RUMFORD – Purchasers of Abbott Farm Plaza hope to have the former shopping center’s first tenant open and doing business by the end of the summer.
Selectmen on Thursday awarded the contract for the purchase of the building complex and adjacent 8 acres to Strategic Retail Advisors of Framingham, Mass., for the purchase price of $225,000.
SRA and partner WRE Commercial Brokers of Portland will do business at the plaza as Rumford Realty Partnership LLC.
SRA owners are Jonathan Rauch and Todd Lornell. WRE was represented by Jay Wise.
“Their proposal was valid. They are movers and shakers,” said board Chairman Jim Thibodeau.
SRA has developed or helped redevelop a number of shopping centers around the country, including the Lewiston Mall, the Center for Shopping in Sanford and Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, Conn., said Rauch.
Town Manager Steve Eldridge said the corporation works with dozens of potential retailers.
“This group is a real professional group,” he said of SRA.
Wise said the first tenant will likely be a general merchandise retailer that may become the shopping center’s anchor. He said the newly formed company is working with at least one other potential retailer. Others will follow, he said. As many as 150 jobs are expected to be created once all the buildings are occupied.
Rauch said the newly formed partnership plans to complete first any major structural work that is required at the shopping center, while continuing to work with potential retailers. Specific interior renovations will be conducted according to tenant specifications.
The purchase-and-sale agreement is expected to be drawn up by early next week. The closing date for the deal was tentatively set for April 4.
Eldridge said contingencies for the purchase include offering Rumford Realty Partnership first refusal on the potential purchase of the 70-plus acres adjacent to the building complex, and allowing the sale of the shopping center in less than three years only with approval of the Board of Selectmen.
Peter Hatzis, represented by Patty Child of Riverside Realty of Mexico, had also submitted a bid of $200,000. He had previously bid on the property in January, but that deal fell through when he failed to meet specifications set forth by selectmen prior to the due date. He also owns a block of buildings in downtown Rumford.
Thibodeau said Hatzis’ proposal this time around did not contain a business plan or other specifics for the development of the plaza.
The Abbott Farm Plaza has been virtually vacant since its anchor, Ames Department Store, went bankrupt nearly three years ago. The plaza is about two miles west of downtown Rumford.
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