Ellsworth property sold after haggle of 43 years

ELLSWORTH – Forty-three years after he made his first offer on the property, the owner of a local shopping center has purchased the High Street plaza known as the Hanf Block.

James Van Loon, a New Jersey resident who owns the Ellsworth Shopping Center, bought the plaza at 151 High St., which houses Martha’s Cafe, Hanf Laundromat and several other shops.

The seller, Sheryl Hanf, said the property had belonged to the family of her late husband for many years. She and Van Loon closed the deal on April 15.

Van Loon said Tuesday he plans no changes to the plaza, which is fully rented, but does intend to remove some of the concrete barriers that separate the parking lots of the plaza and the shopping center. That change will make the two lots more accessible to drivers, he said.

The Hanf Block plaza was built in 1959 at a cost of $16,000 and was expanded in 1962 and 1971, according to records on file at the city’s tax assessor’s office. In the city’s last property revaluation in 2003, the land and building were determined to be worth $537,800.

Both Hanf and Van Loon declined this week to disclose the sale price.

Van Loon said he has wanted to buy the property for years. He made his first offer in 1962, the same year that the Ellsworth Shopping Center was built, and he and the Hanfs have been negotiating ever since, he said.