A Conversation with Tom Watson and John Laliberte of Reveler and Port Properties Management
Tom Watson, Founder of Reveler and Port Properties Management, and John Laliberte, CEO of Reveler and Port Properties Management, sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young for the twelfth episode of MEREDA Matters – the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine.
Watson shares how he got his start in real estate development with a four-unit building and talks about why, after earning degrees from Stanford and Boston University, he chose to be a sheet rocker in Boston. Watson goes on to discuss how buying The Metropolitan in downtown Portland in the late nineties was a turning point in his career, marking a shift into managing bigger buildings. Laliberte discusses his career trajectory as well, from professional hockey player to real estate, and talks about the Riverdam project, his first project with Watson. The group goes on to talk about the evolution of Biddeford, how close to 50% of people renting their units are from out of state, and how renters are hungry for amenities in their buildings. Watson and Laliberte also share what is happening in the first phase of their West Bayside development project, which includes 201 affordable housing units.
What is Tom Watson’s favorite vacation spot? Listen to the episode to find out!
The MEREDA Matters podcast is sponsored by NBT Bank and Landry French Construction. Additional sponsors include Bangor Savings Bank, Clark Insurance, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company, and The Boulos Company. A new episode will be released each month and each will feature new voices from the real estate and development industry.
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By Cameron Foster, Associate Broker, The Boulos Company
Merriam-Webster defines coworking as the practice of working within a shared building, where multiple tenants rent working spaces such as desks or offices and enjoy access to communal facilities. According to Google, the first coworking space started in 1995 in Berlin, Germany. It was called “C Base” and was primarily used by hackers. The goal was to share space and knowledge to work on coding projects. In the United States coworking first started in August of 2005 when Brad Neuberg set up the first-ever coworking space in San Francisco, known as the “Spiral Muse.”
Since then, the trend has grown, along with the internet boom, cellular communication, and the connectedness of modern global businesses. The ability to increase staff, revenue, and global presence without purchasing real estate or committing to a long-term lease has been a huge win for some businesses. This, coupled with 21st-century technological advancements, the ever-inventive entrepreneurial spirit, and customers demanding more, has led to an interesting industry story.
The business idea came from a problem. The founders of these companies saw a need in the marketplace for “shared space” as small companies grew, launched their businesses, and started to hire. The goal was to create an option between working out of an entrepreneur’s basement and signing a multi-year commercial lease with a landlord. The use of coworking is also beneficial for businesses that are slowing down their operations. As a sole proprietor, you can rent a desk or an office to maintain a professional address at a coworking space, keep your business running, and maintain flexibility. Coworking can offer limitless advantages for early-stage and end-stage companies. Coexisting with other businesses can create an incubator of ideas and can also be a great networking opportunity, growing the professional and personal relationships of the business owner.
When it comes to catching the wave— or seismic shift—in how people work, this is a developing story. The Pandemic caught everyone off guard and spurred more companies to adopt work-from-home or hybrid models. Naturally, this creates a tougher road ahead for coworking businesses. WeWork was hit the hardest. Post-pandemic the company has shut down forty (40) locations.
In 2022, theReal Deal named the top ten coworking operators in the United States. All ten companies were established within the last thirty years, and they all share the same model: providing shared office space services for workers and companies looking for ready-to-operate space with low commitments in prominent locations.
The office market is currently caught between companies that would like to return to the workplace and a tight labor market. If employees would rather work from home, and small businesses can continue to effectively scale, hire, train, and grow in revenue remotely, this will exacerbate the issue for coworking companies.
So, fad or future? I think coworking is here to stay as it serves a vital need for growing businesses and folks at the end of their business cycles looking for space to slow down operations. Much of the story is yet to be told.
If you are a tenant or a landlord and you have a question about whether coworking makes sense for your strategic real estate plan, please contact us at The Boulos Company.
A Legislative Update on Housing with Senator Matt Pouliot and Representative Traci Gere
Maine Senator Matt Pouliot of Augusta and House Representative Traci Gere of Kennebunk sit down with MEREDA President Craig Young and Pierce Atwood attorney and government relations’ advocate Elizabeth Frazier for the eleventh episode of MEREDA Matters – the podcast that puts you in the room with the people who are driving responsible development in Maine.
