Courtesy / Maine Realty Advisors
The two freestanding buildings at the shopping center in Belfast sold to separate buyers in March.
Updated: May 3, 2021
String of transactions helps investor fine-tune portfolio
Courtesy / Maine Realty Advisors
A string of transactions over the past year included the purchase of a multibuilding shopping center at 15-35 Starrett Drive in Belfast, followed by the sale of the center’s two freestanding buildings to the left.
A series of sales and acquisitions over the past year have helped South Berwick real estate developers Jim and Rebecca Henry tune their portfolio to new opportunities, as Maine becomes the go-to state for people looking to move from larger metropolitan areas.
The Henrys, owners of real estate development company Remington Street Properties, come from software technology backgrounds in Boston, then became active in real estate investment in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
Jim Henry is originally from Maine.
Their focus initially was on the Portland multi-family market. In 2019, they took their first plunge into the office market with the purchase of the Cinamon Building at 1 Pleasant St. in Portland’s Old Port and also expanded geographically, buying 19 mostly multi-family buildings in Augusta.
More recently, they’ve executed various sales and acquisitions in Lewiston, Belfast, Waterville, Sanford, Ellsworth and York.
What’s the overall goal?
“I think global dominance — and you can quote me on that,” joked Josh Soley of Maine Realty Advisors, who has represented the Henrys on numerous transactions and often has his eye out for off-market deals.
Jim Henry doesn’t mind the kidding around.
“The goal of getting into this, originally, was that my wife and I both really enjoyed it,” Henry said.
Henry said that, overall he looks for value opportunities in up-and-coming areas.
“I think the pandemic has changed everything on a major level and on a micro level,” he said. “People want to live in a place with lots of space in beautiful surroundings.”
The expansion of broadband infrastructure that makes remote work increasingly possible is stepping up investment opportunities in smaller towns and rural areas, he added.
As a native Mainer, he said, he also looks at real estate as an investment in the public good.
“I’m looking for opportunities not only to run my business successfully but to give back to the state that has given me everything – my childhood, my education, my love of the outdoors, my love of life and my sensibility,” he said. “I’m a Mainer though and through and because of that I want to give back to invest in the state.”
Belfast
In August 2020, the Henrys bought a shopping center at 15-35 Starrett Drive in Belfast from Belfast Marketplace LLC for $5.025 million.
Soley and Dan Greenstein of the Boulos Co. brokered the deal.
This past March, they sold two freestanding buildings at the southern end of the shopping center:
• 27 Starrett Drive, a single-tenant net-lease property occupied by Dunkin Donuts, sold to RYFF1 for $2,577,500. Soley and Kyle Danielson and Bob Horvath of Horvath & Tremblay facilitated the transaction.
• 35 Starrett Drive, a single-tenant net-lease property containing VIP Autoparts, sold to Atlantic Purchase LLC for $1.7 million. Soley and Greenstein brokered the deal.
They retained the main part of the shopping center, which has the address 15 Starrett Drive.
“I was able to work with the town and with the tenants to divide the property,” said Henry. “It was a good opportunity to acquire capital and look for new opportunities.”
Ellsworth
One of those opportunities came along a month later, when the Henrys bought 150 High St. in Ellsworth from 150 High LLC for $2.5 million. The 21,197-square-foot retail center on 2.78 acres is partly occupied by L.L. Bean. Soley and Tim Millett of Porta & Co. brokered the deal.
Millett said the building was developed as a build-to-suit for L.L.Bean in 1989. The seller is a Haverhill, Mass., developer who owns properties in Lewiston, Belfast and Massachusetts, he said.
The property wasn’t listed on the market. The sale came about after a 2,400-square-foot vacancy, in the summer of 2020, was filled by a 10-year lease with Acadia Dermatology. With the building fully occupied, the seller at the time told Millett they had a window of a few months during which they would entertain selling the property, before going the route of refinancing it for a long-term hold. The owner was motivated to sell because most of his Maine properties are in Lewiston, Millett said.
Courtesy / Porta & Co.
L.L. Bean as an anchor tenant was part of the attraction in the off-market purchase of 150 High St. in Ellsworth.
“But they were also comfortable holding the property because L.L.Bean was a strong tenant,” he added.
The list price, Millett said, was driven in part by the property’s prime location on a heavily traveled corridor leading to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, by L.L.Bean’s name as a premier retailer, and by the owner’s property renovations, including installation of a new roof and improvements to the Acadia Dermatology space.
Through conversations with Soley, Millett was aware that Henry had recently purchased retail property in Belfast.
“I thought Ellsworth could also be of interest,” said Millett. “This was all arranged off-market.”
Henry said he had been eyeing Ellsworth for quite some time and was familiar with the area through spending summers on Mount Desert Island and elsewhere in Hancock County.
“Given the ability to work wherever you want to work and go to school wherever you want to go to school, it’s a great place for families,” Henry said of Ellsworth. “Josh brought me the opportunity and it doesn’t hurt that L.L.Bean is the anchor tenant. It’s a great community and a great county in a bustling part of the world.”
Henry said he expects to retain the property as a long-term hold.
PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
Rebecca and Jim Henry
“It’s a great building, with great bones and great tenants who take great care of it,” he continued.
The plan for now is to operate the building as is but also look for opportunities to create value, he said.
York
That same month, Henry bought 42 Brickyard Court in York from DL Properties LLC
for $800,000. Soley and Jason Clark of Century 21 facilitated the transaction.
The single-tenant net-lease property contains Abierto Networks, a digital signage company.
“This was probably the first property I’ve sold in years that was actually listed,” said Soley. “We saw value there that I don’t think was being advertised.”
Henry said he’ll operate the property as is.
“It’s kind of special to me because my family lives down the road,” he said. “We spend many of our days in York at the beach. I found a very good tenant, a small business that’s doing really well. I thought I could be a good landlord and a good partner.”
Lewiston
In December 2019, the Henrys bought downtown Lewiston’s tallest building, the Professional Building at 145 Lisbon St., for $505,000.
The century-old building, which had a dated interior, was considered a "value-add" opportunity. The purchase reflected the couple’s confidence in Lewiston’s resurgence, Henry said at the time. The building was partially leased by office users and the idea was to perform updates as space turned over.
The Henrys sold the building a year later to JL Dale LLC for $565,000. Soley and Frank Carr, also of Maine Realty Advisors, facilitated the transaction.
COURTESY / MAINE REALTY ADVISORS
The Henrys bought the Professional Building, at 145 Lisbon St., in December 2019 and sold it a year later to reinvest capital in other areas of the state.
By the time of the sale, the building was fully leased, said Soley. The buyer was one of Carr’s clients who plans to eventually reposition the building, he added.
Henry said he performed some interior upgrades before he sold it.
As one of the largest municipalities in Maine, Lewiston represents plenty of opportunity, he said.
“But when the pandemic hit, I started to take a more holistic view of the state and started looking at other areas,” he continued. “I saw there were plenty of people who want to invest in Lewiston, and I wanted to look at other areas.”
Other deals
• In September 2020, the Henrys bought a mixed-use building at 13-17 Washington St. in Sanford from Golden Spirit Realty Trust for $2.6 million. Kevin Fletcher of The Fletcher Group at Keller Williams Realty and Kirk Butterfield of Keller Williams Realty brokered the deal.
• In June 2020, they sold their Augusta portfolio to CKW LLC for $3.5 million.
• In 2019, they bought a condemned apartment building at 166 Water St. in Augusta, redeveloped the building and sold it in the fall of 2020. The new owner “is having great success with tenants who can now live in a great brick building in downtown Augusta,” Henry reported.
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