Inside the Real Estate Insider: It's about the people, not just the numbers
When I took on the Real Estate Insider a year ago, I didn't know exactly what I was in for. Frankly, I thought it would be a “just the facts, ma'am” type of beat — address, purchase price, square-footage, acreage, rehab investment, and countless LLCs lacking names and faces — not exactly the colorful, gripping stories to which journalists aspire.
Sheesh, was I wrong! The Insider is indeed about real estate transactions. But, more importantly, it's about people making those transactions. And every single one of those people is a treasure trove of wishes for the present, dreams for the future, visions for the course of his or her life, the drive to move forward and back stories that form the core of those endeavors.
Once I got that figured out, which didn't take long, it's been pure pleasure to trace these personalities. One of my favorites is the triple-crown tale of Robinhood Marine in Georgetown, starting with a historic boatyard and a famous yacht builder, and leading up to the purchaser, John Koenig, a New Jersey resident who was not only a boat responder in the Sept. 11 tragedy but a Hurricane Sandy survivor. Talk about unpacking the details!
In John Reny, you got the second-generation head of the iconic Maine chain who recalled his father in the 1950s tramping door-to-door to peddle merchandise out of his old Hudson, blessed with the gift of gab, and eating lots of homemade pie.
In Machias, Ryan French was delighted when an old but sturdy downtown building went on the market, the perfect purchase with much more space for the family-owned wine-and-cheese French Cellar. He recalled hand-carting nearly 300 cases of wine and beer from the old store to the new — “a formidable move,” he said.
That's one example of a new home, which is often what these transactions are about. Another example is the reuse of the former Museum of African Art and Culture in Portland to house the repository of works by well-known New York City abstract artist Leo Rabkin.
David McClees, founder of Talus Corp., a manufacturer and wholesaler of car organizers and travel accessories, had a vision for a South Portland industrial property that he could leverage in the region's tight industrial market. Where do those ideas come from? He recalled being a kid with his dad, a commercial appraiser who “dragged me and my brother around industrial property growing up, so this is like old home week for me,” he laughed.
There's Keith Lourdeau, a retired FBI agent whose career highlights include arresting a Chicago mob boss in the 1980s, who decided to reboot as the new owner of Kevin's Electric Inc. in Saco. His dad was an electrician, and people in the trades, he said, are just who they are — no pretense. Dana Cassidy is a no-pretense kind of guy, too. An ex-army airborne officer, the real estate developer bought the Skowhegan Village Plaza, which he called “a junker no one else wanted.” That's right up his alley. He saves money doing the rehab himself with his crew. Apparently inexhaustible, he also collects exotic vehicles, and was planning to build a museum for them plus involve veterans in overseeing the collection and donations to veteran causes.
These are folks who love their communities, whether they're rooted back generations or coming in new, like Bulgarian émigré Kiril Lozanov, who moved to Belfast five years ago, fell in love with the city and bought an old school building to transform into a cultural center.
These are just a few snippets of the many people who featured in Real Estate Insider stories in the past year. Thanks to Maine's entrepreneurial spirit, many more are coming.
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