Both Senator Pouliot and Representative Gere serve on the Joint Select Committee on Housing. They provide an overview of the history and focus of the committee and discuss Maine’s dire need for housing – the state needs some 80,000 new units to be built in the next seven to ten years. The group discusses some of the solutions the Joint Select Committee is working on to reduce the barriers to housing creation and democratize development, such as a government program to map out sewer and water lines in the state, investment in training programs for the trades, and a bill to establish a process to vest rights for land use permits.
The conversation also includes an exploration of other creative ideas that will support the housing industry, including a program to identify vacant properties in the state and partnerships with the forest products industry to make innovative materials for building.
What are Senator Pouliot and Representative Gere’s favorite restaurants? Listen to the episode to find out!
https://mereda-matters.simplecast.com/
Catch up on past episodes while you’re there!
The MEREDA Matters podcast is sponsored by NBT Bank and Landry French Construction. Additional sponsors include Bangor Savings Bank, Clark Insurance, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company, and The Boulos Company. A new episode will be released each month and each will feature new voices from the real estate and development industry.
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Holiday Inn By the Bay 88 Spring Street Portland, ME
Buffet Breakfast: 8:30-10:00 am Program: 9:00-10:00 am
About the Event:
Join MEREDA on December 14th at the Holiday Inn By the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland as our panelists discuss the rise of aquaculture in Maine and the growing significance of seaweed in commercial real estate.
Presenters include:
Benjamin Whitney, Plant Manager at International Flavors & Fragrances
Sebastian Belle, Executive Director, Maine Aquaculture Association
Briana Warner, CEO, Atlantic Sea Farms
Don’t forget, this breakfast will now run from 8:30 – 10:00 AM in an effort to accommodate those working around childcare and bus drop offs and pick ups.
Ticket Prices: Members: $45 each | Non-Members: $55 each — Prices increase by $10 after December 7th.
By: Dannielle Lewis, Teri Samples | Partners at Wipfli
1031 exchanges are common in the real estate world. However, they are often wrought with hidden complexity that can quickly send a straightforward project into chaos.
Here are four common mistakes to avoid when planning and executing your 1031 exchange:
1. Comingling personal property
Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), taxpayers were allowed to do 1031 exchanges on both personal and real property. However, personal property can no longer be part of a tax-deferred exchange post TCJA.
Initially, this led to complicated questions regarding how real property is defined. Much of this was answered by regulations that became final in 2020.
The regulations are fairly taxpayer friendly but are not without their own complexities. Many still comingle their 1031 exchanges with personal property and end up recognizing gain as a result. In the worst scenarios, this can ruin the exchange.
If you are selling any real property that has personal property in it, connect with your certified public accountant (CPA). They can help you determine the best way to break out personal property from the rest of the property so that it doesn’t affect your exchange.
2. Missing the 1031 timeline
Missing the prescribed timelines is another commonly seen mistake in 1031 exchanges.
A 1031 exchange must generally adhere to the following timeline from the date of the sale of the relinquished property:
45 days to identify a property
180 days to complete the exchange
The best advice is to know your replacement property prior to selling the relinquished property.
Since this can be challenging, people often try to close deals too quickly. They miss the important step of identifying the properties in time, or they schedule the closing too late.
3. Confusing different roles
For some 1031 exchanges, tax issues aren’t discovered until the return is being completed.
The taxpayer may be relying on their qualified intermediary (QI) to identify any issues with the 1031 exchange itself. However, that is not necessarily their role.
It is important to understand what advice your QI is giving you and what their role is in the exchange. While they may have all the information that pertains to your exchange, they generally never provide any tax advice. To ensure you have a valid 1031 prior to closing, you need to meet with your CPA. Finding out a tax issue too late can make it unfixable.
On the other hand, if errors are discovered early on, you can either restructure the deal or even invest your gain dollar in an opportunity zone fund instead.
4. Overlooking partnerships
Another common mistake to avoid is with partnerships.
Often, issues with partnerships involve two partners who want to roll proceeds from a property that has been held for several years into another property, while the third partner wants to cash out.
Depending on when this situation comes up, it could create a lot of issues for the exchange, especially when an alternative structure is rushed too close to closing.
It’s important to look at your real estate holdings and ownership each year to determine if your partnership is still on good terms or if you think one of the partners will want to exit.
Planning allows for more time to work through an ownership structure that will facilitate a 1031 exchange, while ensuring each partner is able to achieve their end goal.
