Photo / Courtesy The Boulos Co.
Plans for the Lewiston portfolio, which is generally in good condition, are expected to include about $1 million for deferred maintenance and improvements.
Updated: March 31, 2025
Multifamily portfolios in Portland and Lewiston sold in separate deals
Photo / Courtesy the Boulos Co.
In Portland, a 46,944-square-foot 48-unit multifamily portfolio, in bottom half of photo, sold for $12.1 million.
Two major multifamily portfolios recently sold to local investors.
In Portland, Noma LLC purchased a 46,944-square-foot 48-unit multifamily portfolio called Winchester Woods from Winchester Woods LLC for $12.1 million. The transaction was arranged by John Finegan of the Boulos Co.
In Lewiston, Hartley and Tall Pines Realty LLC and Blue Investment Group LLC bought a 116,480-square-foot, 100-unit multifamily portfolio at Hartley Street and Tall Pines Drive from LDT LLC for $13,162,500. The transaction was arranged by Noah Stebbins of the Boulos Co.
Portland deal
Winchester Woods was marketed as a turnkey, professionally managed, 100% leased investment. Construction finished 2023.
Located in the East Deering neighborhood on 2.8 acres, it has four buildings of 12 units each. The 25 one-bedroom units and 23 two-bedroom units have open floor plans, modern fixtures, stainless steel appliances, high efficiency electric water heaters, heat pumps, patios and decks, parking with EV charging stations, in-unit washer/dryers and greenspace.
Twelve units are income-restricted for 30 years to 80% of area median income, which is $68,500 for a single person and $78,250 for a two-person household as of 2024.
Marketing information noted that, a quarter-mile away, the Roux Institute at Northeastern University recently acquired a 10-acre site where a 600,000-square-foot graduate development “will alter the fabric of the East Deering neighborhood, Portland and southern Maine, and Winchester Woods is perfectly located to benefit from the transformation.”
The seller was Yarmouth-based developer Kevin O’Rourke.
Winchester Woods was the first project approved under regulations passed in 2020 to require more affordable housing in new construction.
The development was on the market for a little over a year, said Finegan.
“The majority of the [potential] buyers were folks from Boston, New York and D.C.,” he said. “We did have some local interest as well.”
The buyer, who was not named, is a local investor, he added.
The development is poised for value appreciation and rent growth, according to the marketing.
“Rent prices in Portland will continue to rise until we see housing developed to a level which ends the imbalance of demand and supply we currently see,” said Finegan. “There are a lot of people who want to live in Portland, and a finite supply of housing.”
Lewiston
The Lewiston portfolio was an off-market deal consisting of two market-rate developments in two separate neighborhoods about three miles from each other.
At 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 Hartley St., the property has 52 units in seven buildings.
At 10 and 20 Tall Pines Drive, there are two 24-unit buildings.
The unit mix across both consists of two studios, 22 one-bedrooms and 76 two-bedrooms.
The seller was local, said Stebbins.
“We originally approached the seller about her apartment buildings on Hartley Street,” he said. “However, she was only willing to sell if her apartments apartment buildings on 10 and 20 Tall Pines Drive were included in the sale. My buyer was happy to package the entire portfolio together and from my understanding, the seller plans to retire.”
Overall, the properties are in good condition, he continued.
“The buyer’s investment supports the broader community by providing stable, well-managed housing that meets the needs of Lewiston’s growing population,” Stebbins added. “Access to quality housing is a foundational element of economic stability, and by maintaining and improving these properties, they aim to contribute to a stronger, more resilient local economy.”
The buyer
The buyer was Gurnet Real Estate Group, a real estate investment and management company based in Boston and Portland that targets workforce and affordable multifamily investments, with goals both to promote affordability and generate compelling financial return.
Stebbins brought the Lewiston portfolio to Gurnet’s attention.
Several of the units are outdated and will benefit from interior upgrades, he noted.
“Multifamily assets continue to be in high demand despite rising interest rates and general uncertainty in our economy,” Stebbins said. “Investors continue to show interest in Lewiston-Auburn due a variety of factors, including Lewiston being the second largest city in Maine with a fast growing population” — since 2019 the population of the Lewiston-Auburn metropolitan statistical area has grown by over 7% — “and, as rents become increasingly unaffordable in the Greater Portland market, renters will continue to explore alternatives, with Lewiston being one of the main beneficiaries.”
He continued, “Given the population shifts and supply/demand imbalance for high-quality affordable workforce housing, investors see a lot of opportunity in this market and I expect the trend to continue for years to come.”
