Sprague closes Portland waterfront land deals
Phineas Sprague, owner of the Portland Co. complex near the city’s eastern waterfront, has sold the 10-acre complex to a group of developers to help fund his purchase of a lot on West Commercial Street for a waterfront boatyard.
The purchasers include Jim Brady, a local developer who's been planning a boutique hotel in the former Portland Press Herald building, and a Yarmouth-based green building consultant, The Prentice Organization, whose principals include Dick Prentice of Pierce Atwood's real estate group and his son, Casey Prentice, general manager of the company's Chebeague Island Inn.
The buyers are going by the name of CPB2 LLC.
The Bangor Daily News reported Sprague closed the sale of the Portland Co. complex last week. Broker Tony McDonald, of CBRE/The Boulos Co., declined to disclose the sale price of the property with a city-assessed value of $1.9 million. In an updated story, the BDN reported that Brady also declined to disclose the purchase price. He also told the paper it would be “premature” to discuss development plans at this point.
McDonald told the paper that the developers don’t have any immediate plans for the land, but city officials have long eyed the lot for potential waterfront development.
The Portland Press Herald reported that a master plan first drafted in 2002 and updated in subsequent years eyes that area for a mix of uses, including homes, hotels, offices, restaurants and retail businesses that could mix with renovation of some of the property’s historic buildings, like the Portland Co. complex. The property is outside of the city’s Waterfront Central Zone, which has strict rules about use in an effort to preserve the city’s working waterfront.
The Press Herald reported Sprague will continue to operate the 128-slip marina on that property and will continue to host events there, like annual flower and boat shows.
As part of his long-term plans, Sprague also closed last week on two deals that give him 15 acres of land on West Commercial Street, where he plans to build a waterfront boat repair yard. Sprague secured city approval for the boatyard in December and bought the land through two transactions, one with Pan Am Railways and another with Unitil, the BDN reported.
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