They would meet occasionally for lunch or dinner, usually at the Gas Lighter on North Main Street. Steve Duprey and Victoria Zachos had known each other for decades in Republican political circles, but Zachos also owned a small empire of real estate in downtown Concord.
“After solving all the political problems, I would try and convince her to sell all her properties to me,” Duprey, a local developer, said.
She always said no.
Zachos passed away in 2010, and an up-and-coming landlord named Remi Hinxhia bought her properties – two 1800s-era buildings on North Main Street, plus a parking lot. According to Monitor archives, Hinxhia was Zachos’s godson. In a small city like Concord, these back-table discussions and family-room dealings are the forces that shape the future.
By the end of this year, Concord will have spent more than $13 million to design, market and build a new Main Street. With the end of construction in sight, city officials hope public investment will spur private redevelopment. Property owners and industry experts, however, say that vision is years from realization in downtown’s dustier corners.
“There’s no question the city is spending this (money) downtown in hopes that it will spur economic development activity and make downtown a more inviting, pleasant and profitable place to be,” property owner Mark Ciborowski said. “I think that will pan out. But renovating old downtown buildings is incredibly expensive.”
Back in 2010, Hinxhia was a new face in a small club of property owners in downtown Concord. Now, he is the first to undertake a major construction project on newly minted Main Street.
In a once-blighted building at 148-158 N. Main St., Hinxhia’s plan for three storefronts and 20 market-rate apartments is a dream come true for city officials. But not all property owners can or want to follow suit. (Hinxhia could not be reached for comment.)
“I care about Concord and how we can become an attraction, because it’s a beautiful town,” said Nina Mujakovic, whose family owns Old Europe Mediterranean Fine Dining and its building. “If we don’t bring people, it’s just a sleeping beauty.”
More than 170 parcels touch the Main Street project and its side streets. Their total assessed value is more than $207 million. Roughly 50 properties in that area are worth more than $1 million each.
In New Hampshire’s capital city, the State House is easily the most valuable building, assessed at more than $20 million. It is also tax-exempt.
In fact, half of downtown’s 10 most valuable properties do not pay property taxes or make lesser payments in lieu of taxes, because they are owned by the government or a nonprofit. Matt Walsh, the city’s director of redevelopment, downtown services and special projects, argued those buildings are still important for Concord’s tax base.
“A lot of those tax-exempt properties do have a lot of employees that work in them,” Walsh said. “We’re not going to take the State House and redevelop it.”
Concord is trying to return another state property to the tax rolls, however. The city bought the New Hampshire Employment Security building in 2014 for $1.9 million, and is seeking a buyer for mixed-use redevelopment. The Concord City Council last month voted to bury utility lines in front of that building and others on South Main Street at a cost of another $2 million, in hopes of sweetening the deal.
One potential project at that site recently failed, though Walsh wouldn’t elaborate on the details. But he confidently pointed to the city’s parking garage on Storrs Street, which enabled the neighboring Capital Commons complex. Now, that building is downtown’s second most-valuable property at $13.3 million.
“I fully believe that the investment the city’s made in the Complete Streets project will beget other private investment that will help make Concord the premier downtown in New Hampshire over time,” Walsh said. “I think you’re already seeing that with the Remi project. I’m sure there are others that will follow, whether that is going to be the Employment Security building or a renovation.”
Among private property owners, the same names turn up repeatedly in city records. Ciborowski owns 14 buildings and parking lots in the downtown core; their combined value is more than $14 million. Duprey claims nearly $12 million in that area, though his Smile Building is assessed far below its real value due to a tax break that will eventually expire. Hinxhia has more than $5.4 million in five properties, and local landlord Arthur Aznive owns 10 properties that add up to $4.4 million in assessed value.
Some buildings have been held by the same person or in the family for generations. Ciborowski’s grandfather started buying real estate in Concord in the ’60s.
“My grandfather, since I was about knee-high, said, ‘Someday you’re going to come to Concord and work in real estate with me,’ ” he said.
Ciborowski is known for being picky with his tenants; he generally reserves first-floor spaces for retail. While he said he has a long and respectful relationship with Merrimack County Savings Bank, for example, Ciborowski refused to rent a ground-level storefront as offices for their financial management affiliate. MillRiver Wealth Management went into another downtown address, and Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt took Ciborowski’s spot.
“I always feel like a retail tenant has to be a quality tenant, something that adds to the vibrancy and the mix,” he said.
