Updated: August 19, 2024
A Look Back
A Look Back: Real estate deals make history, now — and then
Maine Public made news recently with its purchase of the former Portland Public Market for $20 million. The nonprofit broadcaster intends to move its studios and offices there next year, after calling off a plan to build new headquarters on what is now a parking lot at 35 Commercial St., along Portland’s waterfront.
That earlier plan involved Maine Public’s purchase of an adjacent building with a storied past.
The Galt Block, which includes 35 Commercial St., is a former clothing warehouse that dates to 1860. But over the years the property — and the neighborhood in general — had fallen into disrepair.
In 1994, Tony McDonald of the Boulos Co. helped a company called Auto Europe purchase the 38,072-square-foot, five-story brick structure and adjacent space. Auto Europe, an international car rental business based in Camden, was looking to expand.
It made renovations to the building and occupied it for many years. And that stretch of Portland’s working waterfront began to see new life.
But Auto Europe eventually outgrew the space. In order to acquire a new home, in Portland’s Northport Business Park, Auto Europe sold the Galt Block building in 2019 under a tax-deferred exchange, following Section 1031 of the IRS code.
The buyer was a group led by New England developer Ara Aftandilian, who was responsible for projects in Portland like the AC Hotel by Marriott and Twenty Thames, a luxury condominium building at 20 Thames St.
Aftandilian had planned a mixed-use redevelopment of the Galt Block. But he died unexpectedly in August 2021, and the property went back out for sale. Maine Public purchased it that September for $10.76 million, and then sold the warehouse building two months later to an LLC for $7 million.
The broadcasting company continues to own the parking lot, which is next door to the offices of Mainebiz, here at 15 Franklin St.
Fun fact
A related sale took place in August 2021, Mainebiz reported in the Daily Report at the time. The AC Hotel, which had been developed in Portland by Ara Aftandilian, was sold to a Virginia-based Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. for $66.8 million.
The 178-room hotel, which is directly opposite the headquarters of WEX Inc., opened in 2018. At the time, Apple Hospitality also owned the nearby Residence Inn by Marriott, and was expected to acquire the Aloft Hotel, which was still under construction on Commercial Street.
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