How Wipfli can help
At Wipfli, our team is here to help you navigate the complex regulations surrounding 1031 exchanges. We’ll help you understand your eligibility and tax consequences so that you can plan with confidence.
Holiday Inn By the Bay 88 Spring Street Portland, ME
Buffet Breakfast: 8:30-9:00 am Program: 9:00-10:00 am
About the Event:
Under the Maine Condominium Act, an entire condominium development is treated as only one parcel of land for many zoning related issues, such as lot size, frontage, density, etc. In addition, there are typically no space and bulk restrictions relating to the location of buildings or units to one another. This presentation will show how a number of recently developed projects have been able to meet project objectives by structuring the project as a condominium and being able to develop the project in ways that would not have been possible without the use as a condominium. It will review the use of land parcel condominiums or “lot line condominiums” where the unit boundaries are lots on the ground and show how the condominium structure enabled the development. It will also review the use of the Condominium Act as a development tool to meet other project financial or programmatic requirements. Finally, it will review a change in the language of the Condominium Act that MEREDA got enacted during the last legislative session and the importance of that change to make the Condominium Act a more useful development tool.
Presenters include:
Gary Vogel, Drummond Woodsum
Brooks More, Development Director, South Portland Housing
Nathan Szanton, President, the Szanton Companies
Don’t forget, this breakfast will now run from 8:30 – 10:00 AM in an effort to accommodate those working around childcare and bus drop offs and pick ups.
MEREDA’s Refund Policy: Your RSVP is requested by November 22. Payment is expected at the time of registration. No refunds will be granted to anyone who registers, but fails to attend or who cancels after November 22.
Ticket Prices: Members: $45 each | Non-Members: $55 each — Prices increase by $10 after November 22.
PORTLAND, Maine – Mark your calendars! The Maine Real Estate & Development Association’s (MEREDA’s) Annual Forecast Conference and Member Showcase has a new date: February 29th, 2024. As we leap into the new year, leaders from the state’s real estate and development community will gather at the refreshed Holiday Inn By the Bay to provide an economic overview and outlook on the industry’s key economic indicators. Along with the new date, the 2024 Forecast Conference will have a new afternoon format that will allow attendees to choose between various presentations from leading industry insiders.
“If you care about responsible development in Maine, the Forecast Conference is where you want to be,” shares MEREDA President Craig Young. “MEREDA really excels at facilitating important conversations about the issues facing our industry and our state. To be able to be in the room with some of Maine’s top real estate leaders is invaluable; it’s simply the best way you can start the new year. ”
MEREDA Vice President and Conference Committee Chair, Shannon Richards, echos Young’s enthusiasm: “MEREDA’s cornerstone event brings us all closer as a community, a community that is working to design, build, and develop responsibly in Maine. I’m thrilled that we will be gathering to look forward to 2024 in a new way.”
This unique conference brings together the largest gathering of commercial real estate professionals in Maine, and is specifically geared toward developers, brokers, architects, bankers, attorneys, accountants and other industry professionals. According to Shelly R. Clark, MEREDA’s Executive Director, MEREDA’s Forecast Conference will be in-person only and held at the Holiday Inn By the Bay on February 29 from 8am to 5pm. Registration is available at MEREDA.org for both the event and Member Showcase.
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Each year, the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) recognizes some of the state’s most “noteworthy and significant” real estate projects, completed in the previous year. The exemplary projects from across the state, completed in 2022, not only embody MEREDA’s belief in responsible real estate development, but also exemplify best practices in the industry, contributing to Maine’s economic growth by significant investment of resources and job creation statewide.
This year, MEREDA honored projects from Lewiston to Portland to Biddeford, with each receiving special recognition at MEREDA’s 2023 Spring Conference on May 25th.
In a multi-part series exclusive to the Maine Real Estate Insider, we’ll provide an up-close look at the most notable commercial development projects of the past year that are helping to fuel Maine’s economy in terms of investment and job creation. MEREDA is proud to recognize responsible development based upon criteria including environmental sustainability, economic impact, energy efficiency, difficulty of the development, uniqueness, social impact and job creation.
