXX Laboratories, Texas Instruments, Unum and WEX. The property is close to the Maine Turnpike/I-95 and I-295.
It was marketed as an attractive investment or owner-user opportunity with strong cash-flow. It includes a 2.1-acre pad site that’s zoned for restaurants, retail, bank with drive-through, hotel or office use.
Originally built in 1984, the building was redeveloped in 2005 for professional office use.
Jackson Brook Institute psychiatric hospital was the original occupant of the building. Dead River acquired it in the early 2000s as an investment and undertook the redevelopment that was completed in 2005, Day said.
The property went on the market about a year ago and generated a lot of interest from potential buyers around New England, Day said.
The second and third floors are occupied by Hartford, Conn.-based Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG). The vacant first floor is being marketed for lease and can accommodate flexible layouts, Soley said.
The $9.95 million price comes in at $158 per square foot.
“For a Class A office space, that’s a discount,” said Soley. “We were able to get that price because of the existing vacancy. But it has a strong outlook.”
Dead River previously sold 80 Exchange St. in Bangor and 82 Running Hill Road in South Portland.
In 2018, J.B. Brown & Sons, a Portland commercial real estate and asset management firm, bought 80 Exchange St., an 88,478-square-foot, six-story Class A office building, as its entry into the Bangor market.
Dead River continues to occupy one floor of the building, noted Day, who represented the company in that deal, too.
In 2017, father-and-son partners John and George Cacoulidis bought 82 Running Hill Road in South Portland from Dead River. That was also a Class A office building, consisting of a four-story, 114,017-square-foot on 12.37 acres.
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Dead River Co., founded in 1909, manages sites throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and western Massachusetts.
At nearby 165 Running Hill Road, Confluent Development LLC last January bought a 6.27-acre property to develop a 116,000-square-foot, three-story assisted living and memory care facility.
Running Hill Road is within a stone’s throw of 600 Sable Oaks Drive, where Atlantic Federal Credit Union, Maine’s largest credit union, in February bought a Class A office building of nearly 100,000 square feet for $18.1 million. It will become Atlantic FCU's new headquarters.
Soley said that, despite the pandemic, the investment real estate market in Greater Portland has been busy.
“There isn’t enough supply to meet investment demand in the Greater Portland area,” he wrote on his blog.
The uncertainty of the market is generating deals that are attracting the interest of long-term investors, he said.
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Anonymous
June 23, 2020
What is the significance of Dead River Co.'s exit from the Commercial Real Estate Market? There are a lot of great facts and figures here. Since the article headline referenced this specific topic, I am surprised the questions wasn't addressed in the article. I'd also be interested to know the history of Dead River's commercial property investment, and what this may indicate for Dead River's future. They have a long and proud history here in Maine, and I would love to learn more. Thank you
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