Preserve, enhance
Collin van der Veen and Rylee Knox are the managing principals at Gurnet, whose mission is to "deploy capital into multifamily investments that elevate communities by creating high-quality, attainable living spaces, while generating compelling, risk-adjusted returns for investors,” van der Veen said.
As a kid, van der Veen spent summers in the Boothbay Harbor area.
He got involved in real estate while still a student at Bowdoin College. After his hockey team’s off-campus rental property was condemned during his senior year, he and a classmate, Reed Baker, raised capital from investors to acquire and transform a duplex into a lucrative student rental property, according to his bio.
He has since acquired an additional $25 million of multifamily assets in New England.
Before launching Gurnet, he worked at Goldman Sachs as an investment banking analyst, and later at CrossHarbor Capital in the firm's opportunistic/value-add investment fund.
He lives in Boston and started Gurnet — the name of a Massachusetts lighthouse near his home — part-time four years ago, while working other jobs.
Originally from Maine, Knox grew up in the Turner area and now lives in Winthrop.
He graduated in 2018 from Maine Maritime Academy with a degree in marine systems engineering. He had a job with the U.S. Department of Defense as a nuclear test engineer but left it in 2019 to pursue real estate, according to his bio. He began his career at Coldwell Banker Rizzo Mattson Real Estate, where he focused on providing education to the public on how to use real estate as a vehicle to build wealth in the 21st century.
Knox began investing in properties in 2017 when he and his then-fiancée, Emily, were trying to figure out how to live below their means to pay off student debt.
“They learned that they could buy a property and have someone rent out part of the property to cover the mortgage, a technique they later discovered was referred to as house-hacking,” his bio says. “After they had proof of concept and began living for free, they became obsessed with investing in cash flowing real estate assets.”
Since then, he has closed over 100 real estate transactions, is one of the largest multifamily real estate investors in Maine, and continues to work as an investor-focused real estate broker out of Augusta.
In 2019, Knox and his wife started a business, Safe Place to Land LLC, focused on safe, affordable housing. He also runs Rylee Knox Real Estate in Augusta.
Shared vision
Knox and van der Veen met a few years ago through a Maine multifamily investors Facebook group.
“We were looking at similar deals and realized we had a shared vision for the business we wanted to build,” said van der Veen.
That vision was about building a business focused on acquiring, operating and repositioning workforce and affordable multi-family properties in Maine.
They merged into Gurnet Real Estate Group as a joint venture in 2024, when van der Veen went full-time with the business, Knox joined him
For the Lewiston project, they took on two joint venture partners, Pete Whitehead, a real estate developer in Idaho; and Jesse McCue. CEO of Maine Real Estate Management in Bangor, which has been managing Knox’s portfolio for the last few years.
"Pete has served as a mentor to me since he took me under his wing and helped me structure my first rental property acquisition when I was a student at Bowdoin,” noted van der Veen.
Gurnet recently hired its first intern.
'Unique' opportunity
With the Lewiston acquisition, the Gurnet portfolio now consists of about 165 units. That includes another 49-unit development in Brunswick that’s a legacy low-income housing tax credit project and workforce housing properties in Berwick. They are working to acquire another 66 units in the midcoast region, which will bring the total count to 231 units.
The two track Maine’s multi-family assets to identify potential investments.
“In this case, Noah did a phenomenal job bringing together the seller and our group,” van der Veen said.
The Hartley and Tall Pines Apartments presented “a unique opportunity to acquire well-maintained properties in a growing community where demand for affordable rental housing continues to outpace supply,” they wrote.
They added, “For the Lewiston community, this acquisition represents a meaningful investment in the region’s housing stock. Lewiston has a deep-rooted history as a strong and resilient city, but many of its rental properties have suffered from a lack of proactive management and reinvestment.”
Upgrades
Plans for the Lewiston portfolio, which is generally in good condition, are expected to include about $1 million for deferred maintenance and improvements. That includes exterior paint and tree and pavement work at the Hartley Street development, as well as some interior work, such as new carpeting and paint, to common spaces. Gurnet has already provided electrical system improvements.
“These assets were all developed in the 1970s and ‘80s,” said Knox. “They’re some of the best legacy products in Lewiston. We’re looking to bring a fresh set of eyes and capital to make improvements.
Financing for the acquisition came from Bangor Savings Bank.
“They were phenomenal to work with,” said van der Veen.
For upgrades, the partners raised capital from their investors.
“We really like the opportunities we’re seeing in Maine,” van der Veen said.
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