Courtesy / Boulos Co.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, condo features include cathedral ceilings, chandeliers, stained-glass windows and hardwood floors.
May 4, 2021
Zoning fix could help with sale of church-turned-condos in Portland's West End
Courtesy / Boulos Co.
Williston West Condominiums, at 32 Thomas St., is a former church with five units and the possibility to build six more.
A luxury condominium in Portland’s historic West End that was the subject of a failed auction in 2019 is back on the market with the Boulos Co. through a call for offers.
The Williston West Condominiums, at 32 Thomas St., is a 18,336-square-foot former church with existing cash flow from five tenanted units.
The Gothic-style Williston West Church underwent a partial restoration and redevelopment that began in 2011 into five one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The property also includes a vacant residential shell in the parish house.
The property recently received an amendment to a conditional zoning agreement that allows for construction of up to six additional units.
“This is a rare opportunity for a purchaser with vision to develop the new units while enjoying the cash flow from the occupied condominiums,” according to the Boulos marketing brochure.
“We have been providing pricing guidance with a floor of $4 million,” Chris Paszyc, a partner and broker with the Boulos Co., told Mainebiz by email.
The ‘guidance’ is an expectation, not an absolute, he continued.
“We call it ‘pricing guidance’ because we don’t want to set anything in stone,” he said.
May 14 is targeted as the call’s due date, he said.
The project is eligible for state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It includes five parking spaces plus the possibility to install indoor parking.
The West End Historic District is home to several 19th- and early-20th-century New England-style homes. It’s a 10-minute walk from downtown Portland and 15 minutes from the waterfront.
Paszyc said he expects the call to generate renewed interest given the changes that occurred recently with the approvals for the property.
Tranzon LLC held an auction of the property in February 2019.
At the time, the condos were priced from $650,000 to $1.15 million. Features included cathedral ceilings, chandeliers, stained-glass windows, hardwood floors, walk-in closets and granite countertops.
Zoning amendment
The church was designed by Francis H. Fassett and built in 1877. The parish house, built in 1905, was designed by John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens. The property went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The church was open until 2011, when it merged with the Immanuel Baptist-American Baptist Churches to form the Williston-Immanuel United Church, at 156 High St.
Williston West Church was sold for rehabilitation and redevelopment. Architectural feature include a square three-story tower, buttressed walls, Gothic-arched windows and a large rose window.
The 2019 auction produced offers but none were acceptable to the ownership, Paszyc said.
“Since 2019, the owners have been diligently working with the neighborhood stakeholders and the city to convert the commercial portion of the building back to residential, so the reuse will fit the neighborhood,” he said. “Their efforts have yielded an amendment to the previous conditional zoning agreement, which was approved by the city earlier this month. The amendment creates the opportunity for a developer to add up to six residential units to the five existing units in the former parish hall.”
Foreclosure
In 2011, the property was purchased by Frank Monsour, who performed the partial restoration and redevelopment, Paszyc said.
Monsour is an Australian surgeon and property developer, according to the Australian Financial Review. His son Sebastian Monsour was CEO of a collapsed property development business called the Majella Group, which had an office at 32 Thomas St. and once had plans to buy Saddleback Mountain Resort.
“Currently, the owners are a group of lenders who prefer to remain anonymous,” Paszyc said. “They became the owners after foreclosing on the [property].”
The property came to Boulos due to a prior relationship with the ownership group, he said.
“The owners hired us for our deep relationships in Maine’s business community plus our experience marketing development or ‘value-add’ opportunities,” he said. “The residential market in Portland is ever expanding, and we are seeing multiple offers on anything residential, with sale prices a multiple of asking. Given this trend, we felt it best not to limit pricing.”
'Lucrative' upside
With condos now selling at $800 per square foot in Portland, the upside on the building is expected to be lucrative, he said.
“We’ve had great success with the ‘call for offers’ process in the past, yielding price and terms that have exceeded client expectations,” he said.
Boulos has focused its marketing efforts on developers who have experience with historic redevelopment projects, and individuals with strong connections to the West End and Portland.
“However, with Portland’s residential market in the national spotlight, we have seen interest from buyers outside of Maine,” he continued. “A project of this magnitude is best undertaken by an individual or group of passion, vision and commitment to the West End.”
Boulos has received many questions about parking, Paszyc said.
“We have an innovative plan for on-site parking in the basement of the sanctuary, and another more traditional approach using off-site parking," he said. "The question is, what sort of premium will the end-users pay for the on-site covered parking to offset the extra effort and costs.”
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