MEREDA’s 2022 Top 7 recipients include:
Lincoln Hotel & Lofts, LHL Holdings and Chinburg Properties (Biddeford)Gauvreau Place, Community Concepts Inc. and Avesta Housing (Lewiston) Shipyard Brewing Redevelopment, Bateman Partners, LLC (Portland) Reconstruction & Reuse of Historic Building 12, Portland Foreside Development Company (Portland) L.L.Bean Corporate Headquarters, Zachau Construction (Freeport) Freedom Place at 66 State Street, Developers Collaborative (Portland) VA Outpatient Clinic, J.B. Brown & Sons and FD Stonewater (Portland)
Please join us this week in celebrating Freedom Place at 66 State Street.
MEREDA: Describe the building and project.
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: Freedom Place at 66 State Street is a renovation and adaptive reuse project located in Portland’s West End neighborhood. The historic three-story brick building at 66 State Street is the former home of St. Dominic’s Parochial School for Boys, and it more recently housed several social services agencies, including Amistad, which serves adults in the Greater Portland area who struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, and other life challenges.
In 2018, Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative purchased the historic building and subsequently redeveloped it into a transitional housing complex for women in recovery from substance abuse and homelessness. The building now contains 38 single-occupancy bedrooms, communal bathrooms, kitchens, and gathering spaces for residents. There is space to support on-site wrap-around services for residents, including treatment and recovery programs provided by Amistad. In addition, residents can participate in vocational training that takes place in the building’s on-site commercial kitchen. Re-entering the job market is only one aspect of recovery, but it is an important one. Finally, to provide a continuum of housing options to house residents throughout the full recovery journey, Bunker’s plan involved the development of a new 30-unit affordable apartment complex on the same site as the historic building redevelopment.
MEREDA: What was the impetus for this project?
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: When Bunker acquired the building in 2018, he envisioned transforming the building into market-rate condominiums to meet the need for more housing on the Portland peninsula. However, as a result of Kevin’s encounters with Amistad, then a tenant of the building, a new vision for the building was formed. There was a significant unmet need in the Portland community for a development that would respond to Maine’s homelessness crisis and embrace the state’s “Housing First” model, which provides housing to those in need without the typical shelter prerequisites of sobriety or medication. Freedom Place helps fill the need for this type of housing in the Portland community and serves as a haven for women experiencing homelessness.
Safe, stable housing is vital for recovery, and women often have a more difficult time navigating the shelter system and having their unique needs met by traditional recovery residences. Women experiencing addiction are more likely to be exposed to poverty, hunger, adverse legal interaction, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, and trauma. Freedom Place provides them with secure housing and on-site programs to break the cycle of homelessness and promote recovery and pathways back to productive lives.
Bunker and Amistad’s shared vision for Freedom Place at 66 State Street guided them through many challenges in the development process. The model for the partnership between Bunker and Amistad had no precedent and required both partners to leverage their areas of expertise: Bunker’s real estate structuring and development acumen and Amistad’s years of experience serving vulnerable populations. The project is a model for how the private sector can partner with nonprofits to have a positive impact on their local communities. However, even once Bunker and Amistad worked out a model, many technical challenges in the redevelopment process remained.
MEREDA: That sounds like quite a process. How long were you in the planning stages before construction started?
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: The predevelopment phase for Freedom Place took about a year before construction began. In addition, the renovation of the existing building was just the first phase of the redevelopment plan. Phase two, which began construction in the spring of 2022 and will be completed this summer, is a new, adjacent development of 30 units of affordable housing.
MEREDA: Tell us about the most challenging aspect of getting this project completed.
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: It’s hard to pick just one – many challenges had to be overcome to make the project possible. There were many regulatory barriers to overcome to fit the phase two apartments on a tight urban site while meeting the requirements of a historic district. The combined two-phase project required a complex capital stack, including a master-tenant two-phase Historic Tax Credit structure, an inclusionary zoning contribution from a nearby market-rate project, a 30-year TIF from the City of Portland, and project-based voucher allocation from MaineHousing alongside traditional debt and equity.
MEREDA: Something unexpected you learned along the way was….
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: The Freedom Place at 66 State Street demonstrates that the most valuable real estate in Portland cannot and should not be reserved for high-end development only. The downtown West End location of Freedom Place is walkable to much of Portland and public transportation hubs, which is a critically important feature for residents seeking off-site services and amenities. To create the Portland we all want, there must be a mix of incomes and uses in even the most desirable neighborhoods in the city. The Freedom Place project is an example of anti-gentrification that keeps Portland accessible and inclusive to the entire Portland community.
