With recent deal, Antigoni's Pizza will expand to Augusta
Courtesy / CBRE | The Boulos Co.
A former Pizza Hut at 23 Bangor St. in Augusta was move-in ready for Antigoni's Pizza, which purchased the building for $340,000.
AUGUSTA — A Greek-Albanian heritage shared by a broker and her client led to the purchase of a former Pizza Hut building at 23 Bangor St. in Augusta.
The 2,925-square-foot commercial building, on 0.79 acre, is conveniently suited to the purchaser, Antigoni Papagjika, who owns Antigoni’s Pizza in Lewiston. In a deal that closed Jan. 13, Papagjika was represented by Anilda Gribizis of Keller Williams Realty and the seller, going by the name Mainly Pizza One LLC, was represented by Charles Day of CBRE|The Boulos Co.
The structure was built in 2001 for Pizza Hut, which vacated the building many years ago and whose lease expired in January 2016. The building was on the market for four years. The property drew interest from local buyers because the asking price was heavily discounted from the original $595,000, to $399,500. The seller ultimately accepted $340,000.
The building has a one-bay drive-through, a walk-in cooler/freezer, ample on-site parking and a high-visibility corner location in an area that includes Aubuchon Hardware, Kitchen Encounters, Hannaford and CVS.
“They loved it because the coolers are already in place, the drive-through is there, and they got it for a very good price,” said Gribizis. Plus the property is well-sited to pull in traffic heading in and out of the city center, she said.
Papagjika approached Gribizis a couple of years ago, thanks to connections with mutual friends in Maine’s small Greek-Albanian community. He and his wife had thoughts about buying another restaurant, and people had told them they should open one in Augusta, Gribizis said.
Papagjika opened the original Antigoni’s Pizza in Turner, in 2003.
Broker Gribizis and her husband arrived in Maine in 1994 to be with relatives, and were able to stay as permanent residents thanks to the U.S. State Department’s visa lottery.
“We both had very good professional jobs,” she said. Her husband is a teacher, she worked as an engineer, and they were both able to practice their professions in Maine. “It was a big transition,” she said. “But we feel now that Maine, 23 years now, it’s our town. I love it here.”
The Greek-Albanian community in Maine is perhaps 20 families or fewer, she said. An earlier generation arrived in the 1950s.
“We are a different generation, early 1990s most of us came in, and we kind of stick together somehow,” she said. “We make sure to know the whereabouts of each other and how we all are doing.”
Gribizis was a natural choice for another Greek-Albanian couple, who engaged her to broker the purchase of a two-unit in Westbrook. She finds that shared language and culture helps.
“I will see them again on different parties or community events and I want to make sure that we stay friends, and they remember and are happy for the service I gave them,” she said.
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