Courtesy / The Boulos Co.
Ground-floor retail and upper-story office space were attractive to the local investor.
Updated: January 8, 2024
Vintage downtown Camden building checks the boxes for investor
Courtesy / The Boulos Co.
The property was marketed as an office and retail investment opportunity that’s “one of the most recognizable buildings in downtown Camden.”
The location of a 17,303-square-foot, mixed-use building in downtown Camden checked all the boxes for a local investor.
Elm Street Properties LLC bought 21 Elm St. from 21 Elm Street LLC for $1,796,666.
The list price was $1.829 million.
The transaction was arranged on behalf of the seller by Dan Greenstein and Sasha Phillips of the Boulos Co. and on behalf of the buyer by Noah Stebbins, also of the Boulos Co.
The buyer is an investor based in the midcoast area, said Stebbins.
The bigger story, he said, was the property’s ability to attract interest, compared with the general office market that saw a slump as a result of the pandemic.
By contrast, 21 Elm St. is 95% occupied.
"It shows that office space, especially smaller units — below 5,000 square feet — are still in demand, particularly in tertiary markets where supply is limited,” he said.
The brick building has four stories and houses 19 units, with retail on the ground floor and small office units, most occupied by individual users, on the upper stories.
The building, on the corner of Elm and Washington streets, dates back to 1893, according to the National Register of Historic Places, which lists it as a contributing structure in the Camden Great Fire Historic District, an irregularly configured commercial streetscape of 2.26 acres.
The district is so named because of a fire that swept through the town on the night of November 10, 1892.
“The fire was a grand spectacle, with flames soaring high into the night sky,” the listing says.
Most of the buildings in the district were built in 1893.
“The buildings reflect the enthusiastic community spirit and community planning that were the automatic response of this small Maine town,” the listing says.
Today, the district contains the Camden Opera House, 15 substantial, brick, commercial buildings and seven smaller commercial buildings. The district is in the center of the small coastal town, beside the harbor.
Camden Opera House is across the street from 21 Elm St., a Renaissance Revival brick structure called the William A. French Block. French was an importer of china and president of the Massachusetts National Bank in Boston who, after the fire, led a syndicate of investors to finance the building’s construction. Vintage architectural features include light and dark bands in the brick work, arches and granite window sills. Early retail shops there included a pharmacy, grocery store and candy store.
The property was marketed as an office and retail investment opportunity that’s “one of the most recognizable buildings in downtown Camden situated on the corner of Elm Street and Washington Street in Camden' s central business district.”
The office suites have views of Camden Harbor. There are 11 parking spaces in a nearby lot with rights to lease an additional 27 spaces in the same lot. The building is occupied by longtime tenants.
Today’s retail tenants include Leonard’s, a women’s clothes and accessory store; and Wooden Alchemy, a store and museum featuring original woodwork.
The office users include medical professionals, counselors and the headquarters for the nonprofit Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.
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