Photo / Maureen Milliken
Lower Falls Landing in Yarmouth, as seen from Route 88, is a former sardine cannery.
June 20, 2018
$5.4 million Yarmouth commercial sale biggest spark in hot market
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Lower Falls Landing in Yarmouth includes the Royal River Grillhouse, left, the former sardine cannery, right and the showroom for East Coast Yacht Sales (rear). The property was sold last week for $5.4 million.
By Maureen Milliken
YARMOUTH — The $5.4 million sale of what was once a sardine cannery is the biggest recent commercial real estate deal in a hot area market.
Jennifer Yilmaz, of Applewood Real Estate Group, represented the buyer, SEKA Properties LLC, of Yarmouth. Yilmaz has been in real estate for about 15 years, and founded Applewood about a year ago.
She said that though her family owns and develops residential and commercial real estate, most of her focus has been on residential.
“Since this deal however, several of my clients have shown increased interest in both buying and selling commercial properties,” she said. She said her focus will likely now include more commercial transactions.
“It’s a great story,” said Mike Cobb, of Cardente Real Estate, who represented the sellers, Lower Falls Landing Associates.
The cannery was vacant for years before Lower Falls Landing Associates bought it in the 1980s. “The [current] seller saw the bigger picture and turned it into high quality office space with an environment where there was a lot to offer tenants,” Cobb said.
The sale closed June 13. The buyers were looking for an investment in the area, Yilmaz said. She said the new owners plan to keep current the tenants.
The 40,931-square-foot complex, which is three attached buildings, includes the Royal River Grillhouse restaurant, retail and office space.
One large portion of the building, red in contrast to the tan of the main three-story section, is the showroom for East Coast Yacht Sales.
The property is between Yarmouth Boat Yard and Yankee Marina, both privately owned, on Route 88 along the Royal River.
Cobb said the property had been for sale a couple years ago, but was off the market when the buyers approached Cardente Real Estate about it.
Yilmaz and Cobb said it took more than a year to close the sale.
Yilmaz said an “amazing team” of local professionals, besides her client, include Jay Yilmaz, Roger Levesque, Lindsay Harris and her team at Gorham Savings Bank, buyer’s counsel Mike Boyd, seller’s counsel, bank’s counsel, Eric Schaeffer and H&D/Douglas Title, Cobb and the sellers.
“It was a pleasure working with all of these amazing people,” she said.
Hot local market
MLS sales listings show the sale is the biggest commercial transaction in the town for some time. The biggest most recent commercial sale, was the Down East Village Motel property at 705 U.S. Route 1, which was sold to Patriot Insurance in December 2016 for $1.8 million.
The market report for the past 30 days shows all real estate listings, including residential, in Yarmouth up 29.3%, with prices increasing as well, and days on the market dropping. The trends are similar for the neighboring Falmouth and Cumberland.
“Yarmouth residential and commercial real estate are both extremely solid investments,” Yilmaz said. “Overall, it's just a great town.” She said the good schools and community as a whole make it desirable for both residents and businesses.
Matt Cardente, of Cardente Real Estate, said the hot Yarmouth-Falmouth-Cumberland market is a reflection of the hot Southern Maine real estate market as a whole.
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