AUBURN — Developer George Schott has sold three plazas, bought three hotels and picked up an Applebee’s.
This week, Schott got $16.4 million and the Center Street Applebee’s, which is valued at $3.6 million, for the three properties around the Auburn Mall, he confirmed Thursday.
“It’s been three months we’ve been working on the deal, so it’s been a while in motion,” Schott said. “There’s definitely room to develop spots in them and I’m sure that the (brother and sister) that bought it is interested in doing that.”
The properties are:
* Hobby Lobby Plaza, with 7.8 acres.
* Nobility Plaza, a 4.1-acre parcel beside the Auburn Mall that includes Panera Bread and Aspen Dental.
* Mount Auburn Plaza, 13 acres that include Best Buy.
They were sold to Thomas Auger Jr. and Nancy Auger Hunt, the children of VIP Discount Auto Center founder Thomas Auger Sr.
The properties had been listed in April for $24.9 million.
Auger Jr. and Hunt had owned the Applebee’s. “It happened to work out in negotiations” to include the restaurant as part of the purchase deal, Schott said.
Schott still owns the Auburn Mall and has space left to develop around it.
“We’ve got a few new tenants coming into the mall, which is great,” he said. “We’ve got a gym coming in, a coffee store, a knickknack store and, of course, our normal two Christmas winter stores.”
Last month, Schott bought two South Portland hotels and one in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bringing his total hotel holdings to six.
“I’ve got a good manager for them,” he said. “It’s a stable industry, I’d have to say.”
Craig Young, a broker and partner at CBRE/The Boulos Co. who worked with Schott on the deal, said Auger Jr. and Auger Hunt grew up in Lewiston, have a history of owning retail properties and plan to develop out their new purchases.
“There are two remaining out-parcels at the Hobby Lobby and we’ve had some ongoing discussions with some retailers — I’m sure those conversations will continue,” Young said. “But that’s absolutely the plan to develop something there. They definitely want to develop the remaining acres next to the Best Buy; there’s more opportunity there because it’s a larger parcel.”
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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