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Merrimack Valley Commercial Property Report | Summer 2022

Welcome to the inaugural issue of our Merrimack Valley Commercial Property Report!

 

We are a practice team focused on multitenant retail strip centers (non grocery-anchored) and flex buildings located in the Merrimack River Valley in New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts. Specifically, from Concord, NH on the north down to Newburyport, MA.

We are tracking about 250 properties in nearly 30 towns and will continue to build our database of properties, owners, tenants, and comps.

Our mission is to help private investors maximize value when they buy, sell, or exchange these properties.

At first glance, one might wonder why we are focused on retail strip centers as well as multitenant flex centers. In short, when it comes down to the financial fundamentals, they are very similar. Both have several commercial tenants and the value of each is driven by cash flow.

We’ll be publishing twice a year, in January and July, generally covering activity for the previous six months, and are always open to any news that might be appropriate for the newsletter. 

Our goal is to report on transactions and trends we see in this sector and market and to provide additional value-added information that might be of interest to investors.

Dan and Andrew are life-long Merrimack Valley residents; Dan in NH and Andrew in MA. Combined, we have over 30 years’ experience in commercial real estate.

Sales
The Merrimack 360 retail strip center at 360 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, NH, sold on January 31st for $16.9M.
 
Nettles Plaza, a retail strip center at 379 South Broadway, Salem, NH, sold on March 11th for $4.75M.
 
The RJ Kelly Company of Burlington, MA bought several multitenant flex buildings in Nashua and Hudson from the Nash family, including 14, 16, and 18 Celina Avenue, as well as Hampshire Drive.
 
The 14-unit newer commercial buildings at 1355-1359 Route 3A in Bow, NH were recently sold to a NH investor for $1.975M. The 6-unit building is fully leased, a 4-unit building was built to suit for a cheer leading school, and the remaining 4-unit building is to be built. The project is structured as a condo.
 
The 85,053± SF retail center at 211-223 Lincoln Ave (Rivers Edge Plaza), Haverhill, MA, sold for $3.2M  on March 16th. This building was purchased by Beverly Package Storage Fund. The seller of this property was 219 Lincoln Ave T.
 
On March 25th, Anthony Barbiris sold 5 Perkins Way in Newburyport, MA, to Buy New England Lobster, LLC, for $6.295M. The property, built in 1973, is a 55,000± SF multitenant industrial building situated on a 2.46± acre site. Buy New England Lobster plans to occupy two of the eight units. The other six units are leased, although one 7,500± SF unit will become available on October 1st.
 
270 Amherst Street in Nashua, NH was sold by Saxxon Partners to Linear Retail Properties on April 1st for $10.1M. The two properties included in the portfolio sale total 39,750± SF. At the time of closing, the assets were 86% leased. The shopping center is anchored by Aldi, which occupies 15,000± SF. Other notable tenants include Domino’s Pizza, Verizon, and Supercuts.
 
Granite Hill Shoppes & Office Park at 1461 Hooksett Road in Hooksett, NH was sold to a FL buyer for $5M. The Shoppes were fully leased at the time of the sale.
 
A Bedford investor bought the 10,000± SF Bedford West strip center at 460 Route 101 in Bedford, NH for $910,000.
 
A Brooklyn investor has purchased the 96,700± SF multitenant flex building at 120 E Hollis St in Nashua, NH for $4.65M.
 
New Construction
Allenstown Aggregates is putting up a 11,520± SF flex building at 179 Granite Street in Allenstown, NH. There will be six 1,920± SF units. Office space in the first 20’ and a 14x14 overhead door. Occupancy is planned for Summer 2022. 
 
Another similar project will be going up at 29 King Street in Auburn, NH, where the developer plans to build 22 units.
 
Lastly, a NH developer is seeking approval for a 19-unit contractor bay project at 266 Rockingham Road in Auburn, NH.

Trends
With retail strip centers, the trend actually started before the pandemic. Any business that sold a product or service that could be bought online started to leave retail centers. They were replaced by others, such as restaurants, health care providers (“medtail” is the current buzzword for this), fitness centers, etc. We think that trend will continue and that the future is bright for such centers.
 
Multitenant flex centers were also quite popular before the pandemic, whether for light manufacturing, contractor space, warehouse/distribution, and even small office needs for some businesses.
 
In both cases, these are sought-after investments because of high occupancy and good cash flow and because demand exceeds supply.
 
We’re actually seeing new construction of flex space, as noted above, and have also seen some new strip center construction.
 
Disclaimer
This newsletter is intended to be informational, and not a solicitation. However, we are always happy to talk with investors, can run financial analysis reports, and connect investors with other professional resources. At the same time, we know that many investors have existing relationships with other brokers, and it is not our intent to interfere with any such relationships.

 

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About us

Dan works with investors along the Interstate 93/Route 101 corridors in southern NH, focusing on cash-flow investment properties, helping his clients to maximize value and returns. He is also a tenant/buyer representative, helping educate businesses about the process and making sure they get the best deals in the market. 

Andrew has spent most of the early phase of his career focusing on buyer/tenant representation in Hillsborough and Rockingham Counties in NH, and Northern Middlesex and Essex Counties in MA. He plans to work more with Dan on investment sales going forward. Andrew earned his undergraduate business degree at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.