Baumann revamps plans for Shops at 188 Middle
Photo/Robert M. Cook
Steve Baumann of Compass Commercial Brokers stands inside the former Canal National Bank that he's marketing as retail and restaurant space called the Shops at 188 Middle
Steve Baumann has always had a knack for finding new creative uses for pieces of Portland's commercial property regardless of the economic climate, and the Shops at 188 Middle is no exception.
Baumann, a former Paragon Commercial Real Estate vice president who now works with Compass Commercial Brokers in Portland, says he is getting closer to filling up the former Canal National Bank building on Middle Street with a new upscale restaurant and several retail shops and boutiques that he describes as elegant, but still affordable.
"You can reposition real estate. You just have to be creative," says Baumann.
The building was originally constructed in the 1860s for Canal National Bank and it has several architectural design features that make it an especially attractive location. Some of these features include ornate moldings, marble floors, glittering chandeliers, high ceilings and a second-floor mezzanine.
The Shops at 188 Middle and the entire block is owned by Buckstar LLC and is managed by Commercial Properties in Portland. Dick McGoldrick owns Buckstar and Commercial Properties, according to Baumann.
The building has 14,624 square feet and the lease rate is $26.50 per square foot. Marketing rent is listed at $2 per square foot where the landlord will match a tenant's contribution.
The design calls for three to four retail boutiques and a restaurant on the first level that would also occupy 3,357 square feet on the second level's mezzanine, a space that would be leased for $4,500 per month. The retail spaces on the first level would range in size from 919 square feet, which would rent for $2,000 per month, to a maximum of 1,451 square feet, which would rent for $3,150 per month.
Baumann says his original plan was to market the entire space to a single tenant and he had a different restaurant that wanted to lease both floors before they elected to go elsewhere. It was then that he says he came up with the idea to create a micro boutique mall.
"Once we started with this concept, the Shops at 188, we immediately leased out the restaurant space," says Baumann, who has been a commercial real estate broker since 1998 and has successfully redeveloped properties in the Old Port, Falmouth and other communities.
Baumann says he had the entire space repainted and re-lighted to create the feel of an open air plaza that he envisions will be anchored by a restaurant and include a clothing store, a jewelry store and a home furnishings gallery store.
He says a jewelry store will occupy 2,000 square feet of retail space in the very back of the first floor where the former bank's vault is located. He says the vault area could be used as a diamond showroom. The design also calls for using glass panels that will jut out and allow retailers to have some display space.
Baumann believes the Shops at 188 Middle will offer patrons "an affordable option to storefront retail in the Old Port, but not compromising the quality of the stores."
Baumann is not surprised that he is finding a lot of interested tenants for the Shops at 188 Middle. He believes many of the Old Port commercial properties that are for lease will also have new tenants soon because more businesses are ready to move forward and lease rates are favorable.
Besides the Shops at 188 Middle, Baumann says he recently leased the former Cold Stone Creamery store a few doors down to Bangor Savings Bank, which was one of several businesses that expressed interest in that space.
"It was nice to see finally an absorption and not just a reshuffling of tenants," Baumann says.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments