Courtesy / GenX Capital Partners
Mark McClure
October 31, 2021
$18M, 50-unit condo development proposed for Cumberland Foreside
Courtesy / GenX Capital Partners LLC
A site plan and floor plans have been worked out for a new $18 million, 50-unit condo development proposed in Cumberland Foreside. Seen here is a concept rendering.
A 50-unit, luxury condominium development is making its way through design and permitting for a three-acre lot at 100 U.S. Route 1 in Cumberland Foreside.
The project was initiated by Jonathan Snell of Snell Construction in Brunswick. The acreage and development rights were acquired last week by Mark McClure, managing partner of GenX Capital Partners, a real estate investment banking and development firm based in Portland and Miami, Fla.
The off-market acquisition of the land was for $3.3 million. Overall investment is expected to be around $18 million, McClure told Mainebiz.
Miami-based GenX Capital Partners diversified into residential development in southern Maine over the past year.
The firm says the influx of buyers from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., highlighted what had already been a shortage of inventory. "So as a firm we decided to not only lend and invest here, but jump on the other side of the table as a developer as well,” the company said on its website.
Local knowledge
McClure is a Maine native and lives in Falmouth. His other Maine-based projects include Cottages at Pine Meadow, a 32-house development for owners 55 and over at 994 Portland Road in Saco, and Motor Toys Luxury Vehicle Storage, a 30-unit self-storage building (currently on hold) at 105 Farley Road in Brunswick.
In 2019, GenX closed on a bridge loan for a mixed-use redevelopment project in Augusta that’s thought to be the first Opportunity Zone deal in the nation.
$400,000 to $700,000
The town of Cumberland approved the site plan for the project in August under Snell’s ownership.
The town’s planning board subsequently granted transfer of ownership approval and granted approval for a small redesign McClure needed for the site plan. The site plan needed a slight adjustment as far as parking as concerned. The adjustment took a couple of months to work out and get approved by the town, he said.
McClure said he was attracted to the project when Snell reached out to him about two months ago.
“As for the project, there hasn’t been a condo development like this in quite some time, certainly not in the Cumberland, Falmouth, Yarmouth and Freeport vicinity, so when this site was presented to us off market we jumped at it, “ he said.
The acquisition is financed by private equity put up by McClure and three partners, along with a short-term bridge loan through a Florida lender.
The site plan was designed by Sevee & Maher Engineers of Cumberland.
McClure hired Mueller Architects and Shinberg Consulting, both in Portland, to design the product. Design work will take place over the next three to six months, he said.
McClure said he would also be interviewing two potential general contractors this week.
The goal is to break ground in late February 2022, for a build-out expected to take about 12 months.
The development site is off U.S. Route 1 and parallel to I-295. The setting is a wooded area, which is expected to provide privacy along with nearby access to I-95 and I-295, said McClure.
The Mark at Cumberland Foreside, as the project will be known, will include one-, two- and three-bedroom condos in a five-story building. Unit sizes would range from 700 square feet to 1,230 square feet. Condos prices will run in the mid-$400,000s for smaller units on the first two floors up to the $700,000s for those on the fifth floor, which will have individual roof top decks.
Amenities are proposed to include a fitness room, meeting space, complimentary Starbucks coffee station, outdoor grills, a dog walking area and customer service and management for residents.
The aesthetics will “fuse a metropolitan style and feel with a flavor of coastal Maine and seaside characteristics,” according to a news release.
The plan includes a 22-car underground garage and surface parking, for 90 total spaces.
“It’s all set to go as far as site plan approvals,” said McClure. “The floor plans are ready to go.”
Need for housing
The name of the project was inspired by a hotel in New York City.
“There’s a hotel in New York I really like, and it’s my first name, so I said, ‘Let’s go with that,’” he said.
The target market includes young professionals and people migrating from urban areas who can afford a higher-end product, he said.
“There’s nothing in this area that meets that demographic,” he said.
Word-of-mouth has generated 10 to 12 queries already.
“The market has been very strong,” he said. “We haven’t taken any deposits yet. But about 20% of the 50 units have been spoken for.”
The plan is to launch a marketing campaign before late December to begin taking reservations.
McClure credited town officials as “entrepreneurial-minded and forward-thinking.”
He added, “Pretty rare to see now a days when dealing with planning boards, in any city or state for that matter.”
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Anonymous
November 4, 2021
The Mark…. More like a skid mark! Shame on whomever approved this garbage!!
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