PORTLAND – The building that housed the Portland Public Market until it closed two years ago could soon have a new owner under an agreement between the building’s owner and a local development firm.
Atlantic National Holdings has agreed to buy the vacant building from Guggenheim Real Estate LLC for $1.9 million, less than half what the building was listed for two years ago. If the deal closes as expected this week, it could mark the rebirth of a commercial landmark that has languished since the public market closed.
Atlantic National declined to discuss its plans or a timetable for redevelopment with the Portland Press Herald.
But in a written statement to the newspaper, company attorney Jim Hanley said, “We look forward to working with the city to ensure that the public market building is put to the highest and best use, in a way that benefits the people who live and work in Portland.”
A commercial broker working with the company told the newspaper that a likely option is to convert the building into first-class office and retail space.
The 32,000-square-foot building opened to acclaim in 1998 after being custom-built for the Libra Foundation charitable trust and housing more than two dozen vendors of fresh foods and flowers, much of it from Maine.
But the Libra Foundation shut down the market two years ago and sold the building and its other downtown properties to Guggenheim.
Guggenheim listed the property for $4 million in 2006 but has been unable to agree to terms with potential buyers.
Atlantic National Holdings is a subsidiary of Atlantic Redevelopment Co., headed by Theodore West of Cape Elizabeth.
His company recently built the AAA and Gorham Savings Bank office buildings on Marginal Way in the city’s Bayside neighborhood a few blocks from the public market. It’s now developing an eight-story Intermed office building and parking garage in the same area.
West has won praise for his work in Portland and in 2006 was presented with an economic development achievement award from the city for his projects in Bayside.
Many potential buyers were deterred by the public market building’s tall ceilings, glass walls and expansive open space that made redevelopment a potentially costly and complex undertaking.
But West took a second look at those assumptions and came up with creative solutions that greatly reduced the price, said Frank O’Connor, a commercial broker who represents West at NAI The Dunham Group.
“It takes some vision, and Ted has that,” O’Connor said.
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