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April 8, 2010 Bangorbiz

Brewer developer driven by 'challenge' of revamping mall

Photo/Carol Coultas Real estate developer Dana Cassidy stands inside the City Center plaza
By Carol Coultas

Real estate developer Dana Cassidy is negotiating with Dunkin' Donuts to come to his North Brewer Plaza, a discussion that, if successful, would mean full occupancy in the mall he bought two years ago.

Cassidy, whose development roots go back to his hometown of Presque Isle, and who manages 52 properties around the state, says it took him a while to find the right formula for the North Brewer Plaza, which he's renamed City Center. Anchored by the Paradis Shop ‘n Save and Dino's pizza, the mall suffered a huge blow when Bob's Discount closed its doors about five years ago, vacating 24,000 square feet in the 68,000-square-foot mall.

Cassidy says he spent much of the first year he owned the plaza trying to entice a discount retailer -- Reny's and Big Lots were two -- to occupy the space. When that failed, he decided to take a look at what businesses in the Bangor-Brewer area needed and hit upon the idea of breaking up the space into separate retail suites, connected by a long lobby, with parking, restrooms and other amenities.

"I saw a lot of businesses [in downtown] that needed parking and knew I could offer new space for less than what people were paying at the [Bangor] mall," he says.

His first new tenant, Brewer Children's Learning Center, is licensed for 49 children, which in Cassidy's mind translated to about 100 vehicles dropping off and picking up kids every week day. He realized if he could build a model of complementary businesses, all of which generate traffic, he could revitalize the mall.

"Fifteen-thousand cars pass by here every day," he says of the traffic on North Main Street. "So my theme is one of perpetual traffic. How do I entice traffic in here?"

Traffic is such a big draw that when Cassidy takes a visitor on a tour of the revamped mall, he ticks off the expected traffic count of each business as well as the square feet each leases. Landing a Dunkin' Donuts will bring at least 600 more vehicles into the mall, he says. The gas station he built in the front of the mall generates 400. A redemption center averages 64.

Accessibility was one of the key reasons Haleigh Rice and her partner Amanda Damien decided to open Brewer Children's Learning Center in the mall a year ago.

"Some of the parents who bring their children here consider our location a real strength because it's so convenient," says Rice. "We're on this side of Eddington and Orrington, which makes it easy for some."

Rice says Cassidy's lease rates, which ran $2 to $3 per square foot less than comparable locations, and his willingness to sign a four-year lease, helped cinch the deal.

"In this economy, we really wondered if we could make the numbers work, but Dana was really easy to work with, doing the build-out at an affordable cost and then accommodating us on the lease," she says.

Cassidy's focus on traffic-generating businesses has brought some unusual tenants to plaza, including two churches. The Rock Church brings between 350 and 400 people to the mall Sunday morning, providing such a surge in foot traffic that some of the retailers are now open on Sunday just to take advantage of it.

Cassidy says he's been careful about who he lets into the mall, rejecting businesses that he doesn't think will be a good fit. Abutting a bright, airy communal lobby are retailers that range from a sewing and fabric store to a hair salon, pet specialty store and accessories boutique. Around the back of the mall, which Cassidy is currently renovating, is the bottle redemption center and a community center. In the front, near the service station, he is completing work on a convenience store where, if his talks with Dunkin' Donuts are successful, a drive-thru will be installed for folks to get their java.

"Pick up your kid, drop off your bottles, buy a lottery ticket, pick up some hamburger or a pizza and fill up the tank, all in the same place," he says.

Cassidy credits his long associations with contractors and his own hard work for being able to keep the renovation costs of the mall low. He estimates he can perform the suite build-outs for 45 to 60 cents on the dollar as opposed to other contractors. He fits up each suite to accommodate the tenant, who pays a lease rate between $8 and $12 per square foot, considerably below what some retail leases run in the Bangor Mall area.

"What's really interesting about this scenario is that I've done it in a down economy," he says, noting he paid a little over $2 million for the property two years ago.

But then that's part of the appeal. Cassidy said he made his first million while still in his 30s, and today, at 57, he's just as happy to let his son, a structural engineer by training, run the business. He tried retiring, spending time in Las Vegas where he enjoys recreational gambling, but grew bored. So he returned to Maine, with antennae poised for the next development adventure.

"After a while, you realize it's not the money, it's the quest," he says. "I like a challenge of doing something no one else can do."

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