MEREDA: Now that it’s complete, what feature of the project do you think makes it the most notable?
Freedom Place at 66 State Street: The most notable feature of the project isn’t architectural. Several Freedom Place residents have not been able to maintain stable housing for over a decade until now, and many others are making meaningful steps toward rebuilding their lives thanks to the services provided by Amistad. Freedom Place has also reduced the burden of the homelessness crisis on local hospitals, shelters, and jails. Without Freedom Place, many of the women who reside there would have had nowhere else to go. While difficult to quantify, the impact of Freedom Place on the Portland community and the lives of residents has been meaningful.
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Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring Street, Portland, ME
Lunch: 11:30 – 12:00pm Program: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
About the Event:
Join MEREDA’s Emerging Leaders Committee for its next Lunch & Learn Event!
In this third installment of the DevelopME series of panel discussions organized to understand the roles and responsibilities of professionals engaged in development projects, this session will cover the value of having both a residential and commercial lending relationship as part of your team, and learning about the biggest differences between the two.
Meet our Presenters:
Gwen Hulit is a Mortgage Loan Officer with U.S. Bank, with lending capabilities in all 50 states. She originates residential mortgages on properties ranging from 1-4 units as primary residences, second homes, and investment properties. Gwen is the Co-Chair of MEREDA’s DevelopME committee and is active with the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute. Gwen lives in her hometown of Falmouth with her husband and daughter.
Dana Myles is a Regional Vice President, Commercial Lender for Norway Savings Bank. She is based in the Portland Office, but can help with Commercial financing across Southern, Western and Midcoast Maine. She can help with answering questions and financing commercial real estate, construction loans, business acquisitions, business equipment loans, business startup loans and operating lines of credit. Dana is a part of MEREDA’s DevelopME committee and is on the Advisory Committee for CEI Ventures. Dana lives in Scarborough with her husband and two boys.
The program will be moderated by Taylor McFarlane, Associate Broker on the McFarlane Field Team at Portside Real Estate Group. Taylor is a Maine native, raised in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She graduated from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and Communications. Taylor epitomizes integrity and attention to detail in every real estate transaction, which has resulted in her rapid growth and success in the real estate industry in just a few short years. Today, whether working with those new to the process or the very experienced, each transaction gets 100 percent of her attention and expertise.
As parents of two young children, Taylor and her husband Phil embrace every opportunity to explore Maine as a family. Taylor is an active community member, offering invaluable local insights to her clients. In 2022, she was honored as a recipient of Maine Biz’s 40 under 40 award.
MEREDA’s Refund Policy: Your RSVP is requested by November 7. Payment is expected at the time of registration. No refunds will be granted to anyone who registers, but fails to attend or who cancels after November 7.
Cost: Members: $35.00 each | Non-Members: $45.00 each — Prices increase by $10 after 11/7.
PORTLAND, Maine – Mark your calendars! The Maine Real Estate & Development Association’s (MEREDA’s) Annual Forecast Conference and Member Showcase has a new date: February 29th, 2024. As we leap into the new year, leaders from the state’s real estate and development community will gather at the refreshed Holiday Inn By the Bay to provide an economic overview and outlook on the industry’s key economic indicators. Along with the new date, the 2024 Forecast Conference will have a new afternoon format that will allow attendees to choose between various presentations from leading industry insiders.
“If you care about responsible development in Maine, the Forecast Conference is where you want to be,” shares MEREDA President Craig Young. “MEREDA really excels at facilitating important conversations about the issues facing our industry and our state. To be able to be in the room with some of Maine’s top real estate leaders is invaluable; it’s simply the best way you can start the new year. ”
MEREDA Vice President and Conference Committee Chair, Shannon Richards, echos Young’s enthusiasm: “MEREDA’s cornerstone event brings us all closer as a community, a community that is working to design, build, and develop responsibly in Maine. I’m thrilled that we will be gathering to look forward to 2024 in a new way.”
This unique conference brings together the largest gathering of commercial real estate professionals in Maine, and is specifically geared toward developers, brokers, architects, bankers, attorneys, accountants and other industry professionals. According to Shelly R. Clark, MEREDA’s Executive Director, MEREDA’s Forecast Conference will be in-person only and held at the Holiday Inn By the Bay on February 29 from 8am to 5pm. Registration is available at MEREDA.org for both the event and Member Showcase.
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