Gorham Bike and Ski buys downtown Portland building after seven years as a tenant
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Gorham Bike and Ski in Portland.
Gorham Bike and Ski has secured its downtown Portland location after the owner of the retail business purchased the building it's been leasing since 2008.
The company’s owner, Jamie Wright, bought 691-693 Congress St. through his real estate company, GBS Realty LLC, for $467,317, Wright confirmed to Mainebiz on Monday. The deal closed May 27, and it was brokered by Drew Sigfridson of CBRE | THe Boulos Co.
The building was sold by Nico Real Estate LLC, a real estate company operated by the family trust of Nicholas Koutsivitis, a Portland building owner who died in August 2009.
Wright said the sale was made possible by a purchase option that was included in the original lease he signed for the building in June of 2008, the year the business moved out of its outer Congress Street location. Because the purchase option was included in the lease, he said, he was able to take out a loan to fund a $350,000 renovation of the building when he first moved in.
“It worked out extremely well,” Wright said of the deal, “and I plan to be here for a long time.”
Buying the building gives Gorham Bike and Ski a secure location in Portland. But, Wright said, it also gives him a retirement asset that can generate income when he decides to sell the business or pass it on to his children.
Looking back, Wright said, he remembers when moving the business downtown seemed like a bad idea. After all, we all know what happened a few months after he signed the lease.
"The stock market crashed and everyone in my family said I was stupid to move my location from outer Congress Street," Wright said.
But after weathering the recession, things seemed to have worked out. Aside from buying the Portland location’s building, Gorham Bike and Ski also recently opened a Brunswick store.
The business, Wright said, is "doing awesome."
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