But not all of his spaces are full. Ciborowski’s portfolio includes historic gems such as Phenix Hall, a fifth-floor auditorium that is being used as a yoga studio. He also owns the former International Order of Odd Fellows building on Pleasant Street, where abandoned gym equipment gathers dust.
Records show Aznive’s family trusts have also owned properties for many years. Some of those buildings house bustling tenants, like White Mountain Gourmet Coffee. Others – the former Concord Theatre, now vacant – sit untouched like an heirloom on a shelf. (Aznive declined to comment for this story.)
And the black hole of downtown Concord is at 2-2.5 N. Main St., the former home of Pitchfork Records and the Purple Pit jazz club. Evangelos Lillios has owned the building since at least 1968, according to city records. And despite an enviable address at the northeast corner with Pleasant Street, it has been in need of renovation and empty for years. (Lillios did not return a call for comment.)
Duprey keeps a list of properties and phone numbers, and like he did with Zachos, he checks in every six or 12 months. Once, he said, he made those phone calls for 10 years to get the sale.
“They bought them years and years ago,” Duprey said of those buildings and their owners. “They don’t have much debt on them, or they paid the debt off. They’re making enough of a return on it that they don’t need to sell.”
So after years of waiting and planning for the Main Street project, downtown Concord might need to wait a little longer.
“It might not be the person who owns the building currently, but it could be the person who owns the building five years from now,” Walsh said.
New to Main Street is Brady Sullivan Properties and commercial real estate broker Ben Kelley. Earlier this year, Kelley was a partner in one of the largest real estate deals downtown in years: the Eagle Hotel and Capital Plaza One and Two, plus an accompanying parking lot, for $7.5 million. Those properties are valued at more than $13 million.
“The financials of the deal were what drove us to buy it, not necessarily the Main Street project,” Kelley said. “That was an added bonus for us, certainly.”
The firm has started to make improvements to those buildings – fresh paint on the Capital Plaza facade, for example. Kelley said major upgrades are in the works for Eagle Hotel, which was less than 50 percent occupied when Brady Sullivan bought it.
“I certainly think that the Main Street project will be a catalyst for other people to make improvements to their own buildings,” he said. “It kind of snowballs. It becomes contagious when you see new tenants coming.”
Some of those improvements are already visible. Hinxhia’s project is underway on the north end. Developer Jon Chorlian is building high-end condos in the former Sacred Heart Church. Doug Milbury, the owner of Cheers Grille & Bar, is spending more than $80,000 to expand the restaurant’s outdoor patio.
Other plans have stalled.
Ciborowski has been working toward a renovation at 46 N. Main St., which currently houses CVS Pharmacy, considered a single-story eyesore in the middle of an otherwise historic downtown. He wants to build a five-story building, with a brick facade to match its neighbors and an accessible connector to Phenix Hall. The abandoned auditorium would become a music hall with a rooftop deck, he said.
“It’s a mammoth project, and it’s far from a reality at this point,” Ciborowski said. “But it is something.”
Like many building owners, Mujakovic said she sees a need for upper-story housing. She and her husband, Emin Halilovec, previously owned the building Hinxhia is renovating now. Mujakovic said those projects are expensive, and she alluded to the city’s failing parking system, which is under review and will likely see dramatic changes in the coming year.
“For residents to occupy downtown, they need parking next to their apartments like everywhere else in the world, and we cannot offer that,” Mujakovic said.
On the heels of the downtown construction project, Concord officials say the next step is a more aggressive plan to draw employers and developers. At the State of the City address earlier this month, Mayor Jim Bouley noted suggestions he’s heard so far, like hiring a staff person dedicated to recruiting new businesses. More details of that plan should be forthcoming.
“The city has made a significant investment in capital infrastructure,” Carlos Baia, the deputy city manager for development, said. “Now, the missing piece is working to attract new businesses.”
At a recent Concord planning board meeting, Hinxhia described his vision for Remi’s Block. He wants to rent to young professionals or downsizing empty nesters. The balconies will be big enough for a two-seat coffee table, and some tenants will have a view of the State House.
“In the morning, one weekend, have a nice cup of coffee,” Hinxhia said. “At night, have a nice glass of wine.”
To buy the building and deliver that vision, Hinxhia said, he has risked everything.
(Megan Doyle can be reached at 369-3321, mdoyle@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @megan_e